Maxim Chigaev - Vladimir Kramnik: Fight for the center in Italian game

2019 King Salman World Rapid & Blitz Championships
Moscow, 2019

Fight for the center in Italian game: Maxim Chigaev - Vladimir Kramnik

Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (Russian: Влади́мир Бори́сович Кра́мник; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007. He has won three team gold medals and three individual medals at Chess Olympiads.

In 2000, Kramnik defeated Garry Kasparov and became the Classical World Chess Champion. He defended his title in 2004 against Péter Lékó, and defeated the reigning FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov in a unification match in 2006. As a result, Kramnik became the first undisputed World Champion, holding both the FIDE and Classical titles, since Kasparov split from FIDE in 1993.

In 2007, Kramnik lost the title to Viswanathan Anand, who won the World Chess Championship 2007 tournament ahead of Kramnik. He challenged Anand at the World Chess Championship 2008 to regain his title, but lost. Nonetheless, he remained a top player; he reached a peak rating of 2817 in October 2016, which makes him the joint-eighth highest-rated player of all time.

Kramnik publicly announced his retirement as a professional chess player in January 2019. He stated he intends to focus on projects relating to chess for children and education.


The Giuoco Piano is one of the oldest recorded openings. The Portuguese Damiano played it at the beginning of the 16th century and the Italian Greco played it at the beginning of the 17th century. The opening is also known as the Italian Game (Pinski 2005:5), although that name is also used to describe all games starting with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4, regardless of Black's third move (Gufeld & Stetsko 1996:5). The Giuoco Piano was popular through the 19th century, but modern refinements in defensive play have led most chess masters towards openings like the Ruy Lopez that offer White greater chances for long-term initiative.

In modern play, grandmasters have shown distinct preference for the slower and more strategic Giuoco Pianissimo (4.d3, or 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3). Anatoly Karpov used the Giuoco Pianissimo against Viktor Korchnoi twice in the 1981 World Championship match, with both games ending in a draw; Garry Kasparov used it against Joël Lautier at Linares 1994, resigning after 29 moves;[4] Vladimir Kramnik chose it against Teimour Radjabov at Linares (2004);Viswanathan Anand used it to defeat Jon Hammer in 2010; and Magnus Carlsen used it against Hikaru Nakamura at London 2011, winning in 41 moves.

Chigaev - Kramnik
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. a4 a6 7. c3 h6 8. a5 O-O 9. Be3 Bxe3 10. fxe3 Ne7 11. Nbd2 Ng6 12. Qe1 Be6 13. Bxe6 fxe6 14. Qg3 Qe8 15. b4 Rd8 16. c4 Nh5 17. Qh3 Nf6 18. Qg3 Nh7 19. h3 Rf6 20. Nh2 Ngf8 21. Rxf6 Nxf6 22. Rf1 Qg6 23. Qh4 Rd7 24. Ndf3 Rf7 25. Qe1 Qh5 26. Qg3 Qg6 27. Qh4 Rd7 28. Rc1 Qe8 29. Ng4 Nxg4 30. Qxg4 Nh7 31. c5 Nf6 32. Qg3 Kh7 33. c6 bxc6 34. Rxc6 Qa8 35. Rc4 Qe8 36. Qh4 Kg8 37. Qg3 d5 38. exd5 exd5 39. Rc1 e4 40. Ne5 Nh5 41. Qg4 Qxe5 42. Qxd7 exd3 43. Qxc7 Qxc7 0-1



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Rapid chess and blitz chess tournaments

Blitz chess (also known as speed or fast chess) is a type of chess in which each player is given less time to consider their moves than normal tournament time controls allow. Openings, tactics and strategy are same.