Nervous tension made grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik shed almost 22 pounds during last month's victory over chess king Garry Kasparov.

Kramnik, 25, dethroned Kasparov, 37, in London in a match held outside the auspices of the international chess federation.

The tension of competing with such a Herculean opponent caused his weight loss, Kramnik told Argumenty i Fakty, a Russian weekly magazine.

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Kramnik also revealed the strategy he used to defeat his rival. Kasparov favors fast-paced chess games, so Kramnik said he drew him into a tortoise-paced, nerve-shredding game.

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