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Mikhail Botvinnik

Mikhail Botvinnik in 1962

Full name Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik

Country Soviet Union

Born August 17, 1911

Kuokkala, Grand Duchy of Finland,

Russian Empire (now Repino, Russia)

Died May 5, 1995 (aged 83)

Moscow, Russia

Title Grandmaster

World

Champion

1948–57

1958–60

1961–63

Peak

rating

2660 (January 1971)[1]

Mikhail BotvinnikFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, PhD (Russian: Михаи́л

Моисе́евич Ботви́нник, pronounced [mʲɪxɐˈil məɪ

ˈsʲejɪvʲɪtɕ bɐˈtvʲinʲnʲɪk]; August 17 [O.S. August4] 1911 – May 5, 1995) was a Soviet and RussianInternational Grandmaster and three-time World ChessChampion, widely considered one of the greatest chessplayers of all time. Working as an electrical engineer andcomputer scientist at the same time, he was one of the veryfew professional chess players who achieved distinction inanother career while playing top-class competitive chess. Hewas also a pioneer of computer chess.

Botvinnik was the first world-class player to develop withinthe Soviet Union, putting him under political pressure but alsogiving him considerable influence within Soviet chess. Fromtime to time he was accused of using that influence to his ownadvantage, but the evidence is unclear and some suggest heresisted attempts by Soviet officials to intimidate some of hisrivals.

Botvinnik also played a major role in the organization ofchess, making a significant contribution to the design of theWorld Chess Championship system after World War II andbecoming a leading member of the coaching system thatenabled the Soviet Union to dominate top-class chess duringthat time. His famous pupils include World ChampionsAnatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik.

Contents

1 Early years

2 Soviet champion

3 World title contender

4 World Champion

5 Team tournaments

6 Late career

7 Political controversies

8 Assessment

8.1 Playing strength and style

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8.2 Influence on the game

9 Other achievements

9.1 Electrical engineering

9.2 Computer chess

10 Writings

10.1 Chess

10.2 Computers

11 Notable chess games

12 Tournament results

12.1 Match results

13 Notes

14 References

15 Further reading

16 External links

Early years

Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik was born on August 17, 1911,[2] in what was then Kuokkala in the Russian-

controlled but autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland,[3][4] but is now the district of Repino in Saint Petersburg.[5]

His parents were Russian Jews, his father was a dental technician and his mother a dentist,[6] which allowed thefamily 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.[5][6] His father forbade the speaking

of Yiddish at home, and Mikhail and his older brother Issy attended Soviet schools.[5][6] Mikhail Botvinnik latersaid, "I am a Jew by blood, Russian by culture, Soviet by upbringing." On his religious views, Botvinnik called

himself an atheist.[7]

In 1920, his mother became ill and his father left the family, but maintained contact with the children, even after hissecond marriage, to a Russian woman. At about the same time, Mikhail started reading newspapers, and became a

committed Communist.[6]

In autumn 1923, at the age of twelve,[2] 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.[6] He finished in mid-table in the schoolchampionship, sought advice from another of his brother's friends, and concluded that for him it was better to thinkout "concrete concepts" and then derive general principles from these – and went on to beat his brother's friendquite easily. In winter 1924, Botvinnik won his school's championship, and exaggerated his age by three years inorder to become a member of the Petrograd Chess Assembly – to which the Assembly's President turned a blind

eye.[6] Botvinnik won his first two tournaments organized by the Assembly. Shortly afterwards, Nikolai Krylenko, a

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Botvinnik in 1927

chess fanatic and leading member of the Soviet legal system who later organized Joseph Stalin's show trials, beganbuilding a huge nation-wide chess organization, and the Assembly was replaced by a club in the city's Palace of

Labor.[6]

To test the strength of Soviet chess masters, Krylenko organized the Moscow 1925 chess tournament. On a rest

day during the event,[6] world champion José Raúl Capablanca gave a simultaneous exhibition in Leningrad.

Botvinnik was selected as one of his opponents, and won their game.[8] In 1926, he reached the final stage of theLeningrad championship. Later that year, he was selected for Leningrad's team in a match against Stockholm, heldin Sweden, and scored +1 =1 against the future grandmaster Gösta Stoltz. On his return, he entertained hisschoolmates with a vivid account of the rough sea journey back to Russia. Botvinnik was commissioned to annotatetwo games from the match, and the fact that his analyses were to be published made him aware of the need forobjectivity. In December 1926, he became a candidate member of his school's Komsomol branch. Around thistime 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.[6]

When Botvinnik finished the school curriculum, he was below the minimum age for

the entrance examinations for higher education.[9] While waiting, he qualified for hisfirst 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.[8] He wanted to studyElectrical Technology at the Leningrad Polytechnical Institute and passed theentrance examination; however, there was a persistent excess of applications forthis course and the Prolestud, which controlled admissions, had a policy ofadmitting only children of engineers and industrial workers. After an appeal by alocal chess official, he was admitted in 1928 to Leningrad University's Mathematics

Department.[9] In January 1929, Botvinnik played for Leningrad in the studentteam chess championship against Moscow. Leningrad won and the team manager,who was also Deputy Chairman of the Prolestud, secured Botvinnik a transfer tothe Polytechnic's Electromechanical Department, where he was one of only fourstudents 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.[9] Early in the same yearhe placed joint third in the semi-final stage of the USSR Championship, and thus

failed to reach the final stage.[10]

His early progress was fairly rapid, mostly under the training of Soviet Master and coach Abram Model, inLeningrad; Model taught Botvinnik the Winawer Variation of the French Defence, which was then regarded as

inferior for Black, but which Model and Botvinnik analyzed more deeply and then played with great success.[11]

Botwinnik 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.[12]

Botwinnik married an Armenian woman named Gayane (Ganna) Davidovna, who was the daughter of his algebraand geometry teacher. She was a student at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in Leningrad and, later, aballerina in the Bolshoi Theatre. They had one daughter, named Olga, who was born in 1942.

Soviet champion

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"Botvinnik vs Yudovich,

USSR Ch 1933" (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1031833).

a b c d e f g h

8 8

7 7

6 6

5 5

4 4

3 3

2 2

1 1

a b c d e f g h

After sacrificing a piece to expose Black's

king, Botvinnik played 1. Bh5+ and

Yudovich resigned since mate is inevitable,

e.g. 1... Kxh5 2. Ng3+ Kg4 3. Qe4+ Rf4 4.

Qxf4#

In 1931, at the age of 20,Botvinnik won his first Soviet

Championship in Moscow,[2]

scoring 13½ out of 17.[13] Hecommented that the field wasnot very strong, as some of thepre-Revolution masters were

absent.[10] In late summer1931, he graduated with adegree in Electrical Engineering,after completing a practicalassignment on temporarytransmission lines at the DnieperHydroelectric Station. Hestayed on at the LeningradPolytechnical Institute to study

for a Candidate's degree.[10]

In 1933, he repeated his SovietChampionship win, in his homecity of Leningrad, with

14/19,[13] describing the resultsas evidence that Krylenko'splan to develop a new generation of Soviet masters had borne fruit. He and other young masters successfullyrequested 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.[10] Soon afterwards,Botvinnik was informed that Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky, one of the older Soviet masters and a member of the

Soviet embassy in Prague, had arranged a match between Botwinnik [10] and Salo Flohr, a Czech grandmasterwho was then regarded as one of the most credible contenders for Alexander Alekhine's World Chess

Championship title.[14] The highest-level chess officials in the Soviet Union opposed this on the grounds thatBotvinnik stood little chance against such a strong international opponent. In spite of this attempt to dissuade him,

Krylenko insisted on staging the match, saying that "We have to know our real strength."[10]

Botvinnik used what he regarded as the first version of his method of preparing for a contest, but fell two gamesbehind by the end of the first six, played in Moscow. However, aided by his old friend Ragozin and coach AbramModel, 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.[10]

In his first tournament outside the USSR, the Hastings 1934–35, 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.[15] Botvinnik

wrote that he did not make this mistake again.[16]

White to move

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Botvinnik vs Lasker in 1936

Levenfish vs. Botvinnik (right), 1937

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.[17] After consulting José Raúl 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.[15]

He later reported to Krylenko that the 1935 tournament made it difficultto judge the strength of the top Soviet players, as it included a mixture oftop-class and weaker players. Botvinnik advocated a double round-robin event featuring the top five Soviet players and the five strongestnon-Soviet players available. Despite politicking over the Soviet choices,both Krylenko and the Central Committee of the Komsomol quickly

authorised the tournament.[15] This was played in Moscow in June

1936,[15] and Botvinnik finished second, one point behind Capablanca

and 2½ ahead of Flohr.[17] However, he took consolation from the fact the Soviet Union's best had held their own

against top-class competition.[15]

In early winter, 1936, Botvinnik was invited to play in a tournament at Nottingham, England. Krylenko authorizedhis participation and, to help Botvinnik play at his best, allowed Botvinnik's wife to accompany him – a privilegerarely 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,[15] he scored an undefeated shared firstplace (+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.[17][18] This was the

first tournament victory by a Soviet master outside his own country.[16] When the result reached Russia, Krylenkodrafted 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".[15]

Three weeks later, he began work on his dissertation for the Candidate'sdegree, obtaining this in June 1937, after his supervisor described the

dissertation as "short and good", and the first work in its field.[15] As aresult of his efforts, he missed the 1937 Soviet championship, won byGrigory Levenfish, who was then nearly fifty. Later in 1937, Botvinnik

drew a match of thirteen games against Levenfish.[19][20][21] Accountsdiffer about how the match was arranged: Levenfish later wrote thatBotvinnik challenged him; while Botvinnik wrote that Krylenko, angered

by Botvinnik's absence from the tournament, ordered the match.[19]

Botvinnik won further Soviet Championship titles in 1939, 1944, 1945,and 1952, bringing his total to six. In 1945 he dominated the tournament,

scoring 15/17;[22] however, in 1952 he tied with Mark Taimanov and won the play-off match.[13]

World title contender

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Capablanca vs Botvinnik in 1936

Botvinnik in 1936

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.[23] Botvinnik placed third,

behind Paul Keres and Reuben Fine.[24] According to Botvinnik, Alekhine was most interested in playing an

opponent who could raise the funds.[19] After consulting the nearest available Soviet officials, Botvinnik discreetlychallenged 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.[19][25] 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.[19] The match, including funding, was authorised at the highest Soviet political level in January1939; 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[19] –

and the outbreak of World War II prevented a World Championship match.[23]

In spring 1939, Botvinnik won the USSR Championship, and his bookon the tournament described the approach to preparation which he hadbeen developing since 1933. One striking feature of this was emphasis onopening preparation in order to gain a permanent positional advantage inthe middle game, rather than seeking immediate tactical surprises that

could only be used once.[26]

Botvinnik took an early lead in the1940 USSR Championship, but fadedbadly in the later stages, eventuallysharing fifth place. He attributed this to the unaccustomed difficulty ofconcentrating in a party-like atmosphere filled with noise and tobacco smoke.Botvinnik wrote to a friendly official, commenting that the champion was to be thewinner of a match between Igor Bondarevsky and Andor Lilienthal, who had tiedfor first place, but had no achievements in international competition. The official'sefforts 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. Thecontestants were the top six finishers in the Soviet Championship – Bondarevsky,Lilienthal, Paul Keres (who had recently become a Soviet citizen), future WorldChampion Vasily Smyslov, Isaac Boleslavsky and Botvinnik – who were to playa quadruple round-robin. Botvinnik's preparation with his second, ViacheslavRagozin, included training matches in noisy, smoky rooms and he slept in theplaying 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.[27]

In June 1941 Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Botvinnik's wife Gayane, a ballerina,[28] told him that her

colleagues at the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theatre were being evacuated to the city of Perm,[29] then known as

Molotov in honour of Vyacheslav Molotov.[30] The family found an apartment there, and Botvinnik obtained a jobwith 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.[29]

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In the evenings, Botvinnik wrote a book in which he annotated all the games of the "Absolute Championship of theUSSR", 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.[29]

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 seven competitors – who included Smyslov, Vladimir Makogonov, Boleslavsky, and

Ragozin.[29][31] Chessbase regards this as one of the fifty strongest tournaments between 1851 and 1986.[32]

Shortly afterwards, Botvinnik was urged to return to Moscow by the People's Commissar for Power Stations, anadmirer and subsequent good friend. On his return, Botvinnik suggested a match with Samuel Reshevsky in orderto strengthen his claim for a title match with Alekhine, but this received no political support. In December 1943, hewon the Moscow Championship, ahead of Smyslov. At the same time, opposition to his plan for a match withAlekhine re-surfaced, on the grounds that Alekhine was a political enemy and the only proper course was todemand 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.[33][34]

After Botvinnik won the 1944 and 1945 Soviet championships, most top Soviet players supported his desire for aWorld Championship match with Alekhine. However, the allegations that Alekhine had written anti-Semitic articleswhile 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.[33]

When the Second World War ended, Botvinnik won the first high-level post-war tournament, at Groningen in1946, with 14½ points from nineteen games, ½ point ahead of former World Champion Max Euwe and two ahead

of Smyslov.[35] He and Euwe both struggled in the last few rounds,[36] and Botvinnik had a narrow escape against

Euwe, who he acknowledged had always been a difficult opponent for him.[37] This was Botvinnik's first outright

victory in a tournament outside the Soviet Union.[38]

Botvinnik also won the very strong Mikhail Chigorin Memorial tournament held at Moscow 1947.

World Champion

Botvinnik strongly influenced the design of the system which would be used for World Championship competition

from 1948 to 1963.[23][39] Viktor Baturinsky wrote "Now came Botvinnik's turn to defend his title in accordancewith the new qualifying system which he himself had outlined in 1946" (this statement referred to Botvinnik's 1951

title defence).[40]

On the basis of his strong results during and just after World War II, Botvinnik was one of five players to contestthe 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.[41] While he was onvacation in Riga after the tournament, an eleven-year old boy called Mikhail Tal paid a visit, hoping to play a gameagainst 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.[28][42]

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Botvinnik then held the title, with two brief interruptions, for the next fifteen years, during which he played sevenworld 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.[43] In 1954, he drew with Vasily Smyslov over 24 games at Moscow, +7 −7 =10, again

retaining the title.[44] In 1957, he lost to Smyslov by 9½–12½ in Moscow,[45] but the rules then in force allowedhim a rematch without having to go through the Candidates' Tournament, and in 1958 he won the rematch in

Moscow;[46] Smyslov said his health was poor during the return match.[47] In 1960, Botvinnik was convincingly

beaten 8½–12½ at Moscow by Tal, now 23 years old,[48] but again exercised his right to a rematch in 1961, and

won by 13–8 in Moscow.[49] Commentators agreed that Tal's play was weaker in the rematch, probably due to hishealth, 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.[50][51] Finally, in 1963, he lost the title

to Tigran Petrosian, by 9½–12½ in Moscow.[49] FIDE had by then altered the rules, and he was not allowed arematch. 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: heplayed no formal competitive games after winning the 1948 match tournament until he defended his title, thenstruggled 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.[13][52] However, he lost only five of over thirty games in the two tournaments; three ofthe four who finished ahead of him in the 1951 championship were future world champions Smyslov and Petrosianand a leading world championship contender (and winner in both tournaments) Paul Keres; and he finished aheadof Petrosian and even with Smyslov in 1952. Botvinnik did not play in the Soviet team that won the 1952 ChessOlympiad 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.[53][54] Keres' playing record from 1950 to early 1952 had been

outstanding.[13][52]

Botvinnik won the 1952 Soviet Championship (joint first with Mark Taimanov in the tournament, won the play-off

match).[13] 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".[54] In 1956, he tiedfor first place with Smyslov in the 1956 Alexander Alekhine Memorial in Moscow, despite a last-round loss toKeres.

Team tournaments

Botvinnik was selected for the Soviet Olympiad team from 1954 to 1964 inclusively, and helped his team to goldmedal finishes each of those six times. At Amsterdam 1954 he was on board one and won the gold medal with8⅓/11. Then at home for Moscow 1956, he was again board one, and scored 9⅓/13 for the bronze medal. ForMunich 1958, he scored 9/12 for the silver medal on board one. At Leipzig 1960, he played board two behindMikhail Tal, having lost his title to Tal earlier that year; But he won the board two gold medal with 10⅓/13. He wasback on board one for Varna 1962, scored 8/12, but failed to win a medal for the only time at an Olympiad. Hisfinal 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.[55]

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Szabo vs. Botvinnik (right), Oberhausen 1961

Botvinnik also played twice for the USSR in the European Team Championship. At Oberhausen 1961, he scored6/9 for the gold medal on board one. But at Hamburg 1965, he struggled on board two with only 3½/8. Both timesthe 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 Matulović, as the USSRnarrowly triumphed.

Late career

After losing the world title for the final time, to TigranPetrosian in Moscow in 1963, Botvinnik withdrewfrom the following World Championship cycle afterFIDE declined, at its annual congress in 1965, togrant a losing champion the automatic right to arematch. He remained involved with competitivechess, appearing in several highly rated tournamentsand continuing to produce memorable games.

He retired from competitive play in 1970, aged 59,preferring instead to occupy himself with thedevelopment of computer chess programs and toassist with the training of younger Soviet players,earning him the nickname of "Patriarch of the SovietChess 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) in1981. A staunch Communist, he was noticeably shaken by the collapse of the Soviet Union and lost some of hisstanding in Russian chess during the Boris Yeltsin era.

In the 1980s Botvinnik proposed a computer program to manage the Soviet economy. However, his proposals didnot 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 beused to manage the Russian economy. He kept actively working on the program until his death and financing thework from the money he made for the lectures and seminars he attended, despite prominent health problems.

Botvinnik died of pancreatic cancer in May 1995.[56] According to his daughter, Botvinnik remained active until thelast few months of his life, and continued to go to work until March, 1995 despite blindness in one of his eyes (andextremely poor vision in the other).

Political controversies

The Soviet Union regarded chess as a symbol of Communist superiority, and hence the Soviet chess world was

extremely politicized.[57][58] As Botvinnik was the first world-class player produced by the Soviet Union, everythinghe said or did (or did not say or do) had political repercussions, and there were rumors that Soviet opponents weregiven hints that they should not beat him.

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David Bronstein wrote that Boris Verlinsky had won the 1929 Soviet Championship and was granted the firstSoviet Grandmaster title for this achievement, yet he was later stripped of it, when it was thought more politicallycorrect to make Botvinnik the first official Soviet GM (as distinct from the then-nonexistent FIDE grandmaster

title).[39]

Botvinnik wrote that before the last round of the 1935 Moscow tournament, Soviet Commissar of Justice NikolaiKrylenko, who was also in charge of Soviet chess, proposed that Ilya Rabinovich should deliberately lose toBotvinnik, to ensure that Botvinnik took first place. Botvinnik refused, saying "... then I will myself put a piece en

prise and resign".[59] 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 Nottinghamin 1936.

Botvinnik played relatively poorly in the very strong 1940 Soviet Championship, finishing in a tie for fifth/sixthplaces, with 11½/19, two full points behind Igor Bondarevsky and Andor Lilienthal. With World War II under wayby this time, and the strong possibility of little or no chess practice 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".[60]

This wound up being the 1941 Absolute Championship of the USSR, which featured the top six finishers from the1940 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.[61]

He won this tournament convincingly, and thus reclaimed his position as the USSR's top player. Bronstein claimedthat at the end of the 1946 Groningen tournament, a few months after the death of reigning world championAlexander 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,[39] but other evidence suggests thatFIDE (the "governing body" of chess), had already proposed a World Championship tournament before theGroningen tournament began, and at this stage the Soviet Union was not a member and therefore took no part in

framing that proposal.[23]

Since Keres lost his first four games against Botvinnik in the 1948 World Championship tournament, winning only inthe final cycle after the outcome of the tournament had been decided, suspicions have sometimes been raised thatKeres was forced to "throw" games to allow Botvinnik to win the Championship. Chess historian Taylor Kingstoninvestigated all the available evidence and arguments, and concluded that: Soviet chess officials gave Keres stronghints that he should not hinder Botvinnik's attempt to win the World Championship; Botvinnik only discovered thisabout 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.[62]

Bronstein insinuated that Soviet officials pressured him to lose in the 1951 world championship match so that

Botvinnik would keep the title,[39] 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.[63]

In 1956, FIDE changed the world championship rules so that a defeated champion would have the right to a returnmatch. Yuri Averbakh alleged that this was done at the urging of the two Soviet representatives in FIDE, who werepersonal friends of Botvinnik. Averbakh also claims that Botvinnik's friends were behind FIDE's decision in 1956 tolimit 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.[64]

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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.[65]

Mikhail Tal's chronic kidney problems contributed to his defeat in his 1961 return match with Botvinnik, and hisdoctors in Riga advised that he should postpone the match for health reasons. Averbakh claimed that Botvinnikwould agree to a postponement only if Tal was certified unfit by Moscow doctors, and that Tal then decided to

play.[64]

In 1954, he wrote an article about inciting socialist revolution in western countries, aiming to spread Communism

without a third world war.[64] And in 1960 Botvinnik wrote a letter to the Soviet Government proposing economic

reforms that were contrary to party policy.[66]

In 1976 Soviet grandmasters were asked to sign a letter condemning Viktor Korchnoi as a "traitor" after Korchnoidefected. Botvinnik evaded this "request" by saying that he wanted to write his own letter denouncing Korchnoi. Bythis 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.[67] Bronstein and Boris Spassky

openly refused to sign the letter.[53]

Assessment

Playing strength and style

For more information see Comparison of 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, whenhe 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 Wilhelm Steinitz".[68] The statistical rating system used inRaymond Keene and Nathan Divinsky's book Warriors of the Mind concludes that Botvinnik was the fourthstrongest 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.[51] The Chessmetricssystem is sensitive to the length of the periods being compared, but places Botvinnik third in a comparison ofplayers' best individual years (1946 for Botvinnik) and sixth in a comparison of fifteen-year periods (1935–1949 in

Botvinnik's case).[69][70] In 2005 Chessmetrics' creator Jeff Sonas wrote an article which examined various ways ofcomparing 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).[71] FIDE didnot 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.[72]

This may seem surprising in the light of Botvinnik's results in the 1950s and early 1960s, when he failed to win aworld championship match outright (as reigning champion) and his tournament results were patchy. But after theFIDE world championship cycle was established in 1948, reigning champions had to play the strongest contenderevery three years, and successful title defenses became less common than in the pre-World War II years, when the

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Stolberg vs Botvinnik, USSR Ch. 1940

a b c d e f g h

8 8

7 7

6 6

5 5

4 4

3 3

2 2

1 1

a b c d e f g h

After tying up White's pieces on the

queenside, Botvinnik won with a sudden

kingside attack: 1... Rxh3+ 2. gxh3 d4 and

White resigned, as he could not stop

... Qd5 and mate next move.

titleholder could select his challenger. Despite this, Botvinnik held the world title for a longer period than any of hissuccessors 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 oldwhen 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;[70] during that period he dominated Soviet chess;[73] and theUSSR's 15½–4½ 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).[74]

Botvinnik generally sought tense positions with chances for both

sides;[75] hence his results were often better with the Black pieces as

he could avoid lines that were likely to produce draws.[8][76] He hada strong grasp of long-term strategy, and was often willing to acceptweaknesses that his opponent could not exploit in exchange for some

advantage that Botvinnik could exploit.[76][77] He confessed that hewas relatively weak in tactical calculation, yet many of his gamesfeature sacrifices – often long-term positional sacrifices whosepurpose was not to force an immediate win, but to improve hisposition and undermine his opponent's. Botvinnik was also capableof all-out sacrificial attacks when he thought the position justified

it.[78] Botvinnik saw himself as a "universal player" (all-rounder), incontrast to an all-out attacker like Mikhail Tal or a defender like

Tigran Petrosian.[51] Reuben Fine considered Botvinnik's collectionof best games one of the three most beautiful up to the mid-1950s

(the other two were Alexander Alekhine's and Akiba Rubinstein's).[8]

Kasparov quotes Tigran Petrosian as saying, "There was a veryunpleasant feeling of inevitability. Once in a conversation with Keres Imentioned this and even compared Botvinnik with a bulldozer, whichsweeps away everything in its path. Keres smiled and said: 'But can

you imagine what it was like to play him when he was young?'"[79]

Influence on the game

Botvinnik's example and teaching established the modern approach to preparing for competitive chess: regular butmoderate physical exercise; analysing very thoroughly a relatively narrow repertoire of openings; annotating one'sown games, those of past great players and those of competitors; publishing one's annotations so that others canpoint out any errors; studying strong opponents to discover their strengths and weaknesses; ruthless objectivity

about one's own strengths and weaknesses.[80][81] Botvinnik also played many short training matches against stronggrandmasters 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.[2][82][83] 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.[80]

Black to move

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Although Botvinnik did not use a wide range of openings, he made major contributions to those he did use, forexample: the Botvinnik variation of the Semi-Slav Defense in the Queen's Gambit Declined, the Kasparov/Botvinniksystem 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, theBotvinnik System in the English Opening. In his openings research Botvinnik did not aim to produce tactical tricksthat would only be effective once but rather systems in which he aimed to understand typical positions and their

possibilities better than his rivals.[51][76] His advice to his pupils included "My theory of the openings fitted into onenotebook" and "You don’t have to know that which everyone knows, but it is important to know that which noteveryone knows." In fact he used different notebooks in different periods, and copied a few analyses from one

notebook to the next.[84] The "Soviet School of Chess" that dominated competition from 1945 to about 2000followed Botvinnik's approach to preparation and to openings research; and, although Soviet players had their ownpreferred styles of play, they adopted his combative approach and willingness to ignore "classical" principles if

doing so offered credible prospects of a lasting advantage.[85][86]

In 1963 Botvinnik founded his own school within the Soviet coaching system, and its graduates include worldchampions Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik, and other top-class players such as Alexei

Shirov, Vladimir Akopian and Jaan Ehlvest.[87][88] Botvinnik was not an infallible spotter of chess talent: althoughhe 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."[2]

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.[89] Kasparov presentsBotvinnik almost as a kind of father figure, going some way towards balancing the common public perception of

Botvinnik as dour and aloof;[79] and Kasparov inherited Botvinnik's emphasis on preparation, research and

innovation.[90] 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.[80][87]

Other achievements

Electrical engineering

Engineering was as much of a passion for Botvinnik as chess – at Nottingham in 1936, where he had his first majortournament win outside the USSR, he said "I wish I could do what he's done in electrical engineering" (referring to

Milan Vidmar, another grandmaster).[8] He was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honour for his work on powerstations 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.[91] In 1956, he joined the Research Institute for

Electrical Energy as a senior research scientist.[92]

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.[93] Botvinnik'sresearch on chess-playing programs concentrated on "selective searches", which used general chess principles todecide which moves were worth considering. This was the only feasible approach for the primitive computersavailable in the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, which were only capable of searching three or four half-moves

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deep (i.e. A's move, B's move, A's move, B's move) if they tried to examine every variation. Botvinnik eventuallydeveloped an algorithm that was reasonably good at finding the right move in difficult positions, but it often missedthe right move in simple positions, e.g. where it was possible to checkmate in two moves. This "selective" approachturned out to be a dead end, as computers were powerful enough by the mid-1970s to perform a brute-forcesearch (checking all possible moves) several moves deep and today's vastly more powerful computers do this well

enough to compete against human world champions.[94][95] However, his PIONEER program contained ageneralized method of decision-making that, with a few adjustments, enabled it to plan maintenance of power

stations all over the USSR.[96] On September 7, 1991 Botvinnik was awarded an honorary degree in mathematics

of the University of Ferrara (Italy) for his work on computer chess.[97]

Writings

Chess

Botvinnik, M.M. (1960). One hundred selected games (http://books.google.com/?

id=Mwriu9JqfPQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=mikhail+botvinnik&q=). Courier Dover. ISBN 0-486-

20620-3. Retrieved 2009-08-14.

Botvinnik, M.M. (1972). Cafferty, B., ed. Botvinnik's best games, 1947–1970. Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-

0357-8.

Botvinnik, M.M. (1973). Garry, S., ed. Soviet chess championship, 1941: Complete text of games with

detailed notes & an introduction. Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-22184-9.

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.; 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 0-08-

021139-9.

Botvinnik, M.M.; Estrin, Y. (1980). The Gruenfeld Defense. Rhm Pr. ISBN 0-89058-017-0.

Botvinnik, M.M. (1981). Cafferty, B., ed. Achieving the Aim. Pergamon Press. ISBN 0-08-024120-4.

Botvinnik, M.M. (1981). Selected Games: 1967–1970. Pergamon. ISBN 0-08-024123-9.

Botvinnik, M.M. (1982). Marfia, J., ed. Fifteen Games and Their Stories. Coraopolis, Pennsylvania,

U.S.A: Chess Enterprises. ISBN 0-931462-15-0.

Botvinnik, M.M. (1985). Botvinnik on the Endgame. Chess Enterprises. ISBN 0-931462-43-6.

Botvinnik, M.M. (1996). Neat, K. and Stauss, E., ed. Half a Century of Chess. Cadogan Books.

ISBN 1-85744-122-2.

Botvinnik, M.M. (2000). Neat, K., ed. Botvinnik's Best Games Volume 1: 1925–1941. Moravian Chess.

ISBN 978-80-7189-317-2.

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Botvinnik, M.M. (2000). Neat, K., ed. Botvinnik's Best Games Volume 2: 1942–1956. Moravian Chess.

ISBN 80-7189-370-6.

Botvinnik, M.M. (2000). Neat, K., ed. Botvinnik's Best Games Volume 3: 1957–1970 – Analytical &

Critical Works. Moravian Chess. ISBN 80-7189-405-2.

Botvinnik, M.M. (2002). Championship Chess : Match Tournament for the Absolute Chess

Championship of the USSR, Leningrad-Moscow 1941. Hardinge Simpole. ISBN 978-1-84382-012-3.

Botvinnik, M.M. (2004). Match for the World Chess Championship Mikhail Botvinnik-David Bronstein

Moscow 1951. Edition Olms. ISBN 3-283-00459-5.

Botvinnik, M.M. (2004). Botvinnik, I., ed. World Championship Return Match: Botvinnik V.

Tal,Moscow 1961. Olms. ISBN 978-3-283-00461-3.

Computers

Botvinnik, M.M. (1970). Computers, Chess and Long-Range Planning. Springer Verlag. ISBN 0-387-

90012-8.

Botvinnik, M.M. (1984). Computers in Chess: Solving Inexact Search Problems. Springer-Verlag.

ISBN 0-387-90869-2.

Notable chess games

Botvinnik vs Chekhover, Moscow 1935, Réti Opening, 1–0 (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?

gid=1031877)[18]

Botvinnik vs Capablanca, AVRO 1938, Nimzoindian Defense, 1–0[8] At first sight Botvinnik's opening play

looks unpromising, but he knew how his attack would develop.

Keres vs Botvinnik, USSR Absolute Championship 1941, Nimzoindian Defense, 0–1

(http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1032050)[8] Playing as Black, Botvinnik demolishes a

world title contender in 22 moves.

Tolush vs Botvinnik, USSR Championship 1944, 0–1 (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?

gid=1032104)[8] Long-term positional sacrifices.

Denker vs Botvinnik, USA vs USSR radio match 1945, 0–1 (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?

gid=1032119) 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

(http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1032736) Botvinnik shows his superior understanding of

closed positions, and when to open them.

Botvinnik vs Portisch, Monaco 1968, 1–0 (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1032787) A

fireworks display starting with an exchange sacrifice on the c-file, a tactic on which Botvinnik wrote the

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book.[85]

Tournament results

The following table gives Botvinnik's placings and scores in tournaments.[20] The first "Score" column gives thenumber of points on the total possible. In the second "Score" column, "+" indicates the number of won games, "−"the number of losses, and "=" the number of draws.

Date Location Tournament Placing Score Notes

1923 Leningrad School championship — — — Botvinnik estimates"about 10th out of

16".[20]

1924 Leningrad School championship 1st 5 / 6 +5

-1=0

1924 Leningrad non-category 1st 11½/ 13

+11-1=1

1924 Leningrad 2B and 3rd Categories 1st 11½/ 13

+11-1

=1

1924 Leningrad 2A Category — — — Tournamentunfinished[20]

1925 Leningrad 2A and 1B Categories 1st 10 /11

+10-1

=0

1925 Leningrad 1st Category 3rd 7½ /11

+7-3

=1

1925 Leningrad 1st Category — — — Tournament

unfinished[20]

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 ProvincialChampionship, Semi-finals

2nd= 9 /11

+8-1=2

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1926 Leningrad Northwest ProvincialChampionship

3rd 6½ /10

+4

-1=5

1927 Leningrad Tournament of "Six" 2nd 7½ /10

+6-1

=3

1927 Moscow 5th USSR Chess Championship 5th= 12½/ 20

+9-4

=7

1928 Leningrad Regional Metalworkers'

Committee Championship

1st 8½ /

11

+7

-1=3

1929 Leningrad Regional Committee of

Educational Workers'Championship

1st 11½

/ 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

3rd= 2½ /5

+2-2=1

1930 Leningrad Masters' Tournament 1st 6½ /8

+6-1

=1

1931 Leningrad Leningrad Championship 1st 14 /17

+12-1

=4

1931 Moscow 7th USSR Chess Championship,Semi-finals

2nd 6½ /9

+6-2

=1

1931 Moscow 7th USSR Chess Championship 1st 13½

/ 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 1st= 10 /13

+7-0

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=6

1933 Leningrad 8th USSR Chess Championship 1st 14 /

19

+11

-2=6

1934 Leningrad Tournament including Euwe andKmoch

1st 7½ /11

+5-1=5

1934 Hastings Hastings International ChessCongress

5th= 5 / 9 +3-2

=4

1935 Moscow 2nd International Tournament 1st= 13 /19

+9-2

=8

1936 Moscow 3rd International Tournament 2nd 12 /18

+7-1

=10

1936 Nottingham International Tournament 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 7½ /

14

+3

-2=9

1939 Leningrad 11th USSR Chess Championship 1st 12½/ 17

+8-0=9

1940 Moscow 12th USSR Chess Championship 5th= 11½/ 19

+8-4

=7

1941 Leningrad,Moscow

Absolute Chess Championship ofthe USSR

1st 13½/ 20

+9-2

=9

1943 Sverdlovsk Masters' Tournament 1st 10½/ 14

+7-0

=7

1943 Moscow Moscow Championship 1st 13½

/ 16

+12

-1=3

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1944 Moscow 13th USSR Chess Championship 1st 12½/ 16

+11

-2=3

1945 Moscow 14th USSR Chess Championship 1st 15 /17

+13-0

=4

1946 Groningen International Tournament 1st 14½/ 19

+13-3

=3

1947 Moscow Tchigorin 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 3rd= 11 /17

+7-2

=8

1952 Moscow 20th USSR Chess Championship 1st= 13½

/ 19

+9

-1=9

Defeated Taimanov in a

play-off for first place.

1955 Moscow 22nd USSR Chess Championship 3rd= 11½

/ 19

+7

-3=9

1956 Moscow Alekhine Memorial 1st= 11 /15

+8-1=6

1958 Wageningen International Tournament 1st 4 / 5 +3-0

=2

1961/2 Hastings International Chess Congress(Premier)

1st 8 / 9 +7-0

=2

1962 Stockholm International Tournament 1st 8½ /9

+8-0

=1

1965 Noordwijk International Tournament 1st 6 / 7 +5

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-0=2

1966 Amsterdam IBM Tournament 1st 7½ /9

+7-1

=1

1966/7 Hastings International Chess Congress(Premier)

1st 6½ /9

+5-1

=3

1967 Palma de

Mallorca

International Tournament 2nd= 12½

/ 17

+9

-1=7

1968 Monte

Carlo

International Tournament 2nd 9 /

13

+5

-0=8

1969 Wijk aan

Zee

Hoogovens (Grandmaster

Section)

1st= 10½

/ 15

+6

-0=9

1969 Belgrade International Tournament 7th 8½ /15

+5-3=7

1970 Leiden Quadrangular Tournament 3rd= 5½ /12

+1-2

=9

Four players. Eachopponent was played

four times.

Match results

Here are Botvinnik's results in matches.[20] In the second "Score" column, "+" indicates the number of won games,"−" the number of losses, and "=" the number of draws.

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Date Opponent Result Location Score Notes

1933 Salo Flohr Tied Moscow, Leningrad 6 / 12 +2 =8 −2 Challenge

1937 Grigory Levenfish Tied Moscow, Leningrad 6½ / 13 +5 =3 −5 Challenge

1940 Viacheslav Ragozin Won Moscow, Leningrad 8½ / 12 +5 =7 −0 Training

1951 David Bronstein Tied Moscow 12 / 24 +5 =14 -5 World title

1952 Mark Taimanov Won Moscow 3½ / 6 +1 =5 -0 USSR Ch playoff

1954 Vasily Smyslov Tied Moscow 12 / 24 +7 =10 -7 World title

1957 Vasily Smyslov Lost Moscow 9½ / 22 +3 =13 -6 World title

1958 Vasily Smyslov Won Moscow 12½ / 23 +7 =11 -5 Rematch

1960 Mikhail Tal Lost Moscow 8½ / 21 +2 =13 -6 World title

1961 Mikhail Tal Won Moscow 13 / 21 +10 =6 -5 Rematch

1963 Tigran Petrosian Lost Moscow 9½ / 21 +2 =14 -5 World title

Notes

1. Unofficial Elo rating list released Spring 1969 – from Olimpbase (http://www.olimpbase.org/Elo/OFC/chart.html?

ofc=../graphs/Botvinnik,%20Mikhail%20URS.json)

2. Thomas, R. McG., Jr. (May 7, 1995). "Mikhail Botvinnik, Chess Champion and Teacher of Champions, Dies at

83" (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEEDC173BF934A35756C0A963958260). New York

Times.

3. "Russian Jewish Encyclopedia" (http://www.jewishgen.org/BELARUS/rje_b.htm). 1995. Retrieved 2009-06-06.

4. Service, R. (2000). "Russia from Far and Near". Lenin: a biography (http://books.google.com/?

id=frDGHIxc4EUC&pg=PA180&dq=kuokkala#PPR8,M1). Harvard University Press. pp. 180–181. ISBN 0-674-

00828-6. Retrieved 2009-06-06.

5. Beizer, M. (2007). "The Jews of a Soviet Metropolis". In Gitelman, Z. and Ro'i, Y. Revolution, repression, and

revival (http://books.google.com/?id=Cd3RM6Emko0C&pg=PA118&dq=kuokkala+repino#PPA118,M1). Rowman

& Littlefield: the Soviet Jewish Experience. pp. 113–119. ISBN 0-7425-5817-7. Retrieved 2009-06-06.

6. Botvinnik, M.M.; Cafferty, B. "FirstMoves". Achieving the Aim. pp. 1–16.

7. Andy Soltis (2014). Mikhail Botvinnik: The Life and Games of a World Chess Champion. McFarland. p. 74.

ISBN 9780786473373. "By character they were absolutely opposites,” their only child, Olga, recalled in 2012.

Gayane was religious, while Botvinnik was fond of saying, “I am an atheist and a communist in the spirit of the

first communist on earth, Jesus Christ.” He reveled in his “hard character.” She was apolitical. He was an ardent

Marxist. As time went by, she found it hard to deal with the stress that he seemed to thrive on."

8. Fine, R. (1952). "Mikhail Botvinnik". The World's Great Chess Games. André Deutsch (now as paperback from

Dover). pp. 234–243.

9. Botvinnik, M.M.; Cafferty, B. "The Polytechnic". Achieving the Aim. pp. 16–22.

10. Botvinnik, M.M.; Cafferty, B. "The Polytechnic". Achieving the Aim. pp. 23–39.

11. How to Play the French Defence, by Wolfgang Uhlmann, Mikhail Botvinnik, Viktor Korchnoi, and Anatoly Karpov,

RHM Press, 1975, introduction

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RHM Press, 1975, introduction

12. http://www.chessmetrics.com, the Mikhail Botvinnik results file

13. Cree, G. "The Soviet Chess Championship 1920–1991"

(http://web.archive.org/web/20080128115927/http://members.aol.com/graemecree/chesschamps/ussr/index.htm).

Archived from the original (http://members.aol.com/graemecree/chesschamps/ussr/index.htm) on January 27,

2008. Retrieved 2009-06-07.

14. Fine, R. (1952). "Max Euwe". The World's Great Chess Games. André Deutsch (now as paperback from Dover).

pp. 192–200.

15. Botvinnik, M.M.; Cafferty, B. "Postgraduate Study". Achieving the Aim. pp. 41–62.

16. One Hundred Selected Games (to 1946), by Mikhail Botvinnik, Dover Publishers

17. Golombek, H. (1959). "Triumphant Return". Capablanca's Hundred Best Games of Chess. G. Bell & Sons.

pp. 203–249.

18. Chernev, I. (1995). Twelve Great Chess Players and Their Best Games. Courier Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-

28674-6.

19. Botvinnik, M.M.; Cafferty, B. "The Match that was Never Played". Achieving the Aim. pp. 69–74.

20. Botvinnik, M.M.; Garry, S. (1949; translation published 1960). "Results in Tournaments and Matches". One

Hundred Selected Games. Dover. pp. 269–270. Check date values in: |date= (help)

21. "Chess Matches: from Lopez to Kramnik" (http://www.endgame.nl/match.htm). Retrieved 2009-06-11.

22. The sources agree that Botvinnik was only 2 points short of white-washing his opposition, but disagree about the

number of games played. There is a full tournament table giving Botvinnik a score of 15/17 at "14th USSR

Championship, Moscow 1945"

(http://web.archive.org/web/20080128115927/http://members.aol.com/graemecree/chesschamps/ussr/ussr14.htm).

Archived from the original (http://members.aol.com/graemecree/chesschamps/ussr/ussr14.htm) on January 27,

2008. Retrieved 2009-06-11. But Chessmetrics says the score was 16/18, at "Event Details: Moscow (URS

Championship), 1945" (http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/SingleEvent.asp?

Params=199510SSSSS3S015154000000121100222100000010100). The difference is that Chessmetrics says Salo

Flohr also competed, but scored only 1/3 as he then retired from the tournament.

23. Winter, E. (2003–2004). "Interregnum" (http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/interregnum.html). Chess

History Center.

24. "AVRO 1938" (http://www.endgame.nl/AVRO1938.htm).

25. Khariton, L. (2004-12-29). "Lev Khariton:The Battle That Never Was" (http://ryxi.com/games/78-639-lev-khariton-

the-battle-that-never-was-read.shtml). Retrieved 2008-05-23. Based on Botvinnik's memoirs.

26. Botvinnik, M.M.; Cafferty, B. "The Match that was Never Played". Achieving the Aim. pp. 75–76.

27. Botvinnik, M.M.; Cafferty, B. "The Match that was Never Played". Achieving the Aim. pp. 78–80.

28. Stevens, E. (May 30, 1960). "A Nod For A Title"

(http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1071370/index.htm). Sports Illustrated. Retrieved

2009-08-14.

29. Botvinnik, M.M.; Cafferty, B. "The Match that was Never Played". Achieving the Aim. pp. 81–86.

30. Penfield, M. (2006). Horoscopes of Europe (http://books.google.com/?

id=ffpPAYq7Kr0C&pg=PA142&dq=perm+molotov). American Federation of Astrology. p. 142. ISBN 0-86690-

567-7. Retrieved 2009-06-11.

31. "Sverdlovsk 1943" (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1009466). Retrieved 2009-06-06.

3/29/2015 Mikhail Botvinnik - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Botvinnik 23/27

32. Fruth, M. "The Greatest Tournaments in the History of Chess" (http://www.chessbase.com/shop/product.asp?

pid=197). Retrieved 2009-06-06.

33. Botvinnik, M.M.; Cafferty, B. "The Match that was Never Played". Achieving the Aim. pp. 88–98.

34. Kingston, T. (2002). "Yuri Averbakh: An Interview with History – Part 1"

(http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles181.pdf) (PDF). The Chess Cafe.

35. Pachman, L. (1987). "Groningen 1946: Defeat of the Two Leaders". Decisive Games in Chess History

(http://books.google.com/?

id=jlgJTCyonAgC&pg=PA118&dq=%22Decisive+Games+in+Chess+History%22+pachman+Groningen+1946#PP

A118,M1). Courier Dover. pp. 118–124. ISBN 0-486-25323-6. Retrieved 2009-06-11.

36. Botvinnik, M.M.; Garry, S. (1949; translation published 1960). "Nineteen-Fortysix". One Hundred Selected Games.

Dover. p. 242. Check date values in: |date= (help)

37. Botvinnik, M.M.; Cafferty, B. "The Match-tournament, 1848". Achieving the Aim. pp. 99–.

38. Brace, E.R. (1977). An Illustrated Dictionary of Chess. Hamlyn Publishing Group. p. 123. ISBN 1-55521-394-4.

39. Bronstein, D. and Furstenberg, T. (1995). The Sorcerer's Apprentice. London and New York: Cadogan Chess.

40. Botvinnik's Best Games 1947–1970, by Mikhail Botvinnik, introduction by Viktor Baturinsky, p. 2, translated by

Bernard Cafferty; Batsford Publishers, London 1972

41. Weeks, M. "World Chess Championship: 1948 FIDE Title Tournament" (http://www.mark-

weeks.com/chess/48$c$wix.htm).

42. Grandmaster Tal tells a different version of events in his autobiography, "The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal".

1997. Reprint ed. Everyman Chess, 2013, p. 21.

43. Weeks, M. "World Chess Championship: 1951 Botvinnik–Bronstein Title Match" (http://www.mark-

weeks.com/chess/4951$wix.htm).

44. Weeks, M. "World Chess Championship: 1954 Botvinnik–Smyslov Title Match" (http://www.mark-

weeks.com/chess/5254$wix.htm).

45. Weeks, M. "World Chess Championship: 1957 Smyslov–Botvinnik Title Match" (http://www.mark-

weeks.com/chess/55571wix.htm).

46. Weeks, M. "World Chess Championship: 1958 Botvinnik–Smyslov Title Match" (http://www.mark-

weeks.com/chess/55572wix.htm).

47. Watson, J. "Book Reviews by John Watson" (http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/jwatsonbkrev81.html). chess.co.uk.

48. Weeks, M. "World Chess Championship: 1960 Tal–Botvinnik Title Match" (http://www.mark-

weeks.com/chess/58601wix.htm).

49. Weeks, M. "World Chess Championship: 1961 Botvinnik–Tal Title Match" (http://www.mark-

weeks.com/chess/58602wix.htm).

50. "Tal vs Botvinnik 1961" (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=54393). chessgames.com.

51. Warriors of the Mind, Raymond Keene and Nathan Divinsky, 1989.

52. "USSR first entered Chess Olympiad 1952" (http://www.avlerchess.com/chess-

misc/USSR_first_entered_Chess_Olympiad_in_1952_287587.html).

53. Saidy, A. (December 3, 2007). "Bronstein: I Played Chess For My Dad's Jailers"

(http://main.uschess.org/content/view/8042/365). United States Chess Federation.

54. Botvinnik, M.M. (1972). Botvinnik's Best Games 1947–1970. Batsford. ISBN 978-0-7134-0537-8. (translated from

the Russian by Bernard Cafferty)

55. "Player list" (http://www.olimpbase.org/players2.html). olimpbase.org. Click Botvinnik's name and a pop-up

3/29/2015 Mikhail Botvinnik - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Botvinnik 24/27

55. "Player list" (http://www.olimpbase.org/players2.html). olimpbase.org. Click Botvinnik's name and a pop-up

appears that summarises his Olympiad playing record.

56. http://www.scr-kuppenheim.de/extra/sosonko.htm

57. Kingston, T. (2001). "The Keres–Botvinnik Case Revisited: A Further Survey of the Evidence"

(http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles165.pdf) (PDF). The Chess Cafe.

58. Moul, C. and Nye, J.V.C. (2006). "Did the Soviets Collude?: A Statistical Analysis of Championship Chess 1940–

64" (http://weber.ucsd.edu/~jlbroz/PElunch/sovietchesscartel.pdf) (PDF). Washington University in St. Louis.

59. Botvinnik, M.M. (1981). Achieving the Aim. Pergamon Press. ISBN 0-08-024120-4. This is the English

translation. The Rabinovich incident is summarized at Kingston, T. (1998). "The Keres–Botvinnik Case: A Survey

of the Evidence – Part II" (http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kb2.pdf). The Chess Cafe.

60. Varnusz, E. (1994). Paul Keres' Best Games, Volume 1: Closed Games. London: Cadogan. p. xi. ISBN 1-85744-

064-1. (translated by Andras Barabas)

61. Hartston, W. (May 8, 1995). "Obituary : Mikhail Botvinnik"

(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19950508/ai_n13981379). The Independent.

62. Kingston wrote a 2-part series: Kingston, T. (1998). "The Keres–Botvinnik Case: A Survey of the Evidence – Part

I" (http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kb1.pdf). The Chess Cafe. and Kingston, T. (1998). "The Keres–Botvinnik

Case: A Survey of the Evidence – Part II" (http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kb2.pdf). The Chess Cafe. Kingston

published a further article, Kingston, T. (2001). "The Keres–Botvinnik Case Revisited: A Further Survey of the

Evidence" (http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles165.pdf) (PDF). The Chess Cafe. after the publication of

further evidence which he summarizes in his third article. In a subsequent two-part interview with Kingston, Soviet

grandmaster and official Yuri Averbakh said that: Stalin would not have given orders that Keres should lose to

Botvinnik; Smyslov would probably have been the candidate most preferred by officials; Keres was under severe

psychological stress as a result of the multiple invasions of his home country, Estonia, and of his subsequent

treatment by Soviet officials up to late 1946; and Keres was less tough mentally than his rivals – Kingston, T.

(2002). "Yuri Averbakh: An Interview with History – Part 1" (http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles181.pdf)

(PDF). The Chess Cafe. and Kingston, T. (2002). "Yuri Averbakh: An Interview with History – Part 2"

(http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles183.pdf) (PDF). The Chess Cafe.

63. "Bronstein's fateful 23rd game" (http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=946). chessbase.com.

64. Kingston, T. (2002). "Yuri Averbakh: An Interview with History – Part 2"

(http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles183.pdf) (PDF). The Chess Cafe.

65. Monokroussos, D. (December 6, 2005). "An interesting tidbit from the latest Chess Life"

(http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1133849392.shtml). cites the December 2005 issue of Chess Life as its

source.

66. Khariton, L. "Orwell or Botvinnik?" (http://www.chessbanter.com/rec-games-chess-politics-chess/3483-orwell-

botvinnik-200-words-lev.html).

67. Khariton, L. "English Lessons (Remembering M.M.Botvinnik)" (http://www.chessbanter.com/rec-games-chess-

misc-chess/7721-lev-khariton-english-lessons-remembering.html). chessbanter.com.

68. Fine, R. (1976). The World's Great Chess Games (2 ed.). Dover Publications. p. 263. ISBN 0-486-24512-8.

69. "Peak Average Ratings: 1 year peak range" (http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PeakList.asp?

Params=199510SSSSS1S000000000000111000000000000010100).

70. "Peak Average Ratings: 15 year peak range" (http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PeakList.asp?

Params=199510SSSSSFS000000000000111000000000000010100).

71. Sonas, J. (2005). "The Greatest Chess Player of All Time – Part IV" (http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?

3/29/2015 Mikhail Botvinnik - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Botvinnik 25/27

71. Sonas, J. (2005). "The Greatest Chess Player of All Time – Part IV" (http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?

newsid=2409). Chessbase. Part IV gives links to the three earlier parts

72. Elo (1978), p. 89

73. Yuri Averbakh, referring to the late 1940s, said "Botvinnik was a killer in chess." – "Yuri Averbakh: An Interview

with History, Part 1" (http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles181.pdf) (PDF).

74. Wall, W. "USA vs USSR radio match, 1945"

(http://web.archive.org/web/20091028082845/http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lab/7378/radio.htm).

Archived from the original (http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lab/7378/radio.htm) on 2009-10-28.

75. Chernev, I. (1967). "Superb Strategist: Mikhail Botvinnik". Combinations: the heart of chess

(http://books.google.com/?

id=so6Tikr2bXYC&pg=PA194&dq=mikhail+botvinnik#v=onepage&q=mikhail%20botvinnik). Courier Dover.

pp. 194–195. ISBN 0-486-21744-2. Retrieved 2009-08-14.

76. Byrne, R. (January 27, 2008). "An Imaginative Tactician Who Was at Ease in Complexity"

(http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE7DD173BF934A35756C0A963958260). New York Times.

77. Golombek, H. (1954). The Game of Chess. Penguin Books.

78. See the list of Botvinnik's games, especially Botvinnik vs Portisch, Monaco 1968

(http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1032787)

79. Kasparov, G.K. (2003). My Great Predecessors, part II. Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-342-X.

80. Kramnik, V. (2005). "Kramnik Interview: From Steinitz to Kasparov"

(http://www.kramnik.com/eng/interviews/getinterview.aspx?id=61). Vladimir Kramnik.

81. Botvinnik, M.M. (2004). Botvinnik vs Bronstein, Moscow 1951

(http://www.bcmchess.co.uk/reviews/bcmrev0410.html). Olms. ISBN 3-283-00459-5. The URL links to a review.

82. Timman, J. (2006). Secret Matches: The Unknown Training Games of Mikhail Botvinnik

(http://www.chesscafe.com/text/secretmatches.pdf) (PDF). Hardinge Simpole. ISBN 1-84382-178-8.

83. "The Unfortunate Fate of Salo Flohr"

(http://www.chessville.com/misc/History/PastPawns/UnfortunateFateofSaloFlohr.htm). Retrieved 2008-06-10.

84. Botvinnik, I. (2004). "Mikhail Botvinnik's Opening Course". In Neat, K. Return Match for the World Chess

Championship: Mikhail Botvinnik – Mikhail Tal, Moscow 1961

(http://www.chessville.com/reviews/BotvinnikBronstein1951BotvinnikTal1961.htm). Edition Olms. ISBN 3-283-

00459-5. Retrieved 2008-09-16.

85. Botvinnik, M.M. (1960). One hundred selected games (http://books.google.com/?

id=Mwriu9JqfPQC&pg=PA12&lpg=PA12&dq=botvinnik+%22soviet+school+of+chess%22). Courier Dover

Publications. ISBN 0-486-20620-3. Note the preface "The Russian and Soviet School of Chess"

86. Goldberg, S. (2007). "Strategies of the Soviet School" (http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review605.pdf) (PDF).

87. Henderson, J. "Boy from the Black Sea" (http://www.chess.co.uk/wcc2000/kramint.html). interview with Vladimir

Kramnik

88. Ehlvest, J. (2004). The Story of a Chess Player (http://www.chessville.com/reviews/StoryofaChessPlayer.htm).

Arbiter Publishing, Inc. ISBN 0-9763891-0-X.

89. Karpov, A. (1992). Karpov on Karpov: A Memoirs of a Chess World Champion. Atheneum. ISBN 0-689-12060-5.

90. Russell, H.W. "Interview with Garry Kasparov – Part 1" (http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles208.pdf) (PDF).

91. Botvinnik's Best Games 1947–1970, by Mikhail Botvinnik, introduction by Viktor Baturinsky, translated by Bernard

Cafferty, Batsford Publishers, London 1972

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References

Elo, Árpád (1978). The Rating of Chessplayers, Past and Present. Arco. ISBN 0-668-04721-6

Hartston, William R. (1986). Kings of Chess. Pavilion. ISBN 1-85145-075-0

Hooper, David and Kenneth Whyld (1996). The Oxford Companion to Chess. Oxford University.

ISBN 0-19-280049-3

Sunnucks, Anne (1970). The Encyclopaedia of Chess. Hale. ISBN 0-7091-1030-8

Winter, Edward G. (ed.) (1981). World chess champions. Pergamon. ISBN 0-08-024094-1

Di Felice, Gino (2010). Chess Results 1951–1955. McFarland & Co. ISBN 978-0-7864-4801-2.

Di Felice, Gino (2010). Chess Results 1956–1960. McFarland & Co. ISBN 978-0-7864-4803-6.

Further reading

Chernev, Irving (1995). Twelve Great Chess Players and Their Best Games. New York: Dover.

pp. 109–126. ISBN 0-486-28674-6.

Hurst, Sarah (2002). Curse of Kirsan: Adventures in the Chess Underworld. Russell Enterprises.

ISBN 1-888690-15-1.

Botvinnik, Mikhail (translated from the Russian by Stephen Garry) (1981) [1961]. One Hundred Selected

Games. Dover. ISBN 0-486-20620-3.

Botvinnik, Mikhail (1972). Botvinnik's Best Games 1947–1970 (translated from the Russian by Bernard

Cafferty). Batsford. ISBN 978-0-7134-0537-8.

Kasparov, Garry (2003). My Great Predecessors, part II. Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-342-X.

Thomas, R.M. (May 7, 1995). "Mikhail Botvinnik, Chess Champion and Teacher of Champions, Dies at

92. McCauley, M. (1997). "Botvinnik, Mikhail Moiseevich". Who's Who in Russia Since 1900

(http://books.google.com/?id=4A6rFD_AXOEC&pg=PA205&dq=mikhail+botvinnik). Routledge. p. 46. ISBN 0-

415-13898-1. Retrieved 2009-06-05.

93. "Publications in Computer Games" (http://www.cs.unimaas.nl/links/ReferentiesICGAJournal.html).

94. Brudno, Michael (May 2000). "Competitions, Controversies, and Computer Chess"

(http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~brudno/essays/cchess.pdf) (PDF). Retrieved 2008-11-18.

95. Laramée, F.D. (July 2000). "Chess Programming Part III: Move Generation"

(http://www.gamedev.net/reference/articles/article1126.asp). gamedev.net. Retrieved 2008-11-18.

96. Abramson, B. (2005). "The Artificial Science". Digital phoenix: why the information economy collapsed and how it

will rise (http://books.google.com/?

id=HmyqbzrlVpkC&pg=PA89&dq=mikhail+botvinnik&q=mikhail%20botvinnik). MIT Press. pp. 89–90.

ISBN 978-0-262-01217-1. Retrieved 2009-08-14.

97. Santi, Ettore (2006). "Michail Botvinnik: un programma "intelligente" per giocare a scacchi"

(http://matematica.unibocconi.it/interventi/botvinnik/scacchi_botvinnik.htm).

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Wikiquote has quotationsrelated to: MikhailBotvinnik

Wikimedia Commons hasmedia related to MikhailBotvinnik.

83" (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEEDC173BF934A35756C0A963958260). New

York Times.

External links

Mikhail Botvinnik (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?

pid=11207) player profile and games at Chessgames.com

Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik – hundredth anniversary

(http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=7465) ChessBase.com

Film newsreel about a simultaneous display of Salo Flohr and Mikhail Botvinnik, Hilversum (NL), 1 January

1964 (http://www.beeldengeluid.nl/media/7535/simultaan-schaken)

Achievements

VacantInterregnum of World Chess

ChampionsTitle last held by

Alexander Alekhine

World Chess Champion1948–1957

Succeeded byVasily Smyslov

Preceded byVasily Smyslov

World Chess Champion1958–1960

Succeeded byMikhail Tal

Preceded byMikhail Tal

World Chess Champion1961–1963

Succeeded byTigran Petrosian

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mikhail_Botvinnik&oldid=643357027"

Categories: 1911 births 1995 deaths People from Saint Petersburg Sportspeople from Saint Petersburg

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