Kramnik: "It is time to establish a fair system for the World Championship"

Kramnik: “It is time to establish a fair system for the World Championship”

GM Vladimir Kramnik, Braingames World Champion, visited 1^st of October the prestigious La Salle school in Barcelona for the kick-off of the 1st American Internet Cup, which will be held during the following months on the Educared Internet platform (http://ajedrez.educared.net). He also held a press conference for all the Spanish and International Chess media, as well as local TV networks. A general comment in the audience was that nobody had seen before as many TV sets in a chess event!

The press conference, organized by EDAMI http://www.edami.com, also featured GM Miguel Illescas, Kramnik’s second and EDAMI Director. He presented the EDAMI 2001-2002 school chess campaign, backed by the Barcelona sports councilor, Mr. Albert Batlle.

Also present were the presidents of the Spanish and Catalan Chess Federations, Mr. Javier Ochoa de Echagüen and Mr. Josep Flores, and the Director of the La Salle School, Mr. Cabedo.

Here is a brief summary of the most interesting parts of the press conference as well as part of the interviews with several journalists which took place afterwards.

Vladimir Kramnik explained to the full auditorium his opinion regarding the man vs. machine match. He also commented on the current situation of top-level chess, and the wide possibilities of chess as an education tool.

Kramnik, prepared to play against Deep Fritz

The man vs. machine match to be started in October has been postponed until January 2002 because of the unstable situation in the Middle East. Vladimir is training hard for this match.

“It is much more difficult to prepare against a computer than against a human opponent. When I play GMs I prepare the openings which belong to my repertoire and which I consider to be good. Against a computer the same method is not so convenient partly due to the fact that computer is allowed to check huge opening databases during the game which may include specific preparation against my favourite variations. It is also important to understand that even if my analysis may be quite good I can’t simply remember all of them so it looks dangerous to enter into a theoretical opening battle.”

Kramnik has a lot of respect for the calculating capacity of Deep Fritz.

“Depending on the hardware Deep Fritz can calculate more than 3 million positions each second: in this time human can hardly calculate one! (Laughs). That is why it is very important to avoid tactical situations where the computer is practically invincible but this is not an easy task to manage, specially because the machine team also has some experts who help it to reach those positions which suit its playing style”

When asked about general conditions for the match Kramnik said:

“This match is a very big event and that is why it arose a lot of interest from the press. Many things have been said but unfortunately not all of them are true. For example I can confirm that I never received the final version of Deep Fritz nor any information about its opening book or the hardware in which it would finally run. In fact, it reminds me 1997 when many chess ‘experts’ were predicting a victory from Kasparov over Deep Blue. After five years chess software has become much more perfect and hardware much more powerful so it is clear that this match represents a very serious challenge for me. I would like to add that it is very easy to pretend to be a specialist on this field but in fact there are very few who have enough knowledge to make a serious pronostic about this contest”

" The current situation in the chess world is quite chaotic”

When asked about the current situation of the World Championship, with two different world championship titles (Anand is the FIDE Champion, whereas Kramnik is the Braingames champion), Kramnik was very clear:

“ The current situation in the chess world is quite chaotic: I am a traditional person and so I support the idea that the World Championship cycle should be played for in a tournament between the world best players. To clarify this situation I think that the Braingames Candidates event to take place in Dortmund in 2002 will be very positive. The winner of this tournament will play against me for the WC Title. I think it is time already to establish a fair system, which gives opportunities to the best players and receives approval from the chess world and general public. In this sense a revenge match now with Kasparov would only damage this process.”

In last interviews Kasparov claimed to have the moral right for a rematch. Having been asked about it Kramnik replayed:

“I was never aware that I should win not just one but two matches against the same opponent to be the World Champion!

Answering about Kasparov’s refusal to play in Dortmund Qualifier Vladimir Kramnik said:

“Well, to me it was quite a surprising decision. I remember Kasparov claimed after his defeat that he wanted Braingames to organize something so he could have a fair chance to play and try to get back the WC title. Now, when he is offered such opportunity, he refuses to play. The qualification system chosen for this candidate’s tournament is very sensible and allows the strongest player to prove his superiority over the rest. In fact Kasparov is not able to give a clear and logical explanation for his attitude, which tries to exclude from the WC cycle some of the very best chess players in the world. This attack to Braingames and Dortmund organizers looks a very poor excuse and the reason may lie behind could be the aim to damage the long tradition of WC cycles. I understand that it would be very disappointing for the big chess audience and specially for his fans if he voluntary avoids the battle for the WC title but you cannot force someone to play if he doesn’t want to!”

Kramnik’s relation with FIDE is complicated at the moment:

“FIDE is a valid institution, but for the moment it is very difficult to reach sensible agreement with the ruling team headed by Mr. Ilyumzhinov (FIDE president). I believe that our vision of the way chess world should develop is very different. The title I hold has a long tradition, it has been played in the same manner by Alekhine, Botvinnik, Fischer and many other great players. The FIDE title is a completely new and different one: time control is much shorter and there is clearly much more random than in the classical match between champion and challenger. I support theoretically the reunification of the World Championship title and I think it would be good for chess but in practice there are little chances that it may happen in the very near future”

Kramnik demonstrated once again his sense of humor when asked about his current Elo rating. His answer was:

“ I really can’t remember what my current rating is. I wouldn’t like to sound immodest but when you become World Champion you don’t pay too much attention to ratings anymore” (laughs in the audience).

One of the La Salle students asked Vladimir at what age did he start playing chess. Kramnik took advantage of the question to emphasize the positive aspects of chess for kids:

“I started playing chess when I was about 4 or 5 years old. It is very good for children to learn to play chess, because it helps them to develop their mental abilities. It also helps to consolidate a person’s character, because as it happens both in life and in a chess game we have to make decisions constantly. In chess there is no luck and no excuses: everything is in your hands ”. These comments where very well received by the audience.

When asked about his chess style, Kramnik said “between GMs we have this saying: there are only two styles: the losing or the winning one (laughs”).

During the last few days hundreds of questions for Kramnik have been received from chess amateurs from different countries at the EDAMI chess website (http://www.edami.com). A lot of them concerned who (from Kramnik’s point of view) is the best player in history. Kramnik made an interesting comparison with football, which was easily understood by the audience: “It’s very difficult to choose the best player because we have to bear in mind the age period and circumstances of each World Champion. It’s a bit like saying “Who is the better football player, Pelé or Rivaldo?

As well as having natural talent and putting forward a lot of hard work, Kramnik offered three other “musts” to become a top level GM: “ You must have good health, a strong nervous system, and you must hate loosing a game. Only then you may have a chance to become World Champion”. Useful advice!