Ex-World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik turned 35 today, and the Russian daily newspaper Kommersant published greetings from the current Women’s World Chess Champion, Alexandra Kosteniuk.

The message is part of a series run by the newspaper. It’s perhaps worth pointing out that wishes tend to get more elaborate the further east you go – it’s quite a shock where I live here in Poland, for instance, that on the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve you suddenly have to think up a special wish for every person in the room! Anyway, here’s Alexandra:

Dear Vladimir! I wholeheartedly congratulate you on your birthday! I hope you can continue to bring joy to us all with your creativity, your beautiful games and your striking results! May victory on the chess board be only one element of your life!

Let there be a rise!

Let there be victories!
 
Let there be aspiration!

Let there be love!

Let there be everything that you would want:

Success, luck and a way forward!

I’m continuing (a little slower than I’d like) to add material to this site. Yesterday, for instance, I added part of an interview with Kramnik after Dortmund: http://www.chessintranslation.com/2009/09/kramnik-on-the-liberation-of-losing-the-crown/

On a similar theme I’d recommend Svidler’s description of preparing with Kramnik before the Leko match: http://www.chessintranslation.com/2009/11/svidler-on-kramniks-opening-preparation-and-shirovs-top-5/

There’s a wonderful long interview with Kramnik here: http://www.chessintranslation.com/2009/12/kramnik-if-topalov-becomes-champion-it-will-be-a-disaster-for-chess/

Kramnik on the blitz part of the Tal Memorial: http://www.chessintranslation.com/2009/11/kramnik-on-blitz/

And here’s a video of the opening of Kramnik’s win (with a brilliant exchange sacrifice) against Kosteniuk at that 2009 blitz championship in Moscow:

Overall Kramnik is currently the most “tagged” name on this site, and you can see those posts here: http://www.chessintranslation.com/tag/kramnik/