[blind-chess] Annotated Game #152: Vasily Smyslov - Mikhail Botvinnik, Moscow 1944
- From: "Roderick Macdonald" <rjmacdonald@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Blind-Chess Mailing List" <blind-chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 19:46:55 -1000
Annotated Game #152:
Vasily Smyslov - Mikhail Botvinnik, Moscow 1944
Adapted and Condensed from
Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
Contents:
++1. Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov
++1.A Early years
++1.B War years
++1.C World title challenger
++1.D World Champion
++1.E Later World Championships
++1.F Soviet Championships
++1.G Post-war tournament record
++1.H Team competition
++1.I Final years
++1.J Legacy
++1.K Opera singer
++1.L Notable chess games
++1.M Books by Smyslov
++2. Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik
++2.A Early years
++2.B Soviet champion
++2.C World title contender
++2.D World Champion
++2.E Team tournaments
++2.F Late career
++2.G Political controversies
++2.H Assessment
++2.H1 Playing strength and style
++2.H2 Influence on the game
++2.I Other achievements
++2.I1 Electrical engineering
++2.I2 Computer chess
++2.J Writings
++2.J1 Chess
++2.J2 Computers
++2.K Notable chess games
++2.L Tournament results
++2.L1 Match results
++3. Vasily Smyslov - Mikhail Botvinnik, Moscow 1944
++1. Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov
Vasily Vasilyevich (Vasilievich) Smyslov (March 24, 1921 - March
27, 2010) was a Russian and Soviet chess Grandmaster and was World
Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidate for the World Chess
Championship on eight occasions (1948, 1950, 1953, 1956, 1959,
1965, 1983, and 1985). Smyslov was twice equal first at the Soviet
Championship (1949, 1955), and his total of 17 Chess Olympiad
medals won is an all-time record. In five European Team
Championships, Smyslov won ten gold medals. He remained active and
successful in competitive chess well into the 1960s and 1970s and
he qualified for the finals of the World Championship Candidates'
Matches as late as 1983. Despite failing eyesight, he remained
active in the occasional composition of chess problems and studies
until shortly before his death from heart failure.
++1.A Early years
Smyslov (pronounced "smis-LOFF") first became interested in chess
at the age of 6. His father, Vasily Osipovich Smyslov, worked as an
engineering technician and had represented the St. Petersburg
Technical Institute in intercollegiate chess competitions.
Smyslov's father had also studied chess for a time under the
tutelage of Mikhail Chigorin and the senior Smyslov became the
boy's first teacher. The elder Smyslov gave his son a copy of
Alexander Alekhine's book My Best Games of Chess 1908-1923 and the
future world champion would later write that this book became his
constant reference. He would also write that "...I was later to
read everything that my father had in his library: Dufresne's
handbook, separate numbers of the Soviet chess magazines Chess and
Chess Sheet, the text-books of Lasker and Capablanca, and the
collections of games of Soviet and international tournaments. The
games of the great Russian chess master M. I. Tchigorin made an
indelible impression on me; it was with interest that I read the
various declarations on questions of strategy by A. I. Nimzovitch;
I studied attentively the genius of prominent Soviet masters."
Smyslov's competitive chess experiences began at the age of 14,
when he started taking part in classification tournaments. In 1938,
at age 17, Smyslov won the USSR Junior Championship. That same
year, he tied for 1st-2nd places in the Moscow City Championship,
with 12.5/17. However, Smyslov's first attempt at adult competition
outside his own city fell short; he placed 12th-13th in the
Leningrad-Moscow International tournament of 1939 with 8/17 in an
exceptionally strong field. In the Moscow Championship of 1939-40
Smyslov placed 2nd-3rd with 9/13.
++1.B War years
In his first Soviet final, the 1940 USSR Championship (Moscow, 12th
USSR Championship), he performed exceptionally well for 3rd place
with 13/19, finishing ahead of the reigning champion Mikhail
Botvinnik. This tournament was the strongest Soviet final up to
that time, as it included several players, such as Paul Keres and
Vladas Mikenas, from countries annexed by the USSR, as part of the
Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939.
The Soviet Federation held a further tournament of the top six from
the 1940 event, and this was called the 1941 Absolute Championship
of the USSR, one of the strongest tournaments ever organized. The
format saw each player meet his opponents four times. The players
were Botvinnik, Keres, Smyslov, Isaac Boleslavsky, Igor
Bondarevsky, and Andor Lilienthal. Smyslov scored 10/20 for third
place, behind Botvinnik and Keres. This proved that Smyslov was of
genuine world-class Grandmaster strength at age 20, a very rare
achievement at that time.
The Second World War forced a halt to most international chess. But
several tournaments involving Soviet players only were still
organized. Smyslov won the 1942 Moscow Championship outright with
a powerful 12/15. At Kuibyshev 1942, he placed second with 8/11. In
a strong field at Sverdlovsk 1943, Smyslov tied for 3rd-4th places
with 8/14. In the 1943-44 Moscow Championship, Smyslov tied for
3rd-4th with 11.5/16. He finished second in the 1944 USSR
Championship at Moscow (13th USSR Championship) with 10.5/16. He
emerged as champion from the 1944-45 Moscow Championship with
13/16. By this juncture, Smyslov had advanced into the group of the
top three Soviet players, along with Botvinnik and Keres (who was
playing in Nazi-occupied Europe during the War).
As the war ended, organized chess picked up again. But Smyslov's
form hit a serious slump in the immediate post-war period. In the
1945 USSR Championship at Moscow (14th USSR Championship), Smyslov
was in the middle of the very powerful field with 8.5/17; the
winner was Botvinnik, with Boleslavsky and the new star David
Bronstein occupying second and third places. At Tallinn 1945,
Smyslov had the worst result of his career to date, scoring just
6.5/15 in a not especially strong field. It was little better in
the Moscow Championship of 1945-46, as he could only score 7.5/15
for a tie of 7th-11th places, as Bronstein won. Then in the Moscow
Championship of 1946, Smyslov scored just 8.5/15, for a tie of
3rd-6th places, as Bronstein won again. During this period he
scored just 31/62 in those four tournaments, for 50 per cent.
Nevertheless, Smyslov's earlier strong results secured him one of
the five Soviet places in the first really strong post-war
international tournament, at Groningen, Netherlands, in August
1946. This event, the Howard Staunton Memorial, was won by
Botvinnik with 14.5/19, half a point ahead of former World Champion
Max Euwe. Smyslov finished third with 12.5/19, and this confirmed
his status as one of the world's top players.
Smyslov found it tough going for the next while however, once he
was back playing in Soviet events. In the next Soviet Championship
(15th USSR Championship, Leningrad 1947), he tied for 3rd-4th
places with 12/19, as Keres won. At Parnu 1947, Smyslov scored 8/13
for a tied 4th-6th places, as Keres won again. At Warsaw 1947,
Smyslov scored 6/9 to tie for 2nd-5th places; the winner was
Svetozar Gligoric. In the Mikhail Chigorin Memorial tournament,
Moscow 1947, Smyslov tied for 3rd-4th places, with 10/15, as
Botvinnik won.
His results showed a consistent pattern of high finishes against
strong company, but with virtually no tournament championships.
Smyslov had never actually won an adult tournament other than the
Moscow City Championship, before he played in the 1948 World
Championship Tournament.
++1.C World title challenger
Smyslov was one of the five players selected to compete for the
1948 World Chess Championship tournament to determine who should
succeed the late Alexander Alekhine as champion. His selection was
questioned in some quarters, but this criticism was amply rebutted
when he finished second behind Mikhail Botvinnik, with a score of
11/20.
With his second-place finish from the 1948 World Championship,
Smyslov was exempt into the 1950 Budapest Candidates' tournament.
Smyslov scored 10/18 for third place, behind Bronstein and
Boleslavsky, who tied for first place. Smyslov's third place
exempted him into the next Candidates' tournament. He was awarded
the International Grandmaster title in 1950 by FIDE on its
inaugural list.
After winning the Candidates Tournament in Zurich 1953, with 18/28,
two points ahead of Keres, Bronstein, and Samuel Reshevsky, Smyslov
played a match with Botvinnik for the title the following year.
Sited at Moscow, the match ended in a draw, after 24 games (seven
wins each and ten draws), meaning that Botvinnik retained his
title.
++1.D World Champion
Smyslov had again won the Candidates' Tournament at Amsterdam in
1956, which led to another world championship match against
Botvinnik in 1957. Assisted by trainers Vladimir Makogonov and
Vladimir Simagin, Smyslov won by the score 12.5-9.5. The following
year, Botvinnik exercised his right to a rematch, and won the title
back with a final score of 12.5-10.5. Smyslov later said his health
suffered during the return match, as he came down with pneumonia,
but he also acknowledged that Botvinnik had prepared very
thoroughly. Over the course of the three World Championship
matches, Smyslov had won 18 games to Botvinnik's 17 (with 34
draws), and yet he was only champion for a year. Yet Smyslov was to
write in his autobiographical games collection Smyslov's Best
Games, "I have no reason to complain of my fate. I fulfilled my
dream and became the seventh world champion in the history of
chess."
++1.E Later World Championships
Smyslov did not qualify for another World Championship, but
continued to play in World Championship qualifying events. In 1959,
he was a Candidate, but finished fourth in the qualifying
tournament held in Yugoslavia, which was won by the rising
superstar Mikhail Tal. He missed out in 1962, but was back in 1964,
following a first-place tie at the Amsterdam Interzonal, with
17/23. However he lost his first-round match to Efim Geller.
In 1983, at the age of 62, he went through to the Candidates' Final
(the match to determine who plays the champion, in that case
Anatoly Karpov), losing 8.5-4.5 at Vilnius 1984 to Garry Kasparov,
who was 21 at the time, and who went on to beat Karpov to become
world champion in 1985. He had beaten Zoltan Ribli 6.5-4.5 in the
semifinal, but drew his quarter-final match against Robert Huebner
7-7, with the advancing player (Smyslov) determined only by the
spin of a roulette wheel. His final Candidates' appearance was the
Montpellier 1985 tournament, where he did not advance.
++1.F Soviet Championships
Smyslov was a frequent competitor at the Soviet Championships and
enjoyed some notable successes. In 1940, while still a teenager, he
finished third behind Bondarevsky and Lilienthal. At the 13th
Championship in 1944, he placed second behind Botvinnik and in
1947, shared third with Bondarevsky, after Keres and Boleslavsky.
He was a joint winner of the contest in 1949 and again in 1955
(with Bronstein and Geller respectively). Whilst the 1949 title was
shared, the 1955 title was awarded to Geller after a play-off.
Much later in his career he showed that he could still mount a
credible challenge; he took a share of third place in 1969 (behind
Petrosian and Polugaevsky) and in 1971, was joint runner-up with
Tal, after Savon.
++1.G Post-war tournament record
Smyslov maintained an active tournament schedule throughout the
1950s, 60s and 70s, registering many top three finishes in some of
the most prestigious tournaments of the period.
In 1950, he was second behind Kotov at Venice and in 1951, won The
Chigorin Memorial, held in Leningrad. He shared third place with
Botvinnik at Budapest (The Maroczy Memorial) in 1952, after Keres
and Geller. In 1953, he won a training tournament in Gagra and
finished third at Bucharest, behind Tolush and Petrosian. At the
1954-1955 edition of the Hastings Congress, he shared first place
with Keres. At Zagreb 1955, he was sole winner, two clear points
ahead of the field. He continued his winning streak at Moscow's
Alekhine Memorial in 1956, a victory shared with his constant
rival, Botvinnik. During this period, there were several triumphs
in his city of birth, when he shared first place with Bronstein and
Spassky in 1959, was a joint winner in both 1961 (with Kholmov) and
1962 (with Vasiukov), and won outright in 1963.
His good form continued throughout the sixties. There were shares
of second place at Dortmund 1961 (after Taimanov) and at Mar del
Plata 1962 (after Polugaevsky). He travelled again to Hastings at
the end of 1962 and registered third place behind Gligoric and
Kotov. In 1963, he was second at Sochi (The Chigorin Memorial)
after Polugaevsky. His visit to Havana's Capablanca Memorial in
1964 resulted in a share of first with the East German, Uhlmann. He
took outright first at the same tournament the following year. In
1966, there were victories at Mar del Plata and at The Rubinstein
Memorial in Polanica Zdroj. In 1967, he was second to Fischer at
Monte Carlo, won at Moscow and took second after Stein at the
city's Alekhine Memorial tournament. He placed third the same year
at The Capablanca Memorial in Havana (after Larsen and Taimanov)
and finished third again at Palma de Mallorca 1967 and Monte Carlo
1968, the latter two events both being headed by Larsen and
Botvinnik. This was also the year he repeated his previous success
at Polanica Zdroj, taking outright first. His next trip to Hastings
also ended in triumph, as he took clear first at the 1968/69
edition. The sixties drew to a close with victory at Monte Carlo
1969 (shared with Portisch) and a share of third place at Skopje
1969 (with Uhlmann and Kholmov, after Hort and Matulovic).
While less prolific than in previous decades, Smyslov played many
strong tournaments in the seventies and even into the eighties and
beyond. He was joint runner-up with Hort, Gligoric and Korchnoi at
Rovinj/Zagreb 1970, after Fischer. A winner at Amsterdam in 1971,
he came third at The Alekhine Memorial (Moscow) the same year,
after Karpov and Stein. At Las Palmas 1972, he was second equal
with Larsen, behind Portisch and in 1973, topped The Capablanca
Memorial in Cienfuegos. First place followed at Reykjavik in 1974
and at the Venice tournament of the same year, he finished second
behind Liberzon. There followed a second place at The Alexander
Memorial (Teesside) in 1975 (after Geller), a first place at
Szolnok (also 1975), and a multi-way share of second at the large
Lone Pine Open of 1976 (Petrosian won). He finished third behind
Romanishin and Tal at Leningrad in 1977, when all three eclipsed
the efforts of then world champion Anatoly Karpov. In 1978, he won
at Sao Paulo and finished with a share of second at Buenos Aires,
after Andersson. As the seventies ended, he took first place at
Berlin 1979, this time shared with Csom.
Notable outcomes for 1980 included joint first places at San Miguel
(with Browne, Panno, Emma) and at Copenhagen (the Politiken Cup,
with Mikhalchishin). The same year, he finished second at Bar,
after Petrosian and second at Baguio City, after Torre. At Moscow
1981, he joined Kasparov and Polugaevsky in second place, behind
Karpov. A further Hastings visit in 1981/82 resulted in a share of
second place, with Speelman, after Kupreichik. He was first at Graz
in 1984 and first equal at Copenhagen (Politiken Cup) 1986 with
Chernin, Pigusov and Cserna. He played at Reggio Emilia over the
New Year of 1986/87 and shared second spot with Hort, Chernin and
Spassky, after Ribli. At Hastings in 1988/89, he took a share of
third with Gulko and Speelman, behind Short and Korchnoi.
His tournament appearances were relatively more sparse in the
nineties, but results included a share of first at Buenos Aires
1990 and a share of second at Malmo (Sigeman) in 1997, after
Hellers.
++1.H Team competition
Smyslov and Yuri Averbach, 2002
Smyslov represented the Soviet Union a total of nine times at chess
Olympiads, from 1952 to 1972 inclusive, excepting only 1962 and
1966. He contributed mightily to team gold medal wins on each
occasion he played, winning a total of eight individual medals. His
total of 17 Olympiad medals won, including team and individual
medals, is an all-time Olympiad record, according to olimpbase.org.
At Helsinki 1952, he played second board, and won the individual
gold medal with 10.5/13. At Amsterdam 1954, he was again on second
board, scored 9/12, and took the individual bronze medal. At Moscow
1956, he scored 8.5/13 on second board, but failed to win a medal.
At Munich 1958, he made 9.5/13 on second board, good for the silver
individual medal. At Leipzig 1960, he was dropped to first reserve,
and made a great score of 11.5/13, which won the gold medal. After
missing out on selection in 1962, he returned for Tel Aviv 1964, on
third board, and won the gold medal with 11/13. He missed selection
in 1966, but returned with a vengeance for Lugano 1968, and made a
phenomenal 11/12 for another gold medal as second reserve. At
Siegen 1970, he was first reserve, and scored 8/11 for the bronze
medal. His final Olympiad was Skopje 1972, where at age 51 he
played third board and scored 11/14, good for the silver medal.
His overall Olympiad score is an imposing 90 points in 113 games
(+69 =42 -2), for 79.6 per cent. This performance is the fifth all-
time best for players participating in at least four olympiads
Smyslov also represented the USSR in five European Team
Championships, and emerged with a perfect medals' record: he won
five team gold medals and five board gold medals. His total score
in these events was (+19 =15 -1), for 75.7 per cent. From
olimpbase.org, here is his European teams' data.
* Vienna 1957: board 1, 3.5/6 (+2 =3 -1), board and team gold
medals;
* Oberhausen 1961: board 5, 9/9 (+7 =2 -0), board and team gold
medals;
* Hamburg 1965: board 4, 6/9 (+3 =6 -0), board and team gold
medals;
* Kapfenberg 1970: board 5, 5/6 (+4 =2 - 0), board and team gold
medals;
* Bath, Somerset 1973: board 6, 4/5 (+3 =2 - 0), board and team
gold medals.
Smyslov played for the USSR in both the 1970 and 1984 matches
against teams representing the Rest of the World. He was on board
six at Belgrade in 1970, and on board four at London in 1984, with
the Soviets winning both matches.
++1.I Final years
In 1991 Smyslov won the inaugural World Senior Chess Championship.
He played no competitive games after the 2001 Klompendans Veterans
versus Ladies tournament in Amsterdam. His Elo rating after this
event was 2494.
Smyslov died of heart failure in hospital in Moscow on the morning
of 27 March 2010, three days after his 89th
birthday.
++1.J Legacy
Vasily Smyslov congratulates Yuri Averbakh at his 80th birthday and
presents him with a book of his own chess studies.
Smyslov was known for his positional style, and, in particular, his
precise handling of the endgame, but many of his games featured
spectacular tactical shots as well. He made enormous contributions
to chess opening theory in many openings, including the English
Opening, Gruenfeld Defense, and the Sicilian Defense. He has a
variation of the Closed Ruy Lopez named for him: the line runs 1.e4
e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3
0-0 9.h3 h6. Smyslov also successfully revived the Fianchetto
Defense to the Ruy Lopez (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6) in the
1970s. In the Slav Defense, the main line with 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6
3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 is named the Czech or Smyslov
Variation.
Perhaps in tribute to his probing intellect, Stanley Kubrick named
a character after him in his film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
++1.K Opera singer
Smyslov was a fine baritone singer, who only positively decided
upon a chess career after a failed audition with the Bolshoi
Theatre in 1950. He once said, "I have always lived between chess
and music." On the occasion of a game against Mikhail Botvinnik, he
sang to an audience of thousands. He occasionally gave recitals
during chess tournaments, often accompanied by fellow Grandmaster
and concert pianist Mark Taimanov. Smyslov once wrote that he tried
to achieve harmony on the chess board, with each piece assisting
the others.
++1.L Notable chess games
* Tigran Petrosian vs Vasily Smyslov, USSR Championship, Moscow
1949, Sicilian Defense, Scheveningen Variation (B84), 0-1 The
first meeting of two future World Champions goes to Smyslov in
a precise positional performance.
* Vasily Smyslov vs Efim Geller, USSR Championship, Moscow 1951,
Sicilian Defense, Closed Variation (B26), 1-0 Smyslov used the
Closed Sicilian periodically throughout his life, and made
many important improvements.
* Paul Keres vs Vasily Smyslov, Zurich Candidates' Tournament
1953, English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense. Hedgehog System
(A17) 0-1 In a vital late-tournament encounter, Smyslov fights
off Keres' very dangerous attack, to put himself in the
driver's seat towards winning the tournament.
* Vasily Smyslov vs Mikhail Botvinnik, World Championship Match,
Moscow 1954, game 9, French Defense, Winawer Variation (C17),
1-0 Smyslov blows up one of the World Champion's favourite
variations with a queen sacrifice to score a stunning win.
* Mikhail Botvinnik vs Vasily Smyslov, World Championship Match,
Moscow 1954, game 14, King's Indian Defense, Fianchetto
Variation (E68), 0-1 With one of the deepest pre-game home
preparations ever seen, Smyslov unleashes a chain of tactical
wizardry, including a queen sacrifice, to record a beautiful
win which fundamentally changed the theory in this variation.
* Vasily Smyslov vs David Bronstein, Candidates' Tournament,
Amsterdam 1956, English Opening (A34), 1-0 The two players
were fighting for the right to qualify, late in the
tournament, and Smyslov finds a way to come out on top.
* Vasily Smyslov vs Mikhail Tal, Candidates' Tournament,
Yugoslavia 1959, Sicilian Defense, Najdorf / Opecensky
Variation (B92), 1-0 It was their first-ever meeting, and the
young star Tal gets a sharp lesson from the veteran.
* Robert Fischer vs Vasily Smyslov, Candidates' Tournament,
Yugoslavia 1959, Sicilian Defense, Fischer / Sozin Variation
(B86), 0-1 The 16-year-old Fischer had honed this opening line
into a formidable weapon, but here Smyslov shows him a few new
wrinkles.
* Vasily Smyslov vs Boris Spassky, Moscow vs Leningrad team
match 1960, Alekhine's Defense (B05), 1-0 Spassky tries the
unusual Alekhine's Defense and is beaten in fairly short
order.
* Vasily Smyslov vs Anatoly Karpov, USSR Championship, Leningrad
1971, English Opening / Queen's Gambit (A34), 1-0 Karpov was
the young rising star, but here he lasts for only 29 moves
against Smyslov, who is 30 years older.
* Vasily Smyslov vs Garry Kasparov, Soviet Olympiad Training
tournament (?) 1980, Sicilian Defense, Scheveningen Variation
(B84), 1-0 Smyslov spots the young Kasparov 42 years, but
shows chess is a game for all ages with a precise victory over
the future World Champion.
++1.M Books by Smyslov
* Vasily Smyslov (2003) Smyslov's Best Games, Volume 1:
1935-1957 (Moravian Chess Publishing House)
* Vasily Smyslov (2003) Smyslov's Best Games, Volume 2:
1958-1995 (Moravian Chess Publishing House)
* Vasily Smyslov (1997) Endgame Virtuoso (Cadogan)
* Vasily Smyslov (1995) Smyslov's 125 Selected Games (modern
edition published by Everyman Chess)
* Grigory Levenfish and Vasily Smyslov (1971) Rook Endings
(Batsford Edition)
++2. Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik
Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, Ph.D. (August 17 (August 4?) 1911 -
May 5, 1995) was a Soviet and Russian International Grandmaster and
three-time World Chess Champion. Working as an electrical engineer
and computer scientist at the same time, he was one of the very few
famous chess players who achieved distinction in another career
while playing top-class competitive chess. He also developed a
chess-playing algorithm that tried to "think" like a top human
player, but this approach has been superseded by a brute-force
search strategy that exploits the rapid increase in the calculation
speed of modern computers.
Botvinnik was the first world-class player to develop within the
Soviet Union (Alekhine was a top player before the Russian
Revolution), putting him under political pressure but also giving
him considerable influence within Soviet chess. From time to time
he was accused of using that influence to his own advantage, but
the evidence is unclear and some suggest he resisted attempts by
Soviet officials to intimidate some of his rivals.
Botvinnik also played a major role in the organization of chess,
making a significant contribution to the design of the World Chess
Championship system after World War II and becoming a leading
member of the coaching system that enabled the Soviet Union to
dominate top-class chess during that time. His famous pupils
include World Champions Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov and Vladimir
Kramnik.
Playing top class chess for decades, being an eminent chess author,
one of the pioneers of computer chess, and a great chess teacher in
his late years, Botvinnik is widely regarded as the most
influential chess contributor in the 20th century.
++2.A Early years
Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik was born on August 17, 1911, in what
was then Kuokkala in the Russian-controlled but autonomous Grand
Duchy of Finland, but is now the district of Repino in Saint
Petersburg. Although his parents were Jewish, his father was a
dental technician and his mother a dentist, which allowed the
family to live outside the Pale of Settlement to which most Jews in
the Russian Empire were restricted at the time. As a result,
Mikhail Botvinnik grew up in Saint Petersburg's Nevsky Prospekt.
His father forbade the speaking of Yiddish at home, and Mikhail and
his older brother Issy attended Soviet schools. Mikhail Botvinnik
later said, "I am a Jew by blood, Russian by culture, Soviet by
upbringing."
In 1920, his mother became ill and his father left the family, but
maintained contact with the children, even after his second
marriage, to a Russian woman. At about the same time, Mikhail
started reading newspapers, and became a committed Communist.
In autumn 1923, at the age of twelve, Mikhail Botvinnik was taught
chess by a school friend of his older brother, using a home-made
set, and instantly fell in love with the game. He finished in mid-
table in the school championship, sought advice from another of his
brother's friends, and concluded that for him it was better to
think out "concrete concepts" and then derive general principles
from these - and went on to beat his brother's friend quite easily.
In winter 1924, Botvinnik won his school's championship, and
exaggerated his age by three years in order to become a member of
the Petrograd Chess Assembly - to which the Assembly's President
turned a blind eye. Botvinnik won his first two tournaments
organized by the Assembly. Shortly afterwards, Nikolai Krylenko, a
chess fanatic and leading member of the Soviet legal system who
later organized Joseph Stalin's show trials, began building a huge
nation-wide chess organization, and the Assembly was replaced by a
club in the city's Palace of Labor.
To test the strength of Soviet chess masters, Krylenko organized
the Moscow 1925 chess tournament. On a rest day during the event,
world champion José Raúl Capablanca gave a simultaneous exhibition
in Leningrad. Botvinnik was selected as one of his opponents, and
won their game. In 1926, he reached the final stage of the
Leningrad championship. Later that year, he was selected for
Leningrad's team in a match against Stockholm, held in Sweden, and
scored +1 =1 against the future grandmaster Gösta Stoltz. On his
return, he entertained his schoolmates with a vivid account of the
rough sea journey back to Russia. Botvinnik was commissioned to
annotate two games from the match, and the fact that his analyses
were to be published made him aware of the need for objectivity. In
December 1926, he became a candidate member of his school's
Komsomol branch. Around this time his mother became concerned about
his poor physique, and as a result he started a program of daily
exercise, which he maintained for most of his life.
Botvinnik in 1927When Botvinnik finished the school curriculum, he
was below the minimum age for the entrance examinations for higher
education. While waiting, he qualified for his first USSR
Championship final stage in 1927 as the youngest player ever at
that time, tied for fifth place and won the title of National
Master. He wanted to study Electrical Technology at the Leningrad
Polytechnical Institute and passed the entrance examination;
however, there was a persistent excess of applications for this
course and the Prolestud, which controlled admissions, had a policy
of admitting only children of engineers and industrial workers.
After an appeal by a local chess official, he was admitted in 1928
to Leningrad University's Mathematics Department. In January 1929,
Botvinnik played for Leningrad in the student team chess
championship against Moscow. Leningrad won and the team manager,
who was also Deputy Chairman of the Prolestud, secured Botvinnik a
transfer to the Polytechnic's Electromechanical Department, where
he was one of only four students who entered straight from school.
As a result, he had to do a whole year's work in five months, and
failed one of the examinations. Early in the same year he placed
joint third in the semi-final stage of the USSR Championship, and
thus failed to reach the final stage.
His early progress was fairly rapid, mostly under the training of
Soviet Master and coach Abram Model, in Leningrad; Model taught
Botvinnik the Winawer Variation of the French Defence, then
regarded as inferior for Black, but which Model and Botvinnik
analyzed more deeply, and then played with great success.
He won the Leningrad Masters' tournament in 1930 with 6½/8,
following this up the next year by winning the Championship of
Leningrad by 2½ points over former Soviet champion Peter
Romanovsky.
His wife was a Russian named Gayane (Ganna) Davidovna, the daughter
of his algebra and geometry teacher. She was a student at the
Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in Leningrad and later, a
ballerina in the Bolshoi Theatre. They had one daughter named Olga,
born in 1941.
++2.B Soviet champion
In 1931, at the age of 20, Botvinnik won his first Soviet
Championship in Moscow, scoring 13½ out of 17. He commented that
the field was not very strong, as some of the pre-Revolution
masters were absent. In late summer 1931, he graduated with a
degree in Electrical Engineering, after completing a practical
assignment on temporary transmission lines at the Dnieper
Hydroelectric Station. He stayed on at the Leningrad Polytechnical
Institute to study for a Candidate's degree.
In 1933, he repeated his Soviet Championship win, in his home city
of Leningrad, with 14/19, describing the results as evidence that
Krylenko's plan to develop a new generation of Soviet masters had
borne fruit. He and other young masters successfully requested the
support of a senior Leningrad Communist Party official in arranging
contests involving both Soviet and foreign players, as there had
been none since the Moscow 1925 chess tournament. Soon afterwards,
Botvinnik was informed that Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky, one of the
older masters and a member of the Soviet embassy in Prague, had
arranged a match between Salo Flohr and himself, with his opponent
then regarded as one of the most credible contenders for Alexander
Alekhine's World Chess Championship title. The highest-level chess
officials in the Soviet Union opposed this on the grounds that
Botvinnik stood little chance against such a strong opponent, which
caused Krylenko to insist on the match, saying that "We have to
know our real strength."
Botvinnik used what he regarded as the first version of his method
of preparing for a contest, but fell two games behind by the end of
the first six, played in Moscow. However, aided by his old friend
Ragozin and coach Abram Model, he leveled the score in Leningrad
and the match was drawn. When describing the post-match party,
Botvinnik wrote that at the time he danced the foxtrot and
Charleston to a professional standard.
In his first tournament outside the USSR, the Hastings 1934-1935,
Botvinnik achieved only a tie for 5th-6th places, with 5/9. He
wrote that, in London after the tournament, Emanuel Lasker said his
arrival only two hours before the first round began was a serious
mistake and that he should have allowed ten days for
acclimatization. Botvinnik wrote that he did not make this mistake
again.
Botvinnik placed first equal with Flohr, ½ point ahead of Lasker
and one point ahead of José Raúl Capablanca, in Moscow's second
International Tournament, held in 1935. After consulting Capablanca
and Lasker, Krylenko proposed to award Botvinnik the title
grandmaster, but Botvinnik objected that "titles were not the
point." However, he accepted a free car and a 67% increase in his
postgraduate study grant, both provided by the People's
Commissariat of Heavy Industry.
Botvinnik vs Lasker in 1936He later reported to Krylenko that the
1935 tournament made it difficult to judge the strength of the top
Soviet players, as it included a mixture of top-class and weaker
players. Botvinnik advocated a double round-robin event featuring
the top five Soviet players and the five strongest non-Soviet
players available. Despite politicking over the Soviet choices,
both Krylenko and the Central Committee of the Komsomol quickly
authorised the tournament. This was played in Moscow in June
1936,and Botvinnik finished second, one point behind Capablanca and
2 ahead of Flohr. However, he took consolation from the fact the
Soviet Union's best had held their own against top-class
competition.
In early winter, 1936, Botvinnik was invited to play in a
tournament at Nottingham, England. Krylenko authorized his
participation and, to help Botvinnik play at his best, allowed
Botvinnik's wife to accompany him - a privilege rarely extended to
chess players at any time in Soviet history. Taking Lasker's
advice, Botvinnik arrived ten days before play started. Although
his Soviet rivals forecast disaster for him, he scored an
undefeated shared first place (+6 =8) with Capablanca, ½ point
ahead of current World Champion Max Euwe and rising American stars
Reuben Fine and Samuel Reshevsky, and 1 point ahead of ex-champion
Alexander Alekhine. This was the first tournament victory by a
Soviet master outside his own country. When the result reached
Russia, Krylenko drafted a letter to be sent in Botvinnik's name to
Stalin. On returning to Russia Botvinnik discovered he had been
awarded the "Mark of Honour".
Three weeks later, he began work on his dissertation for the
Candidate's degree, obtaining this in June 1937, after his
supervisor described the dissertation as "short and good", and the
first work in its field. As a result of his efforts, he missed the
1937 Soviet championship, won by Grigory Levenfish, who was then
nearly fifty. Later in 1937, Botvinnik drew a match of thirteen
games against Grigory Levenfish. Accounts differ about how the
match was arranged: Levenfish later wrote that Botvinnik challenged
him; while Botvinnik wrote that Krylenko, angered by Botvinnik's
absence from the tournament, ordered the match.
Botvinnik won further Soviet Championship titles in 1939, 1944,
1945, and 1952, bringing his total to six - a record he shares with
Mikhail Tal. In 1945 he dominated the tournament, scoring 15/17;
however in 1952 he tied with Mark Taimanov and won the play-off
match.
++2.C World title contender
In 1938, the world's top eight players met in the Netherlands to
compete in the AVRO tournament, whose winner was supposed to get a
title match with the World Champion, Alexander Alekhine. Botvinnik
placed third, behind Paul Keres and Reuben Fine. According to
Botvinnik, Alekhine was most interested in playing an opponent who
could raise the funds. After consulting the nearest available
Soviet officials, Botvinnik discreetly challenged Alekhine, who
promptly accepted, subject to conditions that would enable him to
acclimatize in Russia and get some high-quality competitive
practice a few months before the match. In Botvinnik's opinion,
Alekhine was partly motivated by the desire for a reconciliation
with the Soviet authorities, so that he could again visit his
homeland. The match, including funding, was authorised at the
highest Soviet political level in January 1939; however, a letter
of confirmation was only sent two months later - in Botvinnik's
opinion, because of opposition by his Soviet rivals, especially
those who had become prominent before the Russian Revolution - and
the outbreak of World War II prevented a World Championship match.
In spring 1939, Botvinnik won the USSR Championship, and his book
on the tournament described the approach to preparation which he
had been developing since 1933. One striking feature of this was
emphasis on opening preparation in order to gain a permanent
positional advantage in the middle game, rather than seeking
immediate tactical surprises that could only be used once.
Botvinnik took an early lead in the 1940 USSR Championship, but
faded badly in the later stages, eventually sharing fifth place. He
attributed this to the unaccustomed difficulty of concentrating in
a party-like atmosphere filled with noise and tobacco smoke.
Botvinnik wrote to a friendly official, commenting that the
champion was to be the winner of a match between Igor Bondarevsky
and Andor Lilienthal, who had tied for first place, but had no
achievements in international competition. The official's efforts
led to a tournament for the title of "Absolute Champion of the
USSR", whose official aim was to identify a Soviet challenger for
Alekhine's title. The contestants were the top six finishers in the
Soviet Championship - Bondarevsky, Lilienthal, Paul Keres (who had
recently become a Soviet citizen), future World Champion Vasily
Smyslov, Isaac Boleslavsky and Botvinnik - who were to play a
quadruple round robin. Botvinnik's preparation with his second,
Viacheslav Ragozin, included training matches in noisy, smoky rooms
and he slept in the playing room, without opening the window. He
won the tournament, 2½ points ahead of Keres and three ahead of
Smyslov; moreover, with plus scores in the "mini-matches" against
all his rivals.
In June 1941 Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Botvinnik's
wife Gayane, a ballerina, told him that her colleagues at the Kirov
Opera and Ballet Theatre were being evacuated to the city of
Perm,then known as Molotov in honour of Vyacheslav Molotov. The
family found an apartment there, and Botvinnik obtained a job with
the local electricity supply organization at the lowest pay rate
and on condition that he did no research, as he had only a
Candidate's degree. Botvinnik's only child, a daughter named Olya,
was born in Perm in April 1942.
In the evenings, Botvinnik wrote a book in which he annotated all
the games of the "Absolute Championship of the USSR", in order to
maintain his analytic skills in readiness for a match with
Alekhine. His work included wood-cutting for fuel, which left him
with insufficient energy for chess analysis. Botvinnik obtained
from Molotov an order that he should be given three days off normal
work in order to study chess.
In 1943, after a two-year lay-off from competitive chess, Botvinnik
won a tournament in Sverdlovsk, scoring 1½ out of 2 against each of
his competitors - who included Smyslov, Vladimir Makogonov,
Boleslavsky, and Ragozin. Chessbase regards this as one of the
fifty strongest tournaments between 1851 and 1986.
Shortly afterwards, Botvinnik was urged to return to Moscow by the
People's Commissar for Power Stations, an admirer and subsequent
good friend. On his return, Botvinnik suggested a match with Samuel
Reshevsky in order to strengthen his claim for a title match with
Alekhine, but this received no political support. In December 1943,
he won the Moscow Championship, ahead of Smyslov. At the same time,
opposition to his plan for a match with Alekhine re-surfaced, on
the grounds that Alekhine was a political enemy and the only proper
course was to demand that he be stripped of the title. The dispute
ended in Botvinnik's favor, and in the dismissal of a senior chess
official, one of those to have opposed Botvinnik's plan, who was
also a KGB colonel.
After Botvinnik won the 1944 and 1945 Soviet championships, most
top Soviet players supported his desire for a World Championship
match with Alekhine. However, the allegations that Alekhine had
written anti-Semitic articles while in Nazi-occupied France made it
difficult to host the match in the USSR. Botvinnik opened
negotiations with the British Chess Federation to host the match in
England, but these were cut short by Alekhine's death in 1946.
When the Second World War ended, Botvinnik won the first high-level
post-war tournament, at Groningen in 1946, with 14½ points from
nineteen games, ½ point ahead of former World Champion Max Euwe and
two ahead of Smyslov. He and Euwe both struggled in the last few
rounds, and Botvinnik had a narrow escape against Euwe, who he
acknowledged had always been a difficult opponent for him. This was
Botvinnik's first outright victory in a tournament outside the
Soviet Union.
Botvinnik also won the very strong Mikhail Chigorin Memorial
tournament held at Moscow 1947.
++2.D World Champion
Botvinnik strongly influenced the design of the system which would
be used for World Championship competition from 1948 to 1963.
Viktor Baturinsky wrote "Now came Botvinnik's turn to defend his
title in accordance with the new qualifying system which he himself
had outlined in 1946" (this statement referred to Botvinnik's 1951
title defense).
On the basis of his strong results during and just after World War
II, Botvinnik was one of five players to contest the 1948 World
Chess Championship, which was held at The Hague and Moscow. He won
the 1948 tournament convincingly, with a score of 14/20, three
points clear, becoming the sixth World Champion. While he was on
vacation in Riga after the tournament, an eleven-year old boy
called Mikhail Tal paid a visit, hoping to play a game against the
new champion. Tal was met by Botvinnik's wife, who said the
champion was asleep, and that she had made him take a rest from
chess.
Botvinnik then held the title, with two brief interruptions, for
the next fifteen years, during which he played seven world
championship matches. In 1951, he drew with David Bronstein over 24
games in Moscow, +5 -5 =14, keeping the world title, but it was a
struggle for Botvinnik, who won the second-last game and drew the
last in order to tie the match. In 1954, he drew with Vasily
Smyslov over 24 games at Moscow, +7 -7 =10, again retaining the
title. In 1957, he lost to Smyslov by 9-12½ in Moscow, but the
rules then in force allowed him a rematch without having to go
through the Candidates' Tournament, and in 1958 he won the rematch
in Moscow; Smyslov said his health was poor during the return
match. In 1960, Botvinnik was convincingly beaten 8½-12½ at Moscow
by Tal, now 23 years old, but again exercised his right to a
rematch in 1961, and won by 13-8 in Moscow. Commentators agreed
that Tal's play was weaker in the rematch, probably due to his
health, but also that Botvinnik's play was better than in the 1960
match, largely due to thorough preparation. Botvinnik changed his
style in the rematch, avoiding the tactical complications in which
Tal excelled and aiming for closed positions and endgames, where
Tal's technique was not outstanding. Finally, in 1963, he lost the
title to Tigran Petrosian, by 9-12 in Moscow. FIDE had by then
altered the rules, and he was not allowed a rematch. The rematch
rule had been nicknamed the "Botvinnik rule", because he twice
benefited from it.
Though ranking as formal World Champion, Botvinnik had a relatively
poor playing record in the early 1950s: he played no formal
competitive games after winning the 1948 match tournament until he
defended his title, then struggled to draw his 1951 championship
match with Bronstein, placed only fifth in the 1951 Soviet
Championship, and tied for third in the 1952 Géza Maróczy Memorial
tournament in Budapest; and he had also performed poorly in Soviet
training contests. Botvinnik did not play in the Soviet team that
won the 1952 Chess Olympiad in Helsinki: the players voted for the
line-up and placed Botvinnik on second board, with Keres on top
board; Botvinnik protested and refused to play. Keres' playing
record from 1950 to early 1952 had been outstanding.
Botvinnik won the 1952 Soviet Championship (joint first with Mark
Taimanov in the tournament, won the play-off match). He included
several wins from that tournament over the 1952 Soviet team members
in his book Botvinnik's Best Games 1947-1970, writing "these games
had a definite significance for me". In 1956, he tied for first
place with Smyslov in the 1956 Alexander Alekhine Memorial in
Moscow, despite a last-round loss to Keres.
++2.E Team tournaments
Botvinnik was selected for the Soviet Olympiad team from 1954 to
1964 inclusively, and helped his team to gold medal finishes each
of those six times. At Amsterdam 1954 he was on board one and won
the gold medal with 8?/11. Then at home for Moscow 1956, he was
again board one, and scored 9?/13 for the bronze medal. For Munich
1958, he scored 9/12 for the silver medal on board one. At Leipzig
1960, he played board two behind Mikhail Tal, having lost his title
to Tal earlier that year; But he won the board two gold medal with
10?/13. He was back on board one for Varna 1962, scored 8/12, but
failed to win a medal for the only time at an Olympiad. His final
Olympiad was Tel Aviv 1964, where he won the bronze with 9/12,
playing board 2 as he had lost his title to Petrosian. Overall, in
six Olympiads, he scored 54½/73 for an outstanding 74.6 percent.
Botvinnik also played twice for the USSR in the European Team
Championship. At Oberhausen 1961, he scored 6/9 for the gold medal
on board one. But at Hamburg 1965, he struggled on board two with
only 3½/8. Both times the Soviet Union won the team gold medals.
Botvinnik played one of the final events of his career at the
Russia (USSR) vs Rest of the World match in Belgrade 1970, scoring
2½/4 against Milan Matulovic, as the USSR narrowly triumphed.
++2.F Late career
After losing the world title for the final time, to Tigran
Petrosian in Moscow in 1963, Botvinnik withdrew from the following
World Championship cycle after FIDE declined, at its annual
congress in 1965, to grant a losing champion the automatic right to
a rematch. He remained involved with competitive chess, appearing
in several highly-rated tournaments and continuing to produce
memorable games.
He retired from competitive play in 1970, aged 59, preferring
instead to occupy himself with the development of computer chess
programs and to assist with the training of younger Soviet players,
earning him the nickname of "Patriarch of the Soviet Chess School"
(see below).
Botvinnik's autobiography, K Dostizheniyu Tseli, was published in
Russian in 1978, and in English translation as Achieving the Aim
(ISBN 0-08-024120-4) in 1981. A staunch Communist, he was
noticeably shaken by the collapse of the Soviet Union and lost some
of his standing in Russian chess during the Boris Yeltsin era.
In the 1980s Botvinnik proposed a computer program to manage the
Soviet economy, however his proposals did not receive significant
attention from the Soviet government.
During the last few years of his life he personally financed his
economic computer project that he hoped would be used to manage the
Russian economy.He kept actively working on the program until his
death and financing the work from the money he made for the
lectures and seminars he attended, despite prominent health
problems.
Botvinnik died of pancreatic cancer in 1995. According to his
daughter, Botvinnik remained active until the last few months of
his life, and continued to go to work until March, 1995 despite
blindness in one of his eyes (and extremely poor vision in the
other).
++2.G Political controversies
The Soviet Union regarded chess as a symbol of Communist
superiority, and hence the Soviet chess world was extremely
politicized. As Botvinnik was the first world-class player produced
by the Soviet Union, everything he said or did (or did not say or
do) had political repercussions, and there were rumors that Soviet
opponents were given hints that they should not beat him.
David Bronstein wrote that Boris Verlinsky had won the 1929 Soviet
Championship and was granted the first Soviet Grandmaster title for
this achievement, yet he was later stripped of it, when it was
thought more politically correct to make Botvinnik the first
official Soviet GM (as distinct from the-then nonexistent FIDE
grandmaster title).
Botvinnik wrote that before the last round of the 1935 Moscow
tournament Soviet Commissar of Justice Nikolai Krylenko, who was
also in charge of Soviet chess, proposed that Ilya Rabinovich
should deliberately lose to Botvinnik, to ensure that Botvinnik
took first place. Botvinnik refused, saying "... then I will myself
put a piece en prise and resign". The game was drawn, and Botvinnik
shared first place with Salo Flohr.
Botvinnik sent an effusive telegram of thanks to Joseph Stalin
after his victory at the great tournament in Nottingham in 1936.
Many years later he said that it had been written in Moscow and
that KGB agents told him to sign it.
Botvinnik played relatively poorly in the very strong 1940 Soviet
Championship, finishing in a tie for fifth/sixth places, with
11½/19, two full points behind Igor Bondarevsky and Andor
Lilienthal. With World War II under way by this time, and the
strong possibility of little or no chess for some time in the
future, Botvinnik seems to have prevailed upon the Soviet chess
leadership to hold another tournament "in order to clarify the
situation". This wound up being the 1941 Absolute Championship of
the USSR, which featured the top six finishers from the 1940 event,
playing each other four times. After a personal appeal to the
defence minister, Vyacheslav Molotov, Botvinnik was exempted from
war work for three days a week in order to concentrate on chess
preparations. He won this tournament convincingly, and thus
reclaimed his position as the USSR's top player. Bronstein claimed
that at the end of the 1946 Groningen tournament, a few months
after the death of reigning world champion Alexander Alekhine,
Botvinnik personally invited Samuel Reshevsky, Reuben Fine, Max
Euwe, Vasily Smyslov, and Paul Keres to join him in a tournament to
decide the new world champion, but other evidence suggests that
FIDE (the "governing body" of chess), had already proposed a World
Championship tournament before the Groningen tournament began, and
at this stage the Soviet Union was not a member and therefore took
no part in framing that proposal.
Since Keres lost his first four games against Botvinnik in the 1948
World Championship tournament, winning only in the final cycle
after the outcome of the tournament had been decided, suspicions
have sometimes been raised that Keres was forced to "throw" games
to allow Botvinnik to win the Championship. Chess historian Taylor
Kingston investigated all the available evidence and arguments, and
concluded that: Soviet chess officials gave Keres strong hints that
he should not hinder Botvinnik's attempt to win the World
Championship; Botvinnik only discovered this about half-way through
the tournament and protested so strongly that he angered Soviet
officials; Keres probably did not deliberately lose games to
Botvinnik or anyone else in the tournament.
Bronstein insinuated that Soviet officials pressured him to lose in
the 1951 world championship match so that Botvinnik would keep the
title, but comments by Botvinnik's second, Salo Flohr, and
Botvinnik's own annotations to the critical 23rd game indicate that
Botvinnik knew of no such plot.
In 1956, FIDE changed the world championship rules so that a
defeated champion would have the right to a return match. Yuri
Averbakh alleged that this was done at the urging of the two Soviet
representatives in FIDE, who were personal friends of Botvinnik.
Averbakh also claims that Botvinnik's friends were behind FIDE's
decision in 1956 to limit the number of players from the same
country that could compete in the Candidates Tournament, and that
this was to Botvinnik's advantage as it reduced the number of
Soviet players he might have to meet in the title match.
Botvinnik asked to be allowed to play in the 1956 Candidates
Tournament, as he wanted to use the event as part of his warm-up
for the next year's title match, but his request was refused.
Mikhail Tal's chronic kidney problems contributed to his defeat in
his 1961 return match with Botvinnik, and his doctors in Riga
advised that he should postpone the match for health reasons.
Averbakh claimed that Botvinnik would agree to a postponement only
if Tal was certified unfit by Moscow doctors, and that Tal then
decided to play.
While there is no doubt that Botvinnik sincerely believed in
Communism, he by no means submissively followed the party line. In
1954, he wrote an article about inciting socialist revolution in
western countries, aiming to spread Communism without a third world
war. And in 1960 Botvinnik wrote a letter to the Soviet Government
proposing economic reforms that were contrary to party policy.
In 1976 Soviet grandmasters were asked to sign a letter condemning
Viktor Korchnoi as a "traitor" after Korchnoi defected. Botvinnik
evaded this "request" by saying that he wanted to write his own
letter denouncing Korchnoi. By this time, however, his importance
had waned and officials would not give him this "privilege", so
Botvinnik's name did not appear on the group letter - an outcome
Botvinnik may have foreseen. Bronstein and Boris Spassky openly
refused to sign the letter.
++2.H Assessment
++2.H1 Playing strength and style
For more information see Comparing top chess players throughout
history Reuben Fine observed that Botvinnik was at or near the top
of the chess world for thirty years - from 1933, when he drew a
match against Flohr, to 1963, when he lost the world championship
for the final time, to Petrosian - "a feat equaled historically
only by Emanuel Lasker and Steinitz". The statistical rating system
used in Raymond Keene and Nathan Divinsky's book Warriors of the
Mind concludes that Botvinnik was the fourth strongest player of
all time: behind Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov and Bobby Fischer
but ahead of José Raúl Capablanca, Lasker, Viktor Korchnoi, Boris
Spassky, Vasily Smyslov and Tigran Petrosian. The Chessmetrics
system is sensitive to the length of the periods being compared,
but places Botvinnik third in a comparison of players' best
individual years (1946 for Botvinnik) and sixth in a comparison of
fifteen-year periods (1935-1949 in Botvinnik's case). In 2005
Chessmetrics' creator Jeff Sonas wrote an article which examined
various ways of comparing the strength of "world number one"
players, some not based on Chessmetrics; and Botvinnik generally
emerged as one of the top six (the greatest exceptions were in
criteria related to tournament results). FIDE did not adopt the Elo
rating system until 1970, by which time Botvinnik's strength had
been declining for several years. According to unofficial
calculations by Árpád Elo, Botvinnik was the highest-rated player
from 1937 to 1954, peaking about 2730 in 1946.
This may seem surprising in the light of Botvinnik's results in the
1950s and early 1960s, when he failed to win a world championship
match outright (as reigning champion) and his tournament results
were patchy. But after the FIDE world championship cycle was
established in 1948, reigning champions had to play the strongest
contender every three years, and successful title defenses became
less common than in the pre-World War II years, when the
titleholder could select his challenger. Despite this, Botvinnik
held the world title for a longer period than any of his successors
except Garry Kasparov. Botvinnik also became world champion at the
relatively late age of 37, because World War II brought
international competition to a virtual halt for six years; and he
was 52 years old when he finally lost his title (only Wilhelm
Steinitz and Emanuel Lasker were older when they were defeated).
Botvinnik's best years were from 1935 to 1946; during that period
he dominated Soviet chess; and the USSR's 15-4½ win in the 1945
radio match against the USA proved that the USSR's top players were
considerably better than the USA's (who had dominated international
team competitions in the 1930s).
Botvinnik generally sought tense positions with chances for both
sides; hence his results were often better with the Black pieces as
he could avoid lines that were likely to produce draws. He had a
strong grasp of long-term strategy, and was often willing to accept
weaknesses that his opponent could not exploit in exchange for some
advantage that Botvinnik could exploit. He confessed that he was
relatively weak in tactical calculation, yet many of his games
feature sacrifices - often long-term positional sacrifices whose
purpose was not to force a quick win, but to improve his position
and undermine his opponent's. Botvinnik was also capable of all-out
sacrificial attacks when he thought the position justified it.
Botvinnik saw himself as a "universal player" (all-rounder), in
contrast to all-out tactical calculators like Mikhail Tal or purely
positional players like Tigran Petrosian. Reuben Fine considered
Botvinnik's collection of best games one of the three most
beautiful up to the mid-1950s (the other two were Alexander
Alekhine's and Akiba Rubinstein's).
Kasparov quotes Tigran Petrosian as saying, "There was a very
unpleasant feeling of inevitability. Once in a conversation with
Keres I mentioned this and even compared Botvinnik with a
bulldozer, which sweeps away everything in its path. Keres smiled
and said: 'But can you imagine what it was like to play him when he
was young?'"
++2.H2 Influence on the game
Botvinnik's example and teaching established the modern approach to
preparing for competitive chess: regular but moderate physical
exercise; analysing very thoroughly a relatively narrow repertoire
of openings; annotating one's own games, those of past great
players and those of competitors; publishing one's annotations so
that others can point out any errors; studying strong opponents to
discover their strengths and weaknesses; ruthless objectivity about
one's own strengths and weaknesses. Botvinnik also played many
short training matches against strong grandmasters including Salo
Flohr, Yuri Averbakh, Viacheslav Ragozin, and Semion Furman - in
noisy or smoky rooms if he thought he would have to face such
conditions in actual competition. Vladimir Kramnik said,
"Botvinnik's chess career was the way of a genius, although he was
not a genius", meaning that Botvinnik was brilliant at making the
best use of his talents.
Although Botvinnik did not use a wide range of openings, he made
major contributions to those he did use, for example: the Botvinnik
variation of the Semi-Slav Defense in the Queen's Gambit Declined,
the Kasparov/Botvinnik system in the Exchange Variation of the
Queen's Gambit Declined, the Caro-Kann Defence (both the Panov-
Botvinnik Attack for White and various approaches for Black), the
Winawer Variation of the French Defence, the Botvinnik System in
the English Opening. In his openings research Botvinnik did not aim
to produce tactical tricks that would only be effective once but
rather systems in which he aimed to understand typical positions
and their possibilities better than his rivals. His advice to his
pupils included "My theory of the openings fitted into one
notebook" and "You don't have to know that which everyone knows,
but it is important to know that which not everyone knows." In fact
he used different notebooks in different periods, and copied a few
analyses from one notebook to the next. The "Soviet School of
Chess" that dominated competition from 1945 to about 2000 followed
Botvinnik's approach to preparation and to openings research; and,
although Soviet players had their own preferred styles of play,
they adopted his combative approach and willingness to ignore
"classical" principles if doing so offered credible prospects of a
lasting advantage.
In 1963 Botvinnik founded his own school within the Soviet coaching
system, and its graduates include world champions Anatoly Karpov,
Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik, and other top-class players
such as Alexei Shirov, Vladimir Akopian and Jaan Ehlvest. Botvinnik
was not an infallible spotter of chess talent: although he said of
the 11-year old Kasparov, "The future of chess lies in the hands of
this young man", he said on first seeing Karpov, "The boy doesn't
have a clue about chess, and there's no future at all for him in
this profession." But Karpov recounts fondly his youthful memories
of the Botvinnik school and credits Botvinnik's training,
especially the homework he assigned, with a marked improvement in
his own play. Kasparov presents Botvinnik almost as a kind of
father figure, going some way towards balancing the common public
perception of Botvinnik as dour and aloof; and Kasparov inherited
Botvinnik's emphasis on preparation, research and innovation.
Botvinnik was still playing a major teaching role in his late 70s,
when Kramnik entered the school, and made a favorable impression on
his pupil.
++2.I Other achievements
++2.I1 Electrical engineer
ingEngineering was as much of a passion for Botvinnik as chess - at
Nottingham in 1936, where he had his first major tournament win
outside the USSR, he said "I wish I could do what he's done in
electrical engineering" (referring to Milan Vidmar, another
grandmaster). He was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honour for
his work on power stations in the Urals during World War II (while
he was also establishing himself as the world's strongest chess
player). He earned his doctorate in electrical engineering in 1951.
In 1956, he joined the Research Institute for Electrical Energy as
a senior research scientist.
++2.I2 Computer chess
In the 1950s Botvinnik became interested in computers, at first
mainly for playing chess but he later also co-authored reports on
the possible use of artificial intelligence in managing the Soviet
economy. Botvinnik's research on chess-playing programs
concentrated on "selective searches", which used general chess
principles to decide which moves were worth considering. This was
the only feasible approach for the primitive computers available in
the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, which were only capable of
searching three or four half-moves deep (i.e. A's move, B's move,
A's move, B's move) if they tried to examine every variation.
Botvinnik eventually developed an algorithm that was reasonably
good at finding the right move in difficult positions, but it often
missed the right move in simple positions, e.g. where it was
possible to checkmate in two moves. This "selective" approach
turned out to be a dead end, as computers were powerful enough by
the mid-1970s to perform a brute-force search (checking all
possible moves) several moves deep and today's vastly more powerful
computers do this well enough to compete against human world
champions. However, his PIONEER program contained a generalized
method of decision-making that, with a few adjustments, enabled it
to plan maintenance of power stations all over the USSR. On
September 7, 1991 Botvinnik was awarded an honorary degree in
mathematics of the University of Ferrara (Italy) for his work on
computer chess.
++2.J Writings
++2.J1 Chess
* Botvinnik, M.M. (1960). One hundred selected games. Courier
Dover. ISBN 0486206203.
* Botvinnik, M.M. (1972). Cafferty, B.. ed. Botvinnik's best
games, 1947-1970. Batsford. ISBN 0713403578.
* Botvinnik, M.M. (1973). Garry, S.. ed. Soviet chess
championship, 1941: Complete text of games with detailed notes
& an introduction. Dover Publications. ISBN 0486221849.
* Botvinnik, M.M. (1973). World Championship: The Return Match
Botvinnik vs. Smyslov 1958. Chess Digest Magazine.
* Botvinnik, M.M. (1973). Alekhine vs. Euwe return match 1937.
Chess Digest.
* Matanovic, A.; Kazic, B., Yudovich, M., and Botvinnik, M.M.
(1974). Candidates' matches 1974. Centar Za Unapredivanje
Saha.
* Botvinnik, M.M. (1978). Anatoly Karpov: His Road to the World
Championship. Elsevier. ISBN 0080211399.
* Botvinnik, M.M.; Estrin, Y. (1980). The Gruenfeld Defense. Rhm
Pr. ISBN 0890580170.
* Botvinnik, M.M. (1981). Cafferty, B.. ed. Achieving the Aim.
Pergamon Press. ISBN 0080241204.
* Botvinnik, M.M. (1981). Selected Games: 1967-1970. Pergamon.
ISBN 0080241239.
* Botvinnik, M.M. (1982). Marfia, J.. ed. Fifteen Games and
Their Stories. Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, U.S.A: Chess
Enterprises. ISBN 0931462150.
* Botvinnik, M.M. (1985). Botvinnik on the Endgame. Chess
Enterprises. ISBN 0931462436.
* Botvinnik, M.M. (1996). Neat, K. and Stauss, E.. ed. Half a
Century of Chess. Cadogan Books. ISBN 1857441222.
* Botvinnik, M.M. (2000). Neat, K.. ed. Botvinnik's Best Games
Volume 1: 1925-1941. Moravian Chess. ISBN 807189317.
* Botvinnik, M.M. (2000). Neat, K.. ed. Botvinnik's Best Games
Volume 2: 1942-1956. Moravian Chess. ISBN 8071893706.
* Botvinnik, M.M. (2000). Neat, K.. ed. Botvinnik's Best Games
Volume 3: 1957-1970 - Analytical & Critical Works. Moravian
Chess. ISBN 8071894052.
* Botvinnik, M.M. (2002). Championship Chess: Match Tournament
for the Absolute Chess Championship of the USSR, Leningrad-
Moscow 1941. Hardinge Simpole. ISBN 9781843820123.
* Botvinnik, M.M. (2004). Match for the World Chess Championship
Mikhail Botvinnik-David Bronstein Moscow 1951. Edition Olms.
ISBN 3283004595.
* Botvinnik, M.M. (2004). Botvinnik, I.. ed. World Championship
Return Match: Botvinnik V. Tal, Moscow 1961. Olms. ISBN
9783283004613.
++2.J2 Computers
* Botvinnik, M.M. (1970). Computers, Chess and Long-Range
Planning. Springer Verlag. ISBN 0387900128.
* Botvinnik, M.M. (1984). Computers in Chess: Solving Inexact
Search Problems. Springer-Verlag. ISBN 0387908692.
++2.K Notable chess games
* Botvinnik vs Chekhover, Moscow 1935, Reti Opening, 1-0
* Botvinnik vs Capablanca, AVRO 1938, Nimzo-Indian Defense, 1-0
At first sight Botvinnik's opening play looks unpromising, but
he knew how his attack would develop.
* Keres vs Botvinnik, USSR Absolute Championship 1941, Nimzo-
Indian Defense, 0-1 Playing as Black, Botvinnik demolishes a
world title contender in 22 moves.
* Tolush vs Botvinnik, USSR Championship 1944, 0-1 Long-term
positional sacrifices.
* Denker vs Botvinnik, USA vs USSR radio match 1945, 0-1
Botvinnik uses the Botvinnik System in the Semi-Slav Defense
to bulldoze US champion Arnold Denker.
* Botvinnik vs Keres, Alekhine Memorial Tournament Moscow 1966,
1-0 Botvinnik shows his superior understanding of closed
positions, and when to open them.
* Botvinnik vs Portisch, Monaco 1968, 1-0 A fireworks display
starting with an exchange sacrifice on the c-file, a tactic on
which Botvinnik wrote the book.
++2.L Tournament results
1923 Leningrad 8 School championship - - - Botvinnik estimates
"about 10th out of 16".
1924 Leningrad - School championship 1st 5/6 +5 -1 =0
1924 Leningrad - non-category 1st 11/13 +11 -1 =1
1924 Leningrad - 2nd and 3rd Categories 1st 11/13 +11 -1 =1
1924 Leningrad - 2A Category - - - Tournament unfinished
1925 Leningrad - 2A and 1B Categories 1st 10/11 +10 -1 =0
1925 Leningrad - 1st Category 3rd 7/11 +7 -3 =1
1925 Leningrad - 1st Category - - - Tournament unfinished
1926 Leningrad - Leningrad Championship, Semi-finals 1st 11½ / 12
+11 -0 =1
1926 Leningrad - Leningrad Championship 2nd= 7/9 +6 -1 =2
1926 Leningrad - Northwest Provincial Championship, Semi-finals
tied 2nd 9/11 +8 -1 =2
1926 Leningrad - Northwest Provincial Championship 3rd 6/10 +4 -1
=5
1927 Leningrad - Tournament of "Six" 2nd 7/10 +6 -1 =3
1927 Moscow - 5th USSR Chess Championship tied 5th 12/20 +9 -4 =7
1928 Leningrad - Regional Metalworkers' Committee Championship 1st
8/11 +7 -1 =3
1929 Leningrad - Regional Committee of Educational Workers'
Championship 1st 11/14 +9 -0 =5
1929 Odessa - 6th USSR Chess Championship, Quarter-finals 1st 7/8
+6 -0 =2
1929 Odessa - 6th USSR Chess Championship, Semi-finals tied 3rd 2/5
+2 -2 =1
1930 Leningrad - Masters' Tournament 1st 6/8 +6 -1 =1
1931 Leningrad - Leningrad Championship 1st 14/17 +12 -1 =4
1931 Moscow - 7th USSR Chess Championship, Semi-finals 2nd 6/9 +6
-2 =1
1931 Moscow - 7th USSR Chess Championship 1st 13/17 +12 -2 =3
1932 Leningrad - Leningrad Championship 1st 10/11 +9 -0 =2
1932 Leningrad - Masters' Tournament in House of Scientists 1st
7/10 +6 -2 =2
1933 Leningrad - Masters' Tournament Tied 1st 10/13 +7 -0 =6
1933 Leningrad - 8th USSR Chess Championship 1st 14/19 +11 -2 =6
1934 Leningrad - Tournament including Euwe and Kmoch 1st 7/11 +5 -1
=5
1934 Hastings - Hastings International Chess Congress tied 5th 5/9
+3 -2 =4
1935 Moscow - 2nd International Tournament tied 1st 13/19 +9 -2 =8
1936 Moscow - 3rd International Tournament 2nd 12/18 +7 -1 =10
1936 Nottingham - International Tournament tied 1st 10/14 +6 -0 =8
1938 Leningrad - 11th USSR Chess Championship, Semi-finals 1st
14/17 +12 -1 =4
1938 Amsterdam, etc. - AVRO tournament 3rd 7/14 +3 -2 =9
1939 Leningrad - 11th USSR Chess Championship 1st 12/17 +8 -0 =9
1940 Moscow - 12th USSR Chess Championship tied 5th 11/19 +8 -4 =7
1941 Leningrad, Moscow - Absolute Chess Championship of the USSR
1st 13/20 +9 -2 =9
1943 Sverdlovsk - Masters' Tournament 1st 10/14 +7 -0 =7
1943 Moscow - Moscow Championship 1st 13/16 +12 -1 =3
1944 Moscow - 13th USSR Chess Championship 1st 12/16 +11 -2 =3
1945 Moscow - 14th USSR Chess Championship 1st 15/17 +13 -0 =4
1946 Groningen - International Tournament 1st 14/19 +13 -3 =3
1947 Moscow - Chigorin Memorial Tournament 1st 11/15 +8 -1 =6
1948 The Hague, Moscow - World Chess Championship Tournament 1st
14/20 +10 -2 =8
1951 Moscow - 19th USSR Chess Championship 5th 10/17 +6 -3 =8
1952 Budapest - Maroczy Jubilee tied 3rd 11/17 +7 -2 =8
1952 Moscow - 20th USSR Chess Championship tied 1st 13/19 +9 -1 =9
Defeated Taimanov in a play-off for first place.
1955 Moscow - 22nd USSR Chess Championship tied 3rd 11/19 +7 -3 =9
1956 Moscow - Alekhine Memorial tied 1st 11/15 +8 -1 =6
1958 Wageningen - International Tournament 1st 4/5 +3 -0 =2
1961-1962 Hastings - International Chess Congress (Premier) 1st 8/9
+7 -0 =2
1962 Stockholm - International Tournament 1st 8/9 +8 -0 =1
1965 Noordwijk - International Tournament 1st 6/7 +5 -0 =2
1966 Amsterdam - IBM Tournament 1st 7/9 +7 -1 =1
1966-1967 Hastings - International Chess Congress (Premier) 1st 6/9
+5 -1 =3
1967 Palma de Mallorca - International Tournament tied 2nd 12/17 +9
-1 =7
1968 Monte Carlo - International Tournament 2nd 9/13 +5 -0 =8
1969 Wijk aan Zee - Hoogovens (Grandmaster Section) tied 1st 10/15
+6 -0 =9
1969 Belgrade - International Tournament 7th 8/15 +5 -3 =7
1970 Leiden - Quadrangular Tournament tied 3rd 5/12 +1 -2 =9 Four
players. Each opponent was played four times.
++2.L1 Match results
1933 Salo Flohr Tied Moscow, Leningrad 6 /12 +2 =8 -2 Challenge
1937 Grigory Levenfish Tied Moscow, Leningrad 6.5/13 +5 =3 -5
Challenge
1940 Viacheslav Ragozin Won Moscow, Leningrad 8/12 +5 =7 -0
Training
1951 David Bronstein Tied Moscow 12/24 +5 =14 -5 World title
1952 Mark Taimanov Won Moscow 3.5/6 +1 =5 -0 USSR Ch playoff
1954 Vasily Smyslov Tied Moscow 12/24 +7 =10 -7 World title
1957 Vasily Smyslov Lost Moscow 9/22 +3 =13 -6 World title
1958 Vasily Smyslov Won Moscow 12/23 +7 =11 -5 Rematch
1960 Mikhail Tal Lost Moscow 8/21 +2 =13 -6 World title
1961 Mikhail Tal Won Moscow 13/21 +10 =6 -5 Rematch
1963 Tigran Petrosian Lost Moscow 9/21 +2 =14 -5 World title
++3. Vasily Smyslov - Mikhail Botvinnik, Moscow 1944
13th USSR Championship, Moscow 1944, Round 8
White: Vasily Smyslov
Black: Mikhail Botvinnik
Result: 0-1
ECO: C19 - French Defense, Paulsen Variation, Winawer Variation, Advance
Variation
Notes by R.J. Macdonald
1. e4 e6
(The French Defense.)
2. d4 d5
3. Nc3
(The Paulsen Variation.)
3. ... Bb4
(The Winawer Variation.)
4. e5
(The Advance Variation. After 4. exd5 exd5 5. Bd3 Nf6 6. Nf3 0-0 7. 0-0 Nc6 8.
Bg5 Be6 9. Re1 h6 10. Bh4 White has a slight advantage.)
4. ... c5
5. a3
(White also has a slight advantage after 5. Bd2 Nc6 6. Nb5 Bxd2+ 7. Qxd2 Nxd4
8. Nxd4 cxd4 9. Nf3 Ne7 10. Nxd4 0-0 11. 0-0-0 Bd7.)
5. ... Bxc3+
6. bxc3 Ne7
7. a4 Nbc6
8. Nf3 Qa5
9. Bd2 c4
(An important strategic decision. Black closes the Q-side and prepares to annex
the white a-pawn ... He judges that white's initiative on the K-side is not
sufficient compensation for the pawn.)
10. Ng5 h6
11. Nh3 Ng6
(11. ... Bd7 12. Nf4 (12. Qb1 a6 13. Be2 0-0-0 14. 0-0 f5 15. f4 Rdg8 16. Qb2
Nd8 17. Qb4 Nec6 18. Qb2 Nf7 19. Rfb1 Qc7 20. Qc1 Ncd8 21. Kh1 Bc6 22. Nf2 g5
23. g3 g4 24. Qa3 h5 25. Kg2 h4 26. Qc5 Rh6 0-1 in 43 moves, as in the game A.
Gousseinov (2049) - F. Winiwarter (2175), Davos 2006) 12. ... g6 (12. ... 0-0-0
13. Nh5 Rhg8 14. g3 Rdf8 15. Bh3 f5 16. 0-0 Be8 17. Nf4 Bf7 18. Ne2 g5 19. Bc1
Kb8 20. Ba3 Ka8 21. Qd2 Re8 22. Rfb1 Nc8 23. Bg2 Rg7 24. Rb5 Qd8 25. Rab1 Bh5
26. Nc1 f4 27. Na2 1-0 in 55 moves, as in the game Zhang Zhong (2607) - V.
Kosyrev (2565), Las Vegas 2001) 13. g3 0-0-0 14. Bh3 h5 15. 0-0 Rdg8 16. Bg2
Nf5 17. Nh3 h4 18. g4 Nh6 19. f4 Ne7 20. Ng5 Rf8 21. h3 Nhg8 22. Qe2 Qc7 23. a5
f6 24. exf6 Rxf6 25. f5 gxf5 26. Bf4 1-0 in 48 moves, as in the game G.
Mikulski (1965) - K. Regber (1654), SVR 2010-2011. Better is 11. ... 0-0,
leading to equality.)
12. Qf3
(12. Be2!? is worth consideration as it seems to give equality.)
12. ... Bd7
(12. ... b5 13. Rc1 Qxa4 14. Nf4 Nxf4 15. Bxf4 gives black a moderate
advantage.)
13. Nf4
(Black has a slight edge.)
13. ... Nxf4
14. Qxf4 Ne7
(The isolani on a4 becomes a target.)
15. h4
(15. Be2 b5 gives black a slight advantage.)
15. ... Bxa4
(15. ... b5 16. Rh3 gives black a solid advantage.)
16. h5
(16. Be2 Qb5 17. Bd1 should be considered. 16. Qg4 Nf5 is solid for black.)
16. ... Qb5
17. Kd1
(17. Qg4 Bxc2 18. Rc1 Qb2 19. Qxg7 Rh7 is decisive for black.)
17. ... Rc8
18. Bc1
(18. Be2 b6 gives black a slight edge.)
18. ... Rc6
19. Be2 Ra6
20. Kd2
(Now the c1-h6 diagonal is closed to White's Bishop.)
20. ... 0-0
(20. ... Ra5 21. g4 gives black a slight edge.)
21. g4 f6
(21. ... Qb6!? gives black a solid edge.)
22. exf6
(Black stands slightly better.)
22. ... Rxf6
(Black has a new backward pawn: e6.)
23. Qc7
(White threatens to win material: Qc7xe7.)
23. ... Rf7
(23. ... Nc6 24. f4 Qa5 25. Qxa5 Rxa5 26. Rf1 gives black a slight advantage.)
24. Qd8+
(The position is now even.)
24. ... Kh7
25. f4 Qa5
(Better is 25. ... Qb6 26. Qb8 Nc6, with equality.)
Key Move Diagram:
3Q4/
pp2nrpk/
r3p2p/
q2p3P/
b1pP1PP1/
2P5/
2PKB3/
R1B4R
Position after black's 25th move.
26. Qb8?
(26. Qxa5 Rxa5 27. Ba3 Kh8 leads to equality.)
26. ... Nc6
(Black threatens to win material: Nc6xb8. Better is 26. ... e5 27. Qxe5 Nc6
with a slight edge for black.)
27. Qe8
(White threatens to win material: Qe8xf7. Both sides now have equal chances.)
27. ... Re7
(Black threatens to win material: Re7xe8. 27. ... Rxf4 is impossible because of
the following mating combination: 28. g5 hxg5 29. Qg6+ Kg8 30. h6 Rxd4+ 31. Bd3
Kf8 32. Ba3+ Qb4 33. Bxb4+ Nxb4 34. hxg7+ Ke7 35. g8=Q Nxc2 36. Q8f7+ Kd6 37.
Qgxe6+ Kc5 38. Qf8+ Kb5 39. Rhb1+ Bb3 40. Rxb3+ Nb4 41. Rxb4#.)
Key Move Diagram:
4Q3/
pp2r1pk/
r1n1p2p/
q2p3P/
b1pP1PP1/
2P5/
2PKB3/
R1B4R
Position after black's 27th move.
28. Qg6+?
(28. Qf8 was a good chance to save the game: 28. ... Qd8 29. Qxd8 Nxd8 30. g5
with equality.)
28. ... Kg8
(This gives black a decisive advantage.)
29. Ba3 e5
(Better is 29. ... Qc7 30. Rhf1 Nb4 31. Bxc4 Bxc2 (31. ... dxc4?! 32. Bxb4 Rf7
33. g5 offers equality) 32. Bxa6 Bxg6 33. Bxb4 Be4, with a very strong
advantage for black.)
Key Move Diagram:
6k1/
pp2r1p1/
r1n3Qp/
q2pp2P/
b1pP1PP1/
B1P5/
2PKB3/
R6R
Position after black's 29th move.
30. fxe5??
(Strolling merrily down the path to disaster. Better is 30. dxe5 Nd4 31. Bb4,
leaving black with a moderate advantage.)
30. ... Nxd4
(Black has a very strong position.)
31. Bb4
(31. Qxa6 bxa6 (31. ... Qxa6?! 32. cxd4 Rf7 33. c3 is decisive for black) 32.
Bxe7 Nxe2 is very strong for black. Weaker is 32. ... Nxc2 33. Rab1 Bb5 34.
Rb2, but black still has a very strong advantage. 34. Kxc2?? (the knight is
invulnerable) 34. ... Qa2+ 35. Kc1 Qxe2 leaves black with a decisive advantage.)
31. ... Qd8
(31. ... Qb5 makes it even easier for Black: 32. Bxe7 Rxg6 33. Rhb1 is very
strong for black.)
32. Qxa6
(32. cxd4 Rxg6 33. hxg6 is very strong for black.)
32. ... bxa6
33. cxd4
(33. Bxe7 cannot change destiny: 33. ... Qxe7 34. cxd4 Qg5+ 35. Ke1 Bxc2 is
very strong for black.)
33. ... Rb7
34. Rxa4 Qg5+
(34. ... a5 keeps an even firmer grip: 35. Rxa5 Rxb4 and black should win
easily.)
35. Kd1
(35. Kc3 Qe3+ 36. Bd3 is decisive for black.)
35. ... a5
(35. ... c3 36. Ke1 Qd2+ 37. Kf1 Rf7+ 38. Kg2 Qxe2+ 39. Kh3 Rf3+ 40. Kh4 Qf2#.)
36. Bf3
(Black now has a decisive advantage.)
36. ... Rxb4
37. Bxd5+
(37. Rxb4 hardly improves anything: 37. ... axb4 38. Ke2 Qd8 is decisive for
black.)
37. ... Kf8
38. Rf1+ Ke8
39. Bc6+
(39. Rxb4 (no good, but what else?) 39. ... axb4 40. Bxc4 Qxg4+ 41. Kc1 Qxd4
42. Bf7+ Ke7 43. Kb1 Qxe5 44. Bg6 gives black a decisive advantage.)
39. ... Ke7
40. Rxb4
(40. Ke2 is no salvation: 40. ... Qxg4+ 41. Ke3 Qg3+ 42. Rf3 Qe1+ 43. Kf4 Qd2+
44. Ke4 Qxc2+ 45. Kd5 Rxa4 is very strong for black.)
40. ... Qxg4+
(White resigned. 40. ... Qxg4+ 41. Kc1 axb4 is decisive for black.)
0-1
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