Sergey Karjakin defeated World Champion Vladimir Kramnik in a
blitz Playoff at Dortmund today. Sergey is 14 years old and is rated 2580.
He hasn't cracked the top 100 in the rating chart, however he might just
be the youngest player in the world to defeat a sitting world champion.
Karjakin with the white pieces gave Kramnik hell today and finally ground
down the world champion. Sergey was able to do what the top players in
group 2 were not able to do. He cracked Kramnik's Berlin Wall.
Peter Leko
went up against Kramnik's wall and was unable to even put a dent in it.
Poor Victor Bologan tried to take it on, only to have it fall on top of
him. It cost him a full point. Kramnik got lucky the other day against
Karjakin and narrowly escaped with a draw. Things were different today,
Sergey ground Kramnik down in a bishop of opposite color endgame with a
pair of rooks on the board. Kramnik took immediate revenge on poor
Victor Bologan. The mark of a true World Champion. This is a major victory
for Sergey. He has outplayed the sitting world champion in two games in
this tournament. This tells us much about his character. I think he will
be a world champion some day.
Bobby Fischer did not beat a sitting world
champion until game 3 of the 1972 world championship. Bobby was 29 at the
time he defeated World Champion Boris Spassky. Garry Kasparov did not
defeat a sitting world champion until game 32 of his world
championship match in 1984. Garry Kasparov was 21 years old when he
defeated World Champion Anatoly Karpov. Kramnik's first victory over a
sitting world champion, occurred in 1994 in Moscow. Kramnik defeat World
Champion Garry Kasparov.
Even though Sergey's victory
was in a blitz game, this is a major event. Congratulations to Sergey for
a job well done. This was no cheap victory. He out played the champion in
two games, finally winning one of them. This shows you that hard work does
pay off. Sergey ground down an world champion, who is also an expert endgame player. David Howell was the
youngest
player ever to draw a sitting world champion.
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