Games - Mikhail Botvinnik

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	Games - Mikhail Botvinnik

Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik (IPA: Russian: Михаи́л Моисе́евич Ботви́нник) (August 17, 1911 - May 5,1995) was a Jewish Russian International Grandmaster and long-time World Champion of chess.

Early years

Born in Kuokkala, near Vyborg, the son of a dental technician, he first came to the notice of the chess world at the age of 14, when he defeated the world champion, José Raúl Capablanca, in a simultaneous exhibition.

Progress was fairly rapid and by the age of 20, Botvinnik, already a Soviet Master of some years standing, won his first Soviet Championship in 1931. This feat was to be repeated in 1933, 1939, 1941, 1945 and 1952.

At 24 years of age, Botvinnik was competing on equal terms with the world's elite, chalking up international tournament successes in some of the strongest tournaments of the day. First (equal with Salo Flohr) at Moscow 1935, ahead of Emanuel Lasker and Capablanca. First (equal with Capablanca) at Nottingham in 1936 and third (behind Reuben Fine and Paul Keres) at the prestigious AVRO tournament of 1938. In 1941, he won a tournament designating him the title of "Absolute Champion of the U.S.S.R". Botvinnik defeated Paul Keres and future world champion Vassily Smyslov, amongst other strong Soviet grandmasters such as Boleslavsky and Lilienthal, to win the title.

World champion

Not surprisingly, Botvinnik continued to build on these successes and went on to hold the title of World Champion on three separate occasions (1948-57, 1958-60, 1961-63). His longevity at the top level of chess is attributed to his extreme dedication to study. Pre-match preparation and post-match analysis had not featured quite so prominently in the armoury of many of his predecessors, but this was Botvinnik's real strength. Technique over tactics, endgame mastery over opening traps. His adoption and development of solid opening lines in the Nimzo-Indian Defence, Slav Defence and Winawer French Defence stood up to the severest scrutiny and he was able to focus on a narrow repertoire of openings during his most important matches, frequently guiding the game into well chosen areas of preparation. There were many "secret" training matches against masters of the calibre of Salo Flohr, Yuri Averbakh and Viacheslav Ragozin. It was the unveiling, many years later, of the details of these matches that provided the chess historian with a fascinating new insight into Botvinnik's reign.

It is perhaps surprising that Mikhail Botvinnik is not widely regarded as a contender for the title of best player of all time. On the one hand, his achievements were undoubtedly impressive and it should be remembered that his main rivals, the younger Paul Keres, David Bronstein, Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal and Tigran Petrosian were all formidable players in their own right. He also inaugurated a new trend with his deep opening preparation and training system.

On the other hand, critics point to his rare appearances in post-World War II tournaments while world champion, and his mediocre record in world title defence matches - out of five title defences, he lost three matches (to Smyslov in 1957, Tal in 1960 and Petrosian in 1963) and struggled to draw the other two (against David Bronstein in 1951 and Smyslov in 1954). He did, however, win two world title matches as the challenger, beating the reigning world champions Smyslov in 1958 and Tal in 1961.

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