Kramnik in the Dutch league - a video report

Last Saturday was the day: the debut of World Champion Vladimir Kramnik in the Premier League of the Dutch competition. In the top match between Share Dimension Groningen and HSG Hilversum, for the first time since Max Euwe, another reigning champion of the world played in the league. And, of course, Chessvibes was there with a camera!

The match was won by the favorite team, Groningen, although according to HSG top player Loek van Wely (playing on board 2), this was far from clear halfway the match. Loek even thought HSG might win, based on the positions on the board, but in time trouble Groningen built their 6,5-3,5 victory, despite Kramnik’s draw against Dutch talent Jan Smeets.

But enough talking already. A report on Saturday’s games will soon be published by our editor GM Erwin L’Ami, who played against Arkadij Naiditsch. For now we present you some impressions of the day, a mutual press conference by Van Wely and Nisipeanu, images of the time trouble period, and extensive footage of the post mortem between Smeets and Kramnik. Enjoy!

First an impression of the atmosphere. ‘In order of appearence’: Ljubomir Ljubojevic, Vladimir Kramnik, Jan Smeets, Jan Werle, Friso Nijboer, Yge Visser, Ruud Janssen, Joris Brenninkmeijer, Daniël Stellwagen, Wouter Spoelman, Ian Rogers, Loek van Wely, Arkadij Naiditsch, Erwin l’Ami, Ivan Sokolov, Yasser Seirawan, David Baramidze, Predrag Nikolic, Tea Bosboom-Lanchava, Marion van Wely, Carsten Hensel and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu.

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The post-mortem of Kramnik and Smeets:

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The demonstation of Loek van Wely and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (together):

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And a short clip of the post-mortem of Stellwagen and Brenninkmeijer:

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