Keys to Victory
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Advantage
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Why
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Better Team
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Kramnik
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Kramnik has assembled a
dream team
of experienced world champion
seconds. Kramnik will bring back some members of his 2000 brain games
team, namely
Evgeny Bareev, Miguel Illescas and Peter Svidler.
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Match Experience
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Kramnik
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Kramnik has two world championship matches under his belt. His first
was as a second to Kasparov during the 1995 World Championship. The 2nd was
during Kramnik's own fight for chess immortality, which Kramnik won in
2000 by decisively defeating Garry Kasparov.
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Difficulty being Defeated
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Even
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Both players are know to be tenacious defenders.
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Better Chess Knowledge
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Kramnik
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Leko made this dangerous concession in a recent interview.
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Head to Head Match Up
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Kramnik
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Kramnik leads the over all match ups with 7 wins, 5 losses with 41
draws. Since 2003, they have met 15 times, with Kramnik leading as well
with 1 win, 15 draws. This match could go the same way.
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Match Preparation
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Kramnik
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Kramnik's been involved in two successful world championship matches.
Kramnik also played in several candidate matches against top players. Peter Leko is in danger of possibly over training.
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Current Playing Trends
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Kramnik
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Kramnik has had an impressive 2004, with wins at Linares and Amber.
Peter Leko has been building momentum also, but he has shown to be a half
a move behind Kramnik. Leko finished just behind Kramnik at Linares and
Dortmund.
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Player's Psychology
(The Wild Card)
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Leko
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Leko is said to be ascetic. He is in peak physical condition. He is
noted for his perfect mental stability and incredible will power. If Leko
is to win this match, this could be the deciding factor. Kramnik however,
likes to conserve energy, which is evident by the way he wins tournaments.
Kramnik after winning the world title, appeared to lose his desire for
chess. People say Kramnik has a Russian soul and loves to enjoy
life. It
is also said he works less intensely at chess than his competitors.
Kramnik has not shown to be the player he was that defeated Kasparov in
2000. But
Kramnik is building momentum, a champion on the rise. If Kramnik can
reach the level of play he had in 2000, he can defeat any one.
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9th Pawn
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Kramnik
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Only a confident World Champion can bring this into the match, Kramnik
has been building momentum since late 2003. He has won two major super
tournaments in 2004. He also finished 2nd to Anand at Dortmund.
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9/20/2004
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