The former world champion Vladimir Kramnik recently announced his retirement from competitive chess. He is one of the greats of the modern game, winning three World Championship contests — against Garry Kasparov, Peter Leko and Veselin Topalov — and retaining the title from 2000 to 2007. This tenure puts him on a par with other champions such as José Capablanca, Tigran Petrosian and Viswanathan Anand, who all reigned for around half a decade on the supreme chess throne.
Kramnik was crowned champion when he defeated Kasparov in their match in London in 2000. The key elements in Kramnik’s success were firstly his reinvention of the Berlin Wall defence in the Ruy Lopez (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nf6), which has subsequently become one of the main highways of contemporary opening theory and has also found favour with the AlphaZero software program. Secondly, Kramnik’s exclusive use of queenside openings.
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