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Botvinnik 
 
Mikhail Botvinnik
Number of games in database: 1,194
Years covered: 1924 to 1983
Overall record: +572 -140 =470 (68.3%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games
      Based on games in the database; may be incomplete.
      12 exhibition games, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Nimzo Indian (90) 
    E40 E48 E24 E45 E42
 King's Indian (67) 
    E67 E69 E62 E60 E72
 English (51) 
    A16 A15 A14 A13 A10
 Queen's Gambit Declined (42) 
    D37 D31 D30 D35 D38
 English, 1 c4 e5 (37) 
    A22 A28 A26 A25 A20
 Slav (32) 
    D10 D13 D19 D14 D11
With the Black pieces:
 French Defense (91) 
    C18 C19 C15 C05 C01
 Sicilian (62) 
    B63 B62 B72 B58 B27
 French Winawer (47) 
    C18 C19 C15 C17
 Ruy Lopez (47) 
    C98 C90 C92 C68 C82
 Nimzo Indian (45) 
    E34 E21 E33 E38 E22
 Caro-Kann (40) 
    B12 B18 B19 B10 B15
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   Botvinnik vs Capablanca, 1938 1-0
   Botvinnik vs Portisch, 1968 1-0
   Botvinnik vs Chekhover, 1935 1-0
   Botvinnik vs Vidmar, 1936 1-0
   Botvinnik vs Keres, 1966 1-0
   Smyslov vs Botvinnik, 1941 0-1
   Denker vs Botvinnik, 1945 0-1
   Botvinnik vs Alekhine, 1938 1-0
   Botvinnik vs Bronstein, 1951 1-0
   Botvinnik vs Fischer, 1962 1/2-1/2

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: [what is this?]
   FIDE World Championship Tournament (1948)
   Botvinnik-Bronstein World Championship Match (1951)
   Botvinnik-Smyslov World Championship Match (1954)
   Botvinnik-Smyslov World Championship Return Match (1957)
   Botvinnik-Smyslov World Championship Rematch (1958)
   Tal-Botvinnik World Championship Match (1960)
   Tal-Botvinnik World Championship Return Match (1961)
   Petrosian-Botvinnik World Championship Match (1963)

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   USSR Championship (1931)
   Leningrad Championship (1932)
   Moscow (1935)
   USSR Championship (1939)
   USSR Championship (1940)
   USSR Absolute Championship (1941)
   USSR Championship (1944)
   USSR Championship (1945)
   Groningen (1946)
   Moscow (1947)
   USSR Championship (1952)
   Alekhine Memorial (1956)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   Match Botvinnik! by amadeus
   Guess-the-Move Chess: 1940-1959 (Part 1) by Anatoly21
   Mikhail Botvinnik's Best Games by KingG
   BOTVINNIK"S BEST GAMES VOL 1: 1925-1941 by Malacha
   GOOD STILL TODAY by Imohthep
   Botvinnik's Best Games 1947-1970 by uglybird
   botvinnik best games by brager
   BOTVINNIK'S BEST GAMES: VOL 2,1943-1956 by Malacha
   Botvinnik's best games by HOTDOG
   Botvinnik "100 Selected Games" by uglybird
   Match Smyslov! by amadeus
   Guess-the-Move Chess: 1960-1979 (Part 1) by Anatoly21
   the rivals 2 by ughaibu
   fav Botvinnik & Alekhine games by guoduke

GAMES ANNOTATED BY BOTVINNIK: [what is this?]
   Robatsch vs Botvinnik, 1962

Search Sacrifice Explorer for Mikhail Botvinnik
Search Google for Mikhail Botvinnik


MIKHAIL BOTVINNIK
(born Aug-17-1911, died May-05-1995) Russia
PRONUNCIATION:
[what is this?]
Mikhail Moiseevich Botvinnik was born in Kuokkala, near Viipuri (Today, Vyborg) in what was then Finland. He was raised in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). He learned the game early and progressed rapidly, winning the 1st of his 6 USSR Championships in 1931; the other 5 victories were in 1933, 1939, 1944, 1945 and 1952. He also won the Leningrad tournament of 1934, the Absolute Soviet Championship in 1941, and the Sverdlovsk super tournament of 1943. Other significant achievements include equal first with Salomon Flohr in Moscow 1935, 2nd at Moscow 1936 behind Jose Raul Capablanca, equal first with Capablanca at Nottingham 1936, 3rd at AVRO 1938, and first at Groningen 1946 before playing for the World Championship in 1948. He also won the Tchigorin Memorial tournament of 1947 and came equal first with David Bronstein in the Alekhine Memorial of 1956.(1)

With the death of Alexander Alekhine in 1946, the FIDE saw its chance to take control of the World Championship and invited six players to take part in a tournament to determine the championship. With Reuben Fine declining the invitation to play, Botvinnik won it ahead of Vassily Smyslov, Paul Keres, Samuel Reshevsky, and Dr Max Euwe in the quintuple round robin FIDE World Championship Tournament (1948). He retained the crown in 1951 against David Bronstein when he tied the match, by winning and drawing his last two games. He again retained it in 1954 against Vasily Smyslov by again drawing the match, however Smyslov turned the tables in 1957 by wresting the crown from Botvinnik. At the time, a defeated champion was entitled to a return match the following year and so in 1958, Botvinnik defeated Smyslov in a return match. Likewise, after losing to Mikhail Tal in 1960, Botvinnik defeated him in a return match in 1961. He lost the title for the last time to Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian in 1963. FIDE had eliminated the return match and so Botvinnik chose to retire from world championship play.

Generally regarded as the Patriarch of the Soviet Chess School, his style was based on rigorous opening preparation, deep calculation, and accurate endgame technique. Students of his school include Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov and many more.

(1) Crosstables of competitions mentioned in this paragraph are successively linked at [rusbase-1], [rusbase-2], [rusbase-3], [rusbase-4], [rusbase-5], [rusbase-6], [rusbase-7], [rusbase-8], http://www.worldchesslinks.net/ezig..., [rusbase-9], [rusbase-10], http://www.worldchesslinks.net/ezig..., http://www.worldchesslinks.net/ezig..., [rusbase-11], and [rusbase-12]

Live footages of Botvinnik from 1933-1963 starting at the following link: Mikhail Botvinnik.

Wikipedia article: Mikhail Botvinnik


 page 1 of 48; games 1-25 of 1,194  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves Year Event/LocaleOpening
1. V Zbandutto vs Botvinnik ½-½43 1924 Leningrad 2nd catC98 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin
2. Botvinnik vs I Folga 1-037 1924 LeningradA48 King's Indian
3. S Kaminer vs Botvinnik 1-028 1924 Training GameD30 Queen's Gambit Declined
4. Botvinnik vs A Makhlin 1-028 1924 Leningrad 2/3th catC62 Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defense
5. G Andreev vs Botvinnik 0-146 1924 LeningradE60 King's Indian Defense
6. G Abramovic vs Botvinnik 0-117 1924 Soviet UnionA80 Dutch
7. Botvinnik vs S Kaminer  0-141 1924 Training GameE90 King's Indian
8. Botvinnik vs I Kalinin 1-029 1924 Leningrad 2/3th catC55 Two Knights Defense
9. V Miliutin vs Botvinnik 0-123 1924 juniorsD72 Neo-Grunfeld, 5.cd, Main line
10. Botvinnik vs A Zilberman 1-048 1924 Leningrad jrD51 Queen's Gambit Declined
11. Botvinnik vs N Begunov 1-032 1924 Leningrad 2/3th catD30 Queen's Gambit Declined
12. G Abramovic vs Botvinnik 0-132 1924 Leningrad jrE61 King's Indian
13. Botvinnik vs N Timofeev 1-023 1924 LeningradD26 Queen's Gambit Accepted
14. A Perfiliev vs Botvinnik 0-136 1925 Leningrad 1st catC56 Two Knights
15. G Jagdfeld vs Botvinnik 0-135 1925 Leningradd catD15 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
16. Capablanca vs Botvinnik 0-132 1925 LeningradD51 Queen's Gambit Declined
17. B Yuriev vs Botvinnik 1-038 1925 Leningrad 1st catD02 Queen's Pawn Game
18. Riblin vs Botvinnik 0-133 1925 RussiaE00 Queen's Pawn Game
19. J Dobropistsev vs Botvinnik 0-135 1925 Leningrad 1st catC98 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin
20. Botvinnik vs S Kaminer 1-039 1925 Leningradd catD37 Queen's Gambit Declined
21. A Vait vs Botvinnik 0-131 1925 Leningrad 1st catD51 Queen's Gambit Declined
22. Botvinnik vs N Liutov 1-034 1925 RussiaA46 Queen's Pawn Game
23. Botvinnik vs J Zverev 1-038 1925 Leningrad 1st catD92 Grunfeld, 5.Bf4
24. Riblin vs Botvinnik 0-143 1925 Leningrad ttC91 Ruy Lopez, Closed
25. Riblin vs Botvinnik 0-132 1925 Leningrad 1st catD51 Queen's Gambit Declined
 page 1 of 48; games 1-25 of 1,194  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Botvinnik wins | Botvinnik loses  
 

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 51 OF 51 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Aug-17-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  waustad: Certainly the most notable player born today.
Aug-17-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  brankat: R.I.P. Mikhail Moiseyevich.
Aug-18-12  Everett: <micartouse: If I could channel the ghost of any world champion to play moves 9 through 13 for me, I would choose Botvinnik and flourish. He was the king of those moves.>

This is mainly because Botvinnik was a researcher, planner and strategist by nature. He didnt venture opening systems at random.

An aside, he said the transition from opening to middlegame was a special strength of Bronstein's. Bronstein's skill in this, however, showed best in the years '48-'58, and came from a different way of addressing the game, namely intense improvisation and flexibility of thought at the board. This was the source of much of his time trouble, even early in his career.

Aug-18-12  Everett: BTW, Lars Schandorff's book on the QG is a paean to Botvinnik's well-worked out approach to the game. He basically says, "play it like Mikhail." High praise indeed, in these database and computer analysis days. Botvinnik's ideas hold up.
Aug-19-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: Later on, Gatorade would steal their phrase "Be Like Misha" and incorporate it for No. 23.
Sep-23-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  whiteshark: Quote of the Day

<Everything is in a state of flux, and this includes the world of chess.>

-- Botvinnik

Oct-09-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Gottschalk: "Bobby said he wanted to give me the advantage of two pawns. I could not accept this offer as generous.
Instead, I gave to Fischer the real advantage of one pawn and Bobby was unable to take advantage from a school example of decisive position."

Mikhail Botvinnik

Oct-09-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Fusilli: <Gottschalk> Even though he was surely kidding, what a deplorable comment. He got a losing position against Fischer and he somehow reads that as "Fischer is bad because he could not beat me"... and in a "school position". Jesus, grow up. What bothers me most of these types of comments is that they take us, those who read them or hear them, for idiots.
Oct-11-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  waustad: I just noticed that there is another player with the same name from Israel: http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?... I don't know the patronymic middle name of the younger player.
Oct-11-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Thanh Phan: <waustad: I just noticed that there is another player with the same name from Israel: http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?... I don't know the patronymic middle name of the younger player.>

Have not found any other name yet, some games found for him http://netanyachess.com/Player/416/en http://www.365chess.com/players/Mik...

Feb-14-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:B...(1927).jpg

No, it's not Caruana.

Feb-14-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: <OCF> Sure isn't. It's a broken link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:B...

Feb-14-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: Thanks <kp>
Apr-05-13  BUNA: Yuri Averbach recently (06.02.2013) in an interview once again was asked about the circumstances of Botvinniks exclusion from the Soviet team before the Chess Olympiad 1952. I thought a short translation might be interesting to someone.

http://www.tribuna.ru/interview/mai...

Averbach at the time took part in a training session as one of the possible candidates for a place in the team. Apart from him there were Botvinnik, Bronstein, Keres, Smyslov, Boleslavsky, Geller, Kotov, Petrosian. Botvinnik lost two games to Boleslavsky and Petrosian, which added to the growing concerns about his form. At a subsequent meeting with the leadership of the sports committee and all involved trainers (Alatortsev, Sokolsky, Tolush and Flohr) matters were discussed. Outspoken proponents of Botvinniks exclusion were Smyslov, Bronstein, Keres and Kotov. Botvinnik refused to answer any questions. :)

Averbach doesn't mention any proposal to shift Botvinnik to a lower board.

Asked about Botvinnik's reaction Averbach notes that Botvinnik took his revenge during the following Soviet championship (1952). He won it and beat the members of the Helsinki team with 4/5.

Apr-05-13  Petrosianic: <Botvinnik took his revenge during the following Soviet championship (1952). He won it and beat the members of the Helsinki team with 4/5.>

That's true. Wins against Geller, Bronstein and Keres, draws against Smyslov and Boleslavky.

Apr-05-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: USSR Championship (1952)
Apr-05-13  ughaibu: So, what do conspiracy theorists make of Keres' role as an "outspoken proponent[] of Botvinniks exclusion"?
Apr-05-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: <ughaibu: So, what do conspiracy theorists make of Keres' role as an "outspoken proponent[] of Botvinniks exclusion"?>

Been asking variations on that question for years. Shouldn't Keres, Kotov, Smyslov, and Bronstein have been taken to the Lubyanka cellars and shot?

Apr-06-13  BUNA: "As follows from the minutes of that meeting, preserved in the archives of David Bronstein and published at the time in the magazine "Chess in Russia", he, Kotov, Smyslov and Keres argued against the inclusion of Botvinnk in the team, citing his poor, unreliable shape, as confirmed by recent tournament failures. Smyslov said bluntly: "It would be better if Botvinnik did not play in the team." Bronstein said that Botvinnik didn't follow the recent developments of chess theory and that the younger masters had overtaken him. Flohr and Boleslavsky didn't express themselfes so categorically, pointing out that a trip without the world champion could lead to undesirable responses within the chess world."
May-12-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: Does somebody have information about why Botvinnik played at Game Collection: Wageningen 1958? It occurred right after the conclusion of the Munich Olympiad and coincided with the 20th anniversary of AVRO, but surely there is some other reason.
May-13-13  thomastonk: <Phony Benoni> I have Botvinnik's book "Schacherinnerungen". The German edition is from 1981, the Russian original from 1978. He reports on two visits after the Olympiad, which touched aspects of his later research (but he did not intend it in those days). First, he has been in a laboratory in Erlangen, Germany, where the production of high-purity silicon has been shown. Second, he visited the Netherlands. He does not mention the tournament, but he reports in detail on his appearance in the Dutch television. The program was on the computers of those days, and Botvinnik had been invited to participate by Euwe. From the surrounding words it is also clear, that Botvinnik very much enjoyed the Netherlands because of the chess enthusiasm.
May-13-13  thomastonk: <Phoni Benoni> From Dutch newspapers, I can report the following. The visit of Botvinnik and Flohr begun October 25 and ended most probably on November 16 (see below). Botwinnik gave 4 simultaneous exhibitions before the tournament in Wageningen, one after the second round, and four more after the tournament. The appearence in the Dutch television happened on November 13. Both, Botvinnik and Flohr, gave their last simultaneous exhibition on November 15, and a picture published November 17 shows them with their wifes at the airplane to Moscow.
May-13-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: <thomastonk> Thank you!
May-13-13  sneaky pete: <PB> On this visit Botvinnik was accompanied by his wife. It looks more like a holiday to me, with chess used as an excuse. Botvinnik gave 11 exhibitions (285 games; +237 =40 -8) for 350 Dutch florins each. That was a lot of money in those days. Most of it was probably spent by Mrs. Botvinnik on clothes and decadent Western luxury goods not available in the Workers Paradise.

The Wageningen event was named the Caltex-Scheepjes-Tournament. The Location was the Hotel de Wageningscche Berg (the Mountain of Wageningen). The hotel was one sponsor, providing the location and hospitality for players and officials for free. The other sponsors were Caltex Petroleum Maatschappij (the Dutch branch of the California Texas Oil Corporation) and the Scheepjeswol (a brand of wool) factory from Veenendaal.

Scheepjeswol was big in 1958. My father owned a textile shop and was a great Scheepjeswol seller. At times our place was flooded with new stock, and the entire house, inclusing the dwellers. smelled of wool. The kids at school started calling me woolly pete. I resented that, took boxing lessons and punished any name calling. Then they called me woolly bully.

May-13-13  thomastonk: <sneaky pete: Botvinnik gave 11 exhibitions> Thank you for the correction. The 9 exhibitions I mentioned were those from the schedule that has been published shortly before the visit.
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