In the fourth episode of “Olympiad Stories with Saravanan”, we focus on the 14th world champion, Vladimir Kramnik. Kramnik arrived at the world scene in 1992 at the Manila Olympiad, with a score of 8½/9. His performance rating was over 2900! This was the stage where he broke through, before eventually defeating Garry Kasparov in the World Championship. In this episode, you get to know not only about the 1992 Olympiad and Kramnik’s games, but also about Vladimir’s personality.
The Maccabiah Games have been held every four years in Israel since 1932, with the participation of many Jewish athletes from around the world. Chess is one of the many sports featured at the games. The 21st edition was played from 13 – 22 July 2022 in Jerusalem. The atmosphere of the Maccabiah Games was palpable in the historical city, with a huge number of sportspeople from different countries speaking different languages and waiting to compete in a range of sports. | Photo: Dr. Mark Livshitz
Actually more players in the top 100: 13 US grandmasters vs 12 from Russia, down from 22 five years ago. But even the total is closing: In total Russia still has 246 grandmasters, compared to 101 from the US. Many Russian GMs from the older generation, like Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik, have dropped out of the rating list, but the main reason for the decline is the reaction of players to Russia's war invasion of Ukraine. | Newsweek photo Getty