Vladimir Kramnik, the New World Chess Champion

Vladimir Kramnik played a draw on move 38 in game 15, defeated his rival, Kasparov, and grabbed the champion in World Chess Championship closed in London.

Vladimir Kramnik was born on the 25th of June, 1975 in Tuapse on the Black Sea. His father is an artist and a sculptor and his mother is a music teacher.

By the age of 5, Kramnik was already attending chess clubs run by chess professionals.

By the age of 11, Kramnik was awarded the title of a candidate master. A little later he joined the famous Botvinnik school.

He then went on to win the World Cadet Championship and the World Junior Championship.

In 1992, he was part of the winning Olympiad team in Manila, as their 1st reserve. He had the best overall score of 8.5/9

In 1994, he was again a part of the winning Olympiad (held in Moscow) team. This time he played in Board 2 and had a score of 8/11.

And once again he took part in the 1996 winning Olympiad team, held in Yerevan. He played on Board 2 and his score was 4.5/9.

From 1995 onwards, he was always in the top 3 positions in world rating list. Then in the beginning of 1996, at the age of only 21, Vladimir Kramnik became the number one player in the world.

Vladimir Kramnik, the world number 2 has time and again displayed a maturity of play far beyond his age. Now at 25, he is ready to take on the crown of a World Champion. He is the only top player to have an equal score against the current champion, Garry Kasparov. Also for the past 18 months until July this year, he held a record of staying undefeated in over 80 games played in the top circuits of the world.



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