Remember the promise of the "New Kramnik"? He was only kidding
See for yourself here, at least if "Russianbear" has translated the original right on Mig's Chess Ninja message board. At the press conference at the end of the match, following game 11, Kramnik seemed to say that not only was his preparation inadequate, but that he'd need to change his chess as well. According to the present interview, however, Kramnik thinks his chess is fine; what he really needs is a permanent team a la Anand and Topalov (and of course before them, Kasparov).
That's undoubtedly a very good idea, but is that all that really needs to change? My initial inclination is to say "no", but the more I think about it, the less sure I am. Topalov, for example, made a huge jump after doing some very heavy work with Ponomariov and then taking Cheparinov on board as a semi-permanent second. Kasparov and Anand benefited from such relationships as well, so I'm not in a rush to discount the idea. We'll see!
HT: Brian Karen
That's undoubtedly a very good idea, but is that all that really needs to change? My initial inclination is to say "no", but the more I think about it, the less sure I am. Topalov, for example, made a huge jump after doing some very heavy work with Ponomariov and then taking Cheparinov on board as a semi-permanent second. Kasparov and Anand benefited from such relationships as well, so I'm not in a rush to discount the idea. We'll see!
HT: Brian Karen
Posted by Dennis Monokroussos on
Friday November 14, 2008 at 12:42am
I think by playing 1.e4, you could argue that Anand proved himself as the more universal player, though this may actually just been more of a surprise weapon in such a short match. I think if the championship was a longer match or one with a minimum number of wins (not points), then there would be more of a premium on having a universal style.