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Kramnik vs Aronian 2012 / Final
Published April 28, 2012 | 
The Sixth game of the match was a draw – and the match itself was a draw.
This draw was different from the four others in that it was a ‘rough and tumble affair’.
Both sides had chances and the game could have gone either way.
Kramnik took advantage of Aronian’s Rook on ‘a4′ and its relationship to the ‘blocking’ Pawn on ‘c4′ by sacrificing the exchange.
Quickly after that Aronian selected Rg3 (Activity !) in instead of the passive Re1.
Then – no one really knew what was going on except that the match ended in a grand fight.
Congratulations to both players !
For the PGN file – See Comments
Kramnik vs Aronian 2012 / Game 5
Published April 27, 2012 |
Game Five of the match was a draw – One more game to go.
One Game apiece and three draws.
All of the wins (including the rapids game after the 4th round) have been fine examples of fighting chess.6R1/1k6/1p2p1pp/p2pNpn1/Pb1P1NP1/1P2rP1P/8/3K4 w KQkq – 0 44[Event "Zurich Chess challenge Kramnik vs Aroni"] [Site "Zurich"] [Date "2012.04.27"] [Round "5.5"] [White "Kramnik, Vladimir"] [Black "Aronian, Levon"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D43"] [WhiteElo "2801"] [BlackElo "2820"] [PlyCount "86"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"]1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 Nd7 8. Be2 Qd8 9. O-O Be7 10. Qc2 O-O 11. a3 b6 12. Rfd1 Bb7 13. Rac1 Qb8 14. cxd5 cxd5 15. Qa4 Nf6 16. Ba6 Bxa6 17. Qxa6 Qc8 18. Qxc8 Rfxc8 19. Ne5 Bd6 20. Nd3 Ne8 21. Kf1 Kf8 22. Ke2 Ke7 23. h3 Rc4 24. b3 Rcc8 25. a4 Ba3 26. Rc2 Rc7 27. Ra1 Bd6 28. Kd2 a5 29. Rcc1 Rac8 30. f3 f5 31. g4 g6 32. Ne2 Rxc1 33. Nexc1 Nf6 34. Ne2 Nh7 35. Ne5 Ng5 36. Nf4 Bb4+ 37. Kd1 Rc3 38. Rc1 Rxe3 39. Rc7+ Kd8 40. Rg7 Kc8 41. Rg8+ Kb7 42. Rg7+ Kc8 43. Rg8+ Kb7 1/2-1/220noc8b7
Kramnik vs Aronian 2012 / Games 3,4
Published April 24, 2012 | Updated April 25, 2012
by National Life Master Loal Davis
In Game 3, courage and daring go to Aronian, but the point goes to Kramnik.
This was a splendid fighting game that was a tribute to both players.
Game 4 (see Comments) was a draw.
The match is tied at one game apiece with two draws.
Click on the board to step through the annotated game (Game 3).
There was a Rapids game following the short draw in game 4 which does nothing for the score of the ‘real’ match. HOWEVER – It was an absolutely fearless win by Aronian with the black pieces in a Ruy Lopez (See Comments).
Kramnik vs Aronian 2012 / Games 1,2
Published April 21, 2012 | Updated April 22, 2012
The first game of the Kramnik Aronian match in Zurich was a win for Aronian who played the black pieces. Although Black was better after 18 moves, White’s 19th move was most likely a blunder which did not take into account the ‘Intermezzo’ of Rb8. When I say ‘didn’t take into account’ I don’t mean to imply that Kramnik did not see the move. These guys see ‘everything’. I suspect that the evaluation associated with the move was not correct. After that, if not before, equality for White was dubious at best and Aronian finished off the first game of the match with a very well played game.
Game 2 (Comments) was a draw.
The 7th Mikhail Tal Memorial Tournament 2012
Published March 2, 2012 |
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The Sorcerer From Riga / Mikhail Tal . |
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The 7th Mikhail Tal Memorial will take place in Moscow from June 7 through June 19. . The confirmed participants are below:
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Magnus Carlsen |
Vladimir Kramnik |
Levon Aronian |
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Teimour Radjabov |
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Hikaru Nakamura |
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Fabiano Caruana |
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. Three more players have yet to be announced. |
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Zurich Chess Challenge: Kramnik vs. Aronian
Published February 9, 2012 |
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Kramnik, Marie and Daria |
Levon Aronian |
The Zurich Chess Club announces a six-game chess match between Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) and Levon Aronian (Armenia) from 21 to 28 April 2012. The numbers 2 and 3 of the World ranking will meet in the time-honored Hotel Savoy Baur en Ville at Paradeplatz, the venue of many a famous chess event in the past. Kramnik and Aronian are the winners of the two most prestigious tournaments of the last months. While the 36-year-old Kramnik has gained a convincing victory at the London Chess Classic in December, the 29-year-old Aronian has just won the famous tournament in Wijk aan Zee with an outstanding score. Both players belong to the hottest candidates in the World championship qualifier later this year. The Zurich Chess Challenge will be the first encounter in the history of chess between two players with a rating above the magical 2800 limit and it is the first ever friendly match at the top level. It is sponsored by Oleg Skvortsov, IGC International Gemological Laboratories and Aspeco N.V., Antwerp.
The time control of the six classical games will be 2 hours for 40 moves, then 1 hour for 20 moves and then 15 minutes to finish the game, with an increment of 30 seconds from move 61. If a game lasts less than three hours, the players will play a rapid game with reversed colours (with 25 minutes plus 10 seconds increment on the clock).
Rd9 GM Nakamura (2758) – GM Adams (2734){London Chess Classic}
Published December 12, 2011 | Undefeated Kramnik takes 1st at this years event ..Nakamura finishes 2nd with a nice win playing the King’s Gambit!
| 3rd London Chess Classic London (ENG), 3-12 xii 2011 | cat. XX (2748) | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | |||||||
| 1. | Kramnik, Vladimir | g | RUS | 2800 | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 2934 |
| 2. | Nakamura, Hikaru | g | USA | 2758 | ½ | * | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 15 | 2887 |
| 3. | Carlsen, Magnus | g | NOR | 2826 | ½ | 1 | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 14 | 2879 |
| 4. | McShane, Luke J | g | ENG | 2671 | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 2852 |
| 5. | Anand, Viswanathan | g | IND | 2811 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 9 | 2740 |
| 6. | Aronian, Levon | g | ARM | 2802 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | 9 | 2741 |
| 7. | Short, Nigel D | g | ENG | 2698 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | * | ½ | 1 | 6 | 2613 |
| 8. | Howell, David W L | g | ENG | 2633 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | 4 | 2569 |
| 9. | Adams, Michael | g | ENG | 2734 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | 3 | 2498 |
London Classic 2011 / Round 8 / Kramnik In Sole Lead
Published December 11, 2011 |
Vladimir Kramnik was the only winner in the 8th round of the London Classic Tournament 2011.
This puts him in sole possession of the lead with one more round to go.
[Event "3rd London Chess Classic 2011"]
[Site "London/UK"]
[Date "2011.12.11"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Luke McShane"]
[Black "Vladimir Kramnik"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. b3 Bg4 7. Nbd2 Nd7 8. Bb2 f6 9. Nf1 Nf8 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Ne6 12. Ne3 Qd7 13. h4 a5 14. a4 O-O 15. h5 Bxe3 16. Qxe3 c5 17. Qh3 Qc6 18. O-O Nf4 19. Qh2 Qe8 20. h6 g5 21. g3 Ne6 22. f4 gxf4 23. gxf4 Nxf4 24. Rxf4 exf4 25. Kf2 Rf7 26. Qh5 Qe6 27. Qxc5 Kh8 28. Qc4 Re8 29. Rh1 Qd7 30. Qb5 Re6 31. Qxd7 Rxd7 32. Rg1 Rc6 33. Kf3 Rd8 34. Rg5 Rf8 35. Rg2 Rg8 36. Rh2 Rg1 37. d4 Rf1+ 38. Kg4 f3 39. d5 Rd6 40. c4 Kg8 41. c5 f5+ 42. Kxf5 Rg6 43. Bd4 Rd1 44. Be3 Rg2 45. Rh3 f2 46. Bxf2 Rxf2+ 47. Ke6 Rf7 48. d6 c6 49. Ke5 Kf8 50. Rh2 Rg1 51. b4 axb4 52. Rb2 Rg5+ 53. Ke6 Rg6+ 54. Ke5 Rxh6 55. a5 Rh5+ 56. Ke6 Rh6+ 57. Ke5 Rh5+ 58. Ke6 Ke8 59. a6 Rh6+ 60. Ke5 bxa6 61. Rxb4 Ra7 62. Rb8+ Kf7 63. Rc8 Re6+ 64. Kf5 a5 65. Rh8 Rf6+ 66. Ke5 Kg7 67. Rc8 a4 68. Rxc6 a3 69. d7 a2 0-1
London Classic 2011 / Round 2
Published December 4, 2011 | |
by National Life Master Loal Davis
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Nigel Short |
Vladimir Kramnik |
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nd4 5. Nxd4 exd4 6. e5 dxc3 7. exf6 Qxf6 8. dxc3 Bc5 9. Qe2+ Qe6 10. O-O O-O 11. Qf3 d6 12. Bg5 Qf5 13. Be7 Short was tempted into ‘winning’ the exchange (Diagram), however he neglected to see that it was possible for Kramnik to trap this dark Bishop with an ‘f6’ and it will never get out. So – Nigel started to back peddle. |
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13. Be7 Qxf3 14. gxf3 a6 15. Ba4 b5 16. b4 Re8 17. Rfe1 Bb6 18. Bb3 Bb7 19. Kg2 d5  With this 19th move Black shuts out the light squared Bishop to the point where White is effectively a piece down. |
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20. Re5 c6 21. Rae1 Bc7 22. R5e2 Bc8 23. a4 Bd7 24. Bh4 Rxe2 25. Rxe2 Re8 26. Rxe8+ Bxe8 27. Bg3 Bd8 28. Be5 f6 29. Bb8 Bg6 30. axb5 axb5 31. Kf1 Kf7 32. Ke2 Ke6 33. Ke3 Bb6+ 34. Ke2 Bh5 35. Ba2 g5 36. Bb3 f5 37. Ba2 f4 38. Bb3 Kf5 39. Bd6 g4 40. Kf1 g3 41. fxg3 fxg3 42. Bxg3 Bxf3 43. Ba2 Be3  In the final position we can see that White never solved the problem of being down an entombed piece.
Not a difficult win for Kramnik, but very instructive. |
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Tal Memorial 2011 / Final Standings
Published November 25, 2011 |
Levon Aronian had a rather dramatic win in the previous round against Peter Svidler. If Kramnik thought that Svidler would be ‘easy pickings’ in the last round and attempt to ‘cash in’ against a ‘wounded’ opponent, he was sorely surprised. Vladimir Kramnik lost in the final round.
If you think that ‘all opposite Bishop endings are drawn’ – think again. Magnus Carlsen had several opportunities to keep Rooks on the board, but chose to dive directly into an ‘opposite Bishop ending’. Hikaro Nakamura was on the losing end of a finely played ending.
The final two decisive games of the final round of the Tal Memorial 2011 Tournament are in the Comments Section below.
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- Announcement on Grand Prix
- FIDE President at "Maribor for Peace"
- FIDE World Chess Championship Match - Round 5
- FIDE President's working visit to Astana
- Art at the World Chess Championship Match
- "Chess in Schools" in Dharamshala
- U. N. Women meets with FIDE
- Meeting of Dalai Lama the 14th with Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
- Olympiad and Congress Invitation
- Meeting with the President of Bulgaria Mr Georgi Parvanov