Vladmir Kramnik: “I have lent Anand the crown”
The former world champion Vladimir Kramnik is currently in Moscow, preparing for a series of tournaments in November and December, namely the Tal Memorial, then the World Blitz Championship, and finally, a two-game mini-match of “advanced chess” against Anand himself. Before leaving for Russia, he gave an exclusive interview to the French correspondent of the Russian newspaper Izvestia, Yuri Kovalenko. This contained a number of interesting comments.
The interesting interview is on ChessBase. Click here to read it.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Susan Polgar
November 2, 2007
General News, Major Tournaments, Shop, Susan's Personal Blog
20 Comments
Kramnik is a bit like Fischer – he lost the title but still saya he is the king.
That’s silly, Anand is world champion, Kramnik is (just) the challenger. He has to accept the fact.
Everyone should be free to feel whatever they like. If Kramnik wants to feel that he is the champion, everybody should respect his freedom to do so. The same goes for Fischer or for anyone else. Feelings are a strictly private thing.
I agree – let every nutcase think whatever he wants. Anand is the World Champion. Period.
Kramnik needs to learn how to pronounce: L-O-S-E-R.
I did not expect a cultured person like Kramnik to say “I’ve lent Anand the crown”. He should be gracious enough to say that ‘yes,whatever the format,i did lose the crown but hope or believe that I can regain the title next year’How petty can one be? Kramnik himself admits that Anand is the stronger Tournament player. Then is he saying that a World Champion need not be the strongest tournament player as well?. Does not that take away some lustre from being called the World Champion?
Chess is like boxing. To be the undisputed champion, Anand has to defeat Kramnik in a World Champoinship Match one-on-one. There are many chess tournaments with multiple participans and different people win each time. The winner of any one round robin tournament doesn’t make them the Champion. To that end I agree with Kramnik.
To ssk
Agreeing with Kramnik is one thing. But to say”I’ve only lent Anand the Crown” is a boorish statement. Kramnik did not lend anything willingly. Anand won the tournament,billed the world championship and ‘took’ the crown from Kramnik. That is all there is to it. Federer is World Champion,even though he can’t defeat Nadal on clay.Tiger Woods is World Champion by winning more tournaments than his peers. Perhaps Woods might lose a one on one. Shirov defeated Kramnik in match play. The chess players of this era are so equal that on any given ocassion,anything can happen. So until the face off Anand is undisputed CHAMP! Kramnik definitely a worthy challenger.
I used to respect kramnik, specially for his comments and wisdom. After what he said about Anand and the worldshampionship, kramnik is not a rolemodel anymore, such a childish behaviour, seriously some ppl have to learn manners and humblness before chess. It is sad to see such comments from a top player. No i do not agree that he is free to say what he wants, it is like saying it is ok to say publicily “i feel anand is stupid” would this statement be execused just because it is “what he feels”!…I think saying “i have lent anand the crown” is shocking to the chess community, and i think after that kramnik has lost lots of his fans forever!
It’s just one statement. It might just be a momentary slip of judgment. Even if Kramnik truly feels that way, it is not very appropriate to deduce Kramnik’s character just by this one interview.
It really takes a lot of effort to put oneself in Kramnik’s shoes and see the issue. He is one of the top players and world champion till recently. His emotions would be very different than what one can imagine. He is worthy of taking a different stand on who is the world champion. He is important and he knows it.
Although, I don’t really agree with Kramnik because Anand won the title in a fair way, I do admit that there is a certain thrill in beating the world champion one-on-one and taking the title.
Just so that you know, I’m an Indian and I love the fact that Anand is the official world champion now!
jochen,
Kramnik accepted the fact immediately after the tournament. He put something like “Anand is the new world champion” on his web site immediately after it.
Last ano,
thanks for that fact – I did not know that. But that makes his declaration just more inexplicable.
Puh, what does it concern me what!?
Greetings
Jochen
I think it’s a great thing for him to say. He’s saying to Anand, ‘yes you do need to beat me in a match’ and ‘oh, actually I’m the one with the high ground when the time comes, whatever the regulations.’ Yet he did admit Anand as the champion. So it means he’s just fully committed to play the match, which will be a great thing to see.
Then we will have Anand himself taking hold of the high ground by saying he grants Kramnik to play him in a match, when the negotiations are finalised. They’re just already playing the match, which will be fun anyway.
thanks annonynous for being so complaint, then i will follow your advice and use my right to freedom and say im the world chess champion!!!
jb.
Assuming the last anonymous repied to me: Well that is fully within your rights. Assuming you are not Anand, you will not have the credibility in general, but there is nothing wrong in feeling a champion. I do so too. =) We are all beautiful in our own special way.
I will also say that many things could be improved in the world, but that doesn’t mean I’m out to fight ‘the system’, if you understand what I mean: what is said is said and what is meant is meant, it is a fool’s game to worry too much over how whomever might interpret what you say. I don’t have the time for it myself, life is too short.
I think we should not take Krmnik words so seriously as they are coming from a LOSER’s mouth. Manytimes, a LOSER blames something or other for his lost. I have seen it manytimes from many world chessplayers in my last 35 of international chess carrer.
Kramnik is no different from any typical LOSER.. i repeat LOSER !!!
Kramnik is a sore loser.
“If Kramnik wants to feel that he is the champion, everybody should respect his freedom to do so.”
That’s nonsense!!!
Did you notice, while copycating chessbase articles, that you don’t even read them through and repeat the same spelling errors, even in the headlines??
It’s not such a big deal. I agree with Kramnik to the extent that it’s sort of 50/50 at this point, and it will be all decided after their match.
Kramnik was just being objective more than PC. He’d better work on that before he goes into politics.
The players should be monitored at that match in such a way that there’s no avoidable risk of unauthorized assistance. Solve the bathroom situation. And I have said before: they must not wear their own shoes during the match. Shoes can contain electronics and communication devices.
http://poll.pollcode.com/7Tqm
KRAMNIK IS THE BIGGEST LOSER !!!
He needs to learn to be graceful in defeat !!