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| Dec-17-15 | | Petrosianic: Yeah, I've heard that story. Korchnoi got Bronstein in trouble through not being able to keep his mouth shut. Bronstein was one of the three Soviet GM's who didn't sign the letter denouncing Korchnoi when he defected (Botvinnik and Spassky were the others). |
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Dec-17-15
 | | perfidious: Never heard that one on Bronstein, though he was constantly in hot water with the establishment. |
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| Dec-17-15 | | Petrosianic: Korchnoi mentioned it in one of those big Tim Krabbe articles after he defected. So, Chess Life & Review, January 1977 or January 1978. |
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| Dec-17-15 | | Olavi: <Bronstein was one of the three Soviet GM's who didn't sign the letter denouncing Korchnoi when he defected (Botvinnik and Spassky were the others).> Gulko too. And if you want to be really precise, Karpov; but of course there was something separate. |
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| Dec-17-15 | | Petrosianic: I thought Karpov did sign it.
I don't remember Gulko being mentioned. Either he did sign it, or he wasn't a GM at the time. I just checked his bio, and it says he became a GM that same year. |
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| Dec-17-15 | | Petrosianic: Speaking of tournaments vs. Matches, I just checked the Top 5 results of 1968, and all five were achieved by either Korchnoi or Spassky. For Korchnoi, it was two tournaments, Palma and Wijk aan Zee. For Spassky, it was his three Candidates Matches (and the top result was the Spassky-Korchnoi match itself). |
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| Dec-17-15 | | Olavi: No, Gulko absolutely was a GM and didn't sign. Also Korchnoi in his 1977 autobiography states so. He then writes "However, I have eyewitness evidence to prove that at least one of them never actually saw the letter, and didn't know anything about it, but his signature nevertheless appeared below the document. In particular, it should be noted that this crude attack was not supported by Karpov." |
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| Dec-17-15 | | Petrosianic: Okay, then maybe the magazine article was remiss in not mentioning him. I'll check it again. |
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| Dec-17-15 | | Olavi: Gulko has been mentioned often in the context, and I now checked: <Gulko, Boris; Felshtinsky, Yuri; Popov, Vladimir; Kortschnoi, Viktor (2011). The KGB Plays Chess: The Soviet Secret Police and the Fight for the World Chess Crown> and Gulko writes that of the active GMs Bronstein and himself were the ones not to sign, and Spassky, already living in France. |
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| Dec-17-15 | | Petrosianic: I'm pretty sure Botvinnik didn't sign either (although he wasn't "active" after 1970, so Gulko isn't wrong). Spassky was in France, and pretty safe from reprisals, while Botvinnik was Botvinnik, and could get away with things that other GM's couldn't. |
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| Dec-17-15 | | Olavi: Botvinnik didn't sign, that's for sure. It's a pity Korchnoi doesn't seem to have named the GM whose signature was added without his knowledge. |
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| Dec-17-15 | | Everett: <A natural question to ask is, where was Bronstein during Korchnoi's push for the match with Fischer? In particular, where was Bronstein during the first Karpov-Korchnoi match? While Karpov always had the access to the best available seconds and analysts, Korchnoi did not> Concerning the 1974 match: Bronstein writes quite a bit about this match in Secret Notes. He actually helped Korchnoi to prepare from games 19-21 (+2 =1). Some of the help Korchnoi was supposd to receive mysteriously disappeared once the match started... And just as mysteriously, Korchnoi no longer wanted help from Bronstein, save for long walks and chats not even concerning chess, after game 21.
Bronstein also wrote, when making general suggestions to Korchnoi before the match, that Korchnoi should play the French since Karpov "did not know how to play against the IQP" when he stuck with the Tarrasch 3.Nd2 response. |
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Dec-17-15
 | | Gypsy: <Everett> Interesting, thx! |
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| Dec-18-15 | | sneaky pete: My guess is that Botvinnik didn't sign that infamous letter, not so much out of respect for Korchnoi, but mainly because of his dislike for Petrosian, who no doubt initiated and wrote the wretched thing. The "Letter of Grandmasters", published in Petrosian's weekly <64>, 1976 issue 38, page 2, was signed by Averbakh, Antoshin, Balashov, Beliavsky, Boleslavsky, Bondarevsky, Vaganian, Vasiukov, Gaprindashvili, Geller, Gipslis, Gurgenidze, Gufeld, Kotov, Krogius, Kuzmin, Lutikov, Petrosian, Platonov, Polugayevsky, Romanishin, Savon, Smyslov, Suetin, Taimanov, Tal, Tukmakov, Flohr, Furman, Kholmov and Tseshkovsky. Karpov didn't sign it, because he had his own letter on the same page of that same issue of <64>. "The decision of V. Korchnoi to betray the Fatherland has deeply touched and saddened me. [...] I share the indignation of the Soviet society regarding the unworthy behaviour of Korchnoi and support the decision of the Soviet Chess Federation to strip him of his sporting titles and deny him the right to represent the Soviet Chess School in the international arena." The bio here states Gulko gained the GM title in 1976. Shortly before this letter was published, he played in th Biel Interzonal. No doubt he was asked to sign, but refused. Another GM that didn't sign was Lilienthal, who returned to Hungary that same year. |
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Dec-18-15
 | | keypusher: <Everett
Concerning the 1974 match: Bronstein writes quite a bit about this match in Secret Notes. He actually helped Korchnoi to prepare from games 19-21 (+2 =1). Some of the help Korchnoi was supposd to receive mysteriously disappeared once the match started... And just as mysteriously, Korchnoi no longer wanted help from Bronstein, save for long walks and chats not even concerning chess, after game 21. Bronstein also wrote, when making general suggestions to Korchnoi before the match, that Korchnoi should play the French since Karpov "did not know how to play against the IQP" when he stuck with the Tarrasch 3.Nd2 response.>Very interesting -- Karpov played some famous games with 3.Nd2 before the match, and I would have thought he was really strong against the IQP. Evidently Bronstein saw deeper. |
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| Dec-18-15 | | BUNA: <sneaky pete: My guess is that Botvinnik didn't sign that infamous letter, not so much out of respect for Korchnoi, but mainly because of his dislike for Petrosian, who no doubt initiated and wrote the wretched thing.> I'd doubt that Petrosian initiated the letter. Soviet officials weren't keen on grassroots action in such politicized matters. The letter came from the soviet chess federation or the sports committee. It was publicized not only in "64", but also in the general sports paper "Sovietsky sport". |
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Dec-18-15
| | keypusher: <BUNA: <sneaky pete: My guess is that Botvinnik didn't sign that infamous letter, not so much out of respect for Korchnoi, but mainly because of his dislike for Petrosian, who no doubt initiated and wrote the wretched thing.> I'd doubt that Petrosian initiated the letter. Soviet officials weren't keen on grassroots action in such politicized matters. The letter came from the soviet chess federation or the sports committee. It was publicized not only in "64", but also in the general sports paper "Sovietsky sport".> I believe Petrosian was editing "64" at the time. He wasn't exactly grassroots. |
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| Dec-18-15 | | BUNA: <keypusher: I believe Petrosian was editing "64" at the time. He wasn't exactly grassroots.> And Dirk Jan Ten Geuzendam is the editor of "New in chess". ;)
Korchnoi seems to blame Baturinsky and Averbakh, both chief executives of the soviet chess federation at the time.
> http://www.litmir.co/br/?b=188044&p...
Maybe sneaky pete mixed up the "open letters". In 1974 after losing his match to Karpov Korchnoi in some interview to the soviet press complained about the chess federation backing Karpov. In an "open letter" some grandmasters rejected Korchnois explanation for his defeat. That's the one that Petrosian allegedly initiated, at least according to Korchnoi.
Compared to the other letter this was a minor matter. |
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Dec-18-15
| | keypusher: <BUNA> Thanks, you are clearly more knowledgeable about this than I am. |
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| Dec-18-15 | | Everett: <Very interesting -- Karpov played some famous games with 3.Nd2 before the match, and I would have thought he was really strong against the IQP. Evidently Bronstein saw deeper.> It is easy, and prudent, to not completely trust Bronstein in some areas, but regarding chess itself he seemed pretty spot on most of the time. |
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| Dec-18-15 | | Petrosianic: <BUNA>: <I'd doubt that Petrosian initiated the letter.> So would I. Korchnoi's defection was an enormously big thing. Comparable to Solzhenitsyn, or even worse. Korchnoi was a household name in a country that was so big on chess. There's no way that the official response to his defection came from some magazine editor. |
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| Dec-19-15 | | Howard: Still remember Korchnoi's making the cover of "Chess Life and Review" in September, 1976! It also made Page 2 of our local paper when that happened. No small thing ! |
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| Mar-09-16 | | socratos: he is better when playing english opening. but the best game is against capablanca match. |
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Jun-26-16
 | | brankat: <..he is better when playing English opening...> Botvinnik was better when playing any opening. |
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Aug-17-16
 | | TheFocus: Happy birthday, Mikhail Botvinnik. |
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