An Assessment and Legacy of Vladimir Kramnik

Playing style
Garry Kasparov described Kramnik's style as pragmatic and tenacious, in the latter similar to Anatoly Karpov. He is one of the toughest opponents to defeat, losing only one game in over one hundred games leading up to his match with Kasparov, including eighty consecutive games without loss. Kasparov did not defeat Kramnik during their 2000 World Championship match, partly due to Kramnik's use of the Berlin Defense of the Ruy Lopez. Kramnik is renowned for his endgame skills.

Contributions to chess
Kramnik has significantly shaped opening theory in chess. Viswanathan Anand has said of him in 2012: "I don't know exactly how many lines he's established, but you get the impression that for the last 10 years we've only been using his ideas. ... His stamp on opening theory is much more significant than mine." Kramnik's results with the white pieces against the King's Indian Defense made Kasparov drop the opening from his repertoire, and caused the opening to disappear from top-level play for many years. Kramnik's use of the Berlin Defence in his 2000 match against Kasparov led to a massive increase in the opening's popularity. Kramnik was the world's leading exponent of the Petrov's Defense for much of his career and he also revived the Catalan Opening.

Notable games

Vladimir Kramnik vs Garry Kasparov (1994)

Garry Kasparov vs Vladimir Kramnik (1996)

Vladimir Kramnik vs Garry Kasparov (2000)

Vladimir Kramnik vs Garry Kasparov (2000)

Vladimir Kramnik vs Peter Leko (2004)

Vladimir Kramnik vs Veselin Topalov (2006)

Levon Aronian vs Vladimir Kramnik (2018)