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Sep-14-18
 | | MissScarlett: I've read a piece claiming that Botvinnik's brother was 'killed by the Germans in the war'. Wikipedia confirms the existence of an elder brother, <Issy>, but only in the context of Mikhail's childhood. Does <Achieving the Aim> mention this? |
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| Sep-14-18 | | Telemus: < Botvinnik's brother was 'killed by the Germans in the war'. [...] Does <Achieving the Aim> mention this?> Yes. |
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Sep-14-18
| | MissScarlett: Who was involved?
What happened?
Where did it take place?
When did it take place?
Why did that happen? |
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Sep-14-18
 | | chancho: <In September 1941, Botvinnik’s brother, Isya, died at the front from incoming German bombs. His aunt and uncle also died in the early days of the war.> http://www.billwallchess.com/articl... |
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Sep-27-18
 | | Sally Simpson: Botvinnik being interviewed after playing at the 1961/1962 Hastings. Question:
"What do you consider the main strengths and weaknesses of the British and American players...What advice could you offer them." Answer:
"In my Opinion the British Master lack all-round playing strength...R. Fischer has no longer any need of my advice." CHESS. January 1961 (page 120) |
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| Sep-27-18 | | gokusano: The advent of computers reduces drastically all the advantages the Soviets have over their contemporaries. Years ago, they were ahead in opening preparations and strategies because they (the topnotch players) can collaborate with each other at any given time. |
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Sep-27-18
| | Sally Simpson: Botvinnik in the same 1962 interview (see above) regarding computers. Question:
"In how many years do you think Chess by electronic computers will become a serious factor in the game?" Answer:
"I believe the time when an electronic machine will play chess is not far off." |
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| Sep-27-18 | | john barleycorn: Always remember: "A fool with a tool is still a fool" |
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Jan-03-19
 | | keypusher: <1d410>
If I was going to list great Botvinnik exchange sacrifices, I really should have included Botvinnik vs Vidmar, 1946. I also really like Tal vs Botvinnik, 1961 for both players! |
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| Jan-29-19 | | ughaibu: According to the database! and my rough and ready calculation!! of Botvinnik's wins, 10% were miniatures. For a player with such a heavy style, I find that percentage surprisingly high. For example, Smyslov has 6% miniature wins, on the other hand, Zukertort has 19% miniature wins. Anyone want to look at some others? |
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| Jan-29-19 | | Retireborn: <ughaibu> How are you defining miniature? I have seen various limits (20, 25, 30 moves) imposed. I am not sure that percentages are useful, since eg Smyslov will have played a much higher number of games than Zukertort. Personally I associate the word miniature with Alexander Beliavsky. The one against Larsen is well known, but a surprising number of people have had to turn down their kings well before move 30, against him. |
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| Jan-29-19 | | ughaibu: <How are you defining miniature?> At most 25 moves.
<Personally I associate the word miniature with Alexander Beliavsky.> About 6% of his wins are miniatures! |
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Jan-29-19
| | keypusher: <retireborn> <ughaibu> I'd expect the % of the minatures, like the % of decisive games, to fall over time. There are still ground rules to set, e.g. do you include casual games, simuls/exhibitiions, rapid, blitz, etc. The keys to a high percentage would be a sharp style, heavy opening prep, and a relatively high share of weak opponents. Beliavsky and Botvinnik get 2 out of 3 on that criteria, Fischer 3 out of 3. Botvinnik played in the 1938 USSR semi-final, a weak field for him. He got 4 minatures in 13 wins, including two under 15 moves. I Mazel vs Botvinnik, 1938 Botvinnik vs Kasparian, 1938 Botvinnik vs A Poliak, 1938 Botvinnik vs A Budo, 1938 |
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| Jan-29-19 | | ughaibu: Keypusher: Certainly I expected Zukertort to have a higher percentage of miniatures amongst his wins, not just for stylistic reasons, but because a lot of the games would have been informal. But Smyslov was more or less a contemporary of Botvinnik's, or at least that was my thinking, but, looking just at their wins from 1940 on, the results are much closer: Smyslov 6%, Botvinnik 7-8%. Of course it would be interesting to limit the figures to "serious" games, but that would require more effort than I'm prepared to put in. |
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| Jan-29-19 | | ughaibu: Fischer: 18-19%. |
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Jan-29-19
| | keypusher: <ughaibu> <start from 1940> Don't forget that Botvinnik is ten years older than Smyslov and was very strong in the 30s. I'm always looking for an edge for MMB... On the other hand Botvinnik retired when he was 58, while Smyslov played until he was much older. I don't imagine Smyslov was winning many minatures in the 80s and 90s. |
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| Jan-29-19 | | Retireborn: <keypusher> I hate to be that guy, but in head to head Botvinnik v Smyslov miniatures, Vassily leads 2-0. Heh! It's true he didn't win many miniatures in the 80s on, although there was that time he beat Kevin Spraggett in 14 moves. |
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Jan-29-19
| | keypusher: <Retireborn: <keypusher> I hate to be that guy, but in head to head Botvinnik v Smyslov miniatures, Vassily leads 2-0. Heh!> It's Ok. :) If you win a lot of minatures, you'll definitely lose some. Hell, Fischer lost two the same year to the same guy. |
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Jan-29-19
 | | Honza Cervenka: Old lion is still a lion.... K Spraggett vs Smyslov, 1985 |
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Jan-29-19
| | Honza Cervenka: But my favourite is Smyslov vs K Arakhamia-Grant, 1998 |
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| Jan-29-19 | | ughaibu: Aged twenty to fifty, percentage of wins that were miniatures: Beliavsky 6%, Smyslov 6%, Botvinnink. . . . 11%! |
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| Jan-30-19 | | Troller: <ughaibu: Aged twenty to fifty, percentage of wins that were miniatures: Beliavsky 6%, Smyslov 6%, Botvinnink. . . . 11%!> Interesting stat. Maybe it has something to do with Botvinnik's opening prep in sharp lines? Or is it that he dominated USSR completely in the 1940's? Of course, Beliavsky was active at a time where the study of openings had made great progress and where I would suspect miniatures between top GMs had become rarer. Smyslov on his hand never had a style suited to lots of miniatures. |
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| Jan-30-19 | | ughaibu: Again, aged twenty to fifty: Petrosian 5%, Tal 13%, Spassky 12%, Karpov 5% and Euwe 16%. Fischer, Kasparov, Kramnik and Carlsen don't meet the 20-50 condition, in any case, almost half of Fischer's miniature wins are from simuls, open tournaments or similar. Surprisingly, Karpov's figure appears to be somewhat inflated in this way too, and to a much lesser extent, so is Tal's, and I expect there would be similar inflation for pre-Euwe and post-Karpov champions. Not so surprisingly, a lot of Euwe's miniatures appear to have been played in comparatively weak tournaments. |
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| Jul-13-19 | | Chesgambit: http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/...
http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/...
Botvinnik vs Capablanca |
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| Oct-09-19 | | posoo: why oh WHY did dis man have to DIE. MIKHAL MIKHAL com bak to us, i am SO sad about dis. |
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