INTRODUCING MIKHAIL BOTVINNIK

Mikhail Botvinnik was born in 1911, and showed promise early: he defeated then-World Champion Jose Raoul Capablanca at 14 years old in a game in a simultaneous exhibition. By the 1930s he had become one of the best players in the world, winning the always-strong Soviet Championship for the first time in 1931 (he would win it 6 times), and tied for first in the Moscow 1935 and Nottingham 1936 supertournaments.

Alexander Alekhine, who was World Champion from 1927-35 and regained the title in 1937, died in 1946 while holding the title. That left a vacancy for the crown: a new champion was needed! After considering awarding the title to Max Euwe, the last living World Champion, the solution was a match-tournament to decide the next champion.

The tournament was held from March-May 1948. The field included Euwe, Samuel Reshevsky (United States), Paul Keres (Estonia), Vasily Smyslov (Soviet Union), and Botvinnik (Soviet Union). Botvinnik emerged victorious, becoming the 6th World Champion.

At this time FIDE (the International Chess Federation) gained control of the chess world, and scrapped the system that allowed previous world champions to hand-pick their opponents. Now, there was a three-year cycle: Zonal tournaments in regions around the world, whose winners would qualify for Interzonals. The top finishers from the Interzonals would play in a marathon Candidates Tournament to decide who would challenge the World Champion.

In 1951 Botvinnik drew a match with David Bronstein for the Title, 12-12. The champion had draw odds, so Botvinnik kept the title. He defeated Smyslov in the 1954 World Championship match before losing the title to him in 1957. He regained it the next year.

In 1960 Botvinnik lost the title to the fearsome attacker Mikhail Tal, but regained the title from hin the next year. Botvinnik lost the title for the last time to Tigran Petrosian in 1963.

Botvinnik, like his predecessors, was also gifted outside of chess. He was an electrical engineer, gaining a doctorate in this field. After retiring from international play in 1970, Dr. Botvinnik spent the remainder of his life working the field of computer chess and, of course, training "talented" future stars of Soviet chess. His most successful pupils: Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov, the 12th and 13th World Champions. Botvinnik is often referred to as the "Patriarch" of Soviet Chess, and this is well-deserved--for better and for worse!

Botvinnik played chess as he lived his life: according to iron logic! He was not the most talented chessplayer ever, but he certainly was one of the first to take a highly professional approach to training, training for several hours everyday.


To see a biography of Mikhail Botviniik at the Wikipedia website, click here.


To see Botvinnik's games at ChessGames.com, click here.