We bring you an update on kramnik's recent appearances, including a very informative interview after Wijk aan Zee, news about his marriage and his excellent commentaries in video to his win against Anand.

The following interview was conducted on January 31st by Yuriy Vasiliev for the Russian newspaper Sport Express

Are you upset that only half a point separates you from the group of winners?

Well, no. I did not try especially hard in this competition. There was no big motivation. This is not the World Championship. If I had more energy, I would probably squeeze out another half a point somewhere. I can't say I am very happy about my performance, but I am satisfied. I both improved my rating and played ok.

Before you said you don't like Wijk-an-Zee and that you always don't play well here. Why did you accept the invitation?

It is not that I don't like Wijk-an-Zee, it is just not my tournament. It really always seems to be difficult for me here. But this time everything was alright. Usually +3 is enough for the second place, but for some reason now it was only good for 4th place.

Photo: Cathy Rogers


When you play black against 1.e4, you keep playing the Petroff, with which you won't squeeze out more than a draw at such a high level. With you being as strong as you are, why not fight [for a win] with black, too?

The thing is, I have an opening repertoire that is geared for matches. It is dense and solid, especially with black. And I have certain problems in long tournaments like this one, because it is really difficult for me to play for a win with black. That's the kind of opening repertoire I have - it is geared for classical, match play.

But I remember very well how you won a beautiful game against Leko in Sveshnikov with black and how you played an extremely sharp Benoni against that same Leko, when you needed to. That is, you can do it when you really want. Of course, this kind of play with black requires taking risks. So, you didn't want to take risks?

Sometimes it works out not so badly with black, but that is an exception rather than a rule. For the most part, I can count on winning with white, and therefore it is important to have one more "white" game. And this time I wasn't lucky, I had one more game with black [in Wijk].

To be honest, I haven't even paid attention to this aspect of the schedule. So, you were in unfavorable situation from the start?

Yes, for the third tournament in a row I had one more game with black in Wijk-an-Zee. It is not as important for those who have an "aggressive" repertoire with black, but it is important for me with my classical repertoire. For me playing with white and with black is a big difference. And here my performance with white was not bad, I won three games and drew three.

From Whom could you have "squeezed" more?

I let Navara escape. That half a point ended up being the difference in the standings. I could have beaten him.

And you had an extra pawn against Radjabov. You could have continued playing in the position where you offered a draw.

I did not like my position. I would prefer to play it with black.

Was everything calm in your "black" games? Nobody tried to really test you?

Yes, I did not really notice that. You get your chances to win with black when someone is attacking and here only Topalov tried to create serious problems for me when I had black.

Did the hostile atmosphere that surrounded that game have an effect on you?

I don't really feel hostility toward him. He does his own thing and I do my own.

But you didn't do the traditional handshake before the game and the draw was agreed in a rather strange way.

After what he has said about me I had absolutely no desire to shake his hand. As for the draw offer, in the position that was reached, the draw was obvious even without offers.

Did he put a nice squeeze on you in that game?

I was "worse" out of the opening, considerably "worse". It is hard not to get "worse" against him. I got a very unpleasant position. But then he acted in a way that was a little primitive. I had no difficulty in guessing each of his moves. He posed no serious problems. If I was given that position with white, I think I would torture him for quite a while. Without a doubt, he is ahead of everyone in the world when it comes to opening preparation. I don't know whether he works that much himself or if he has a team of people working for him or if it is something else, but when it comes to opening preparation, he is the best in the world. And most of his victories here were achieved because his opponents walked into some very strong novelties. But his play as a whole did not impress me.

Out of the tournament participants, who did impress you?

Radjabov really got stronger. I haven't played him for a long time and now I feel he has really grown as a chess player. He plays like a 2750-rated player, which is probably a rating he will soon have. I think he is now one of the 5-7 strongest players in the world. Aronian was always a strong player.

Photo: Cathy Rogers

I happened to read and hear that FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was the one who voiced your decision to play in Mexico City, but you yourself have never really said you will play there.

Nobody asked about it directly, that is why I had not answered.

Consider the question asked.

I will play in Mexico. And my mood will be totally different from what it was in Wijk-an-Zee. There I will ONLY play to win.

Have you heard that the FIDE Presidential Council in Antalya has decided that if you do not win the tournament in Mexico City, you will have a right to a rematch with its winner?

I personally have not heard anything about it. My manager, who is there now, told me that there is no clear-cut decision so far and that it will be decided in in the end of February-beginning of March. Maybe it is one of the possibilities that exist at this time.

But it wasn't one of the conditions for your participation in Mexico City-2007?

No. I will play regardless of what decision will be made about the future World Championship cycle.

What are your immediate plans?

I am optimistic and looking forward to the upcoming few months when it comes to my full recovery. Unfortunately, I haven't managed to achieve that so far because of a lot of obligations. But the several upcoming months will not be that stressful for me. So far I don't have enough energy to withstand as long tournament as Wijk-an-Zee. I will play in Monaco in March and then I will play a rapid chess match against Leko in Hungary, and I will play in Dortmund Supertournament in June. So I have an easy schedule until June. Given that the most important competition of the year will take place in Mexico in the fall, the first stage of preparation for it will be full recovery. I will work hard in the summer because I plan to win the World Championship in Mexico.

When I asked you about the wedding in Bonn, you said "I am not married yet". And soon the news came that you did get married.

I told you the truth in Bonn - I was not married yet at the time. The public knows about the wedding anyway, but I didn't want to see a big crowd of reporters attend the private occasion.

Who is your wife? Is that the girl you took walks with next to a lake in Ascone before the decisive game against Leko?

Yes, her name is Marie-Laure. She is a journalist for Le Figaro.

Editor's note: World Champion Vladimir Kramnik married in a Paris office on 30.12.2006. Another ceremony will be held on 04.02.2006 at the orthodox church of Paris. We will get fresh pictures from Paris next week.

Yes. It is a rather modest apartment in downtown Paris.

Who cooks in the family? Or do you prefer to eat in restaurants?

She cooks, of course. Cooking isn't my thing. By the way, I like her cooking. But she is a rather busy person and when she doesn't have time, we go to a restaurant.

Credits:

Translated by Russianbear a moderator at ChessNinja
The interview was originally published at the Russian newspaper Sport Express
The original interview in Russian can be found here

Kramnik's video lecture in Wijk aan Zee.

After his extraordinary win against Anand, a game where he showed his superior technique, Kramnik offered a press conference with a detailed technical explanation of the game, that was recorded on video.

Photo: Cathy Rogers

Kramnik's video conference is divided into 3 parts. Please find the links below

Video of Kramnik analysing his game – 9:13 min

Part two – 9:17 min

Part three – 8:26 min [all videos by ChessVibes]