http://www.chesscafe.com/text/reshb...

Part 1 of the interview is here:

http://www.chesscafe.com/text/resha...

<chancho>, I and many others agree with your comment that Botvinnik would have beaten Alekhine in a match in the late 1930s, but Reshevsky's opinion is different. From Part 1:

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HWR: It's right about this time in your career that people have said, in retrospect, that either you, Keres, Botvinnik or Fine could have defeated Alekhine had you been given the opportunity. What do you think about that?

SR: I think it's right. I think we had a good chance, but he would not give us the chance.

HWR: Do you think after the AVRO tournament, if Botvinnik had played Alekhine, he could have defeated him in a match?

SR: I don't think so. Alekhine was still too strong at that time. Especially if he was not drinking.

HWR: How about Keres. Do you think in 1938-1940, Keres cold have defeated Alekhine?

SR: No.

HWR: Why not?

SR: I don't think he was strong enough.

HWR: Botvinnik has said in his autobiography that he never thought that Keres had what it took to become world champion.

SR: I would agree with him.

HWR: What do you think Keres lacked to become world champion?

SR: He was not a great fighter. He was a very strong player, but he was not a great fighter.

HWR: But he was famous for some of his attacking games.

SR: Yes, that is true, but taken alone, that is not sufficient. His strength lay in attacking, but I don't think he was as strong as some of the other players positionally.

HWR: You have just told me that in the 1938-1940 period, you don't think either Botvinnik or Keres could have defeated Alekhine for the title. How about Fine?

SR: Certainly not.

HWR: Why not?

SR: Fine was a fine player, but he was not in the same class with Alekhine.

HWR: That leaves you. And if you played Alekhine in the 1938-1940 period?

SR: I think at that time I might have had a chance.

HWR: What could you do differently that Botvinnik, Keres or Fine could not?

Should I get a refund on my 'A Guide to Chess Endings', or is Reshevsky just talking more smack?

<SR: I think it's right. I think we had a good chance>

Unlike most chessplayers...

<The guy was talented after all, but I don't agree that he had a chance.>

That depends how good you think Alekhine was in 1939. Frankly, when I first read that interview, I was surprised that Reshevsky still rated him that high. Of course in 1930-1931 Alekhine was a behemoth, but I'd always thought of him as significantly weaker after losing to Euwe. I would have thought that most of the players at AVRO had a signifcant chance of beating Alekhine, though I'm sure Reshevsky knew better than I do.

The most interesting comments in that interview were about the Reshevsky-Fischer match. It was Reshevsky's opinion that Fischer just wanted out, that he'd had enough of the match after failing to get an advantage in 11 games, and especially after telling everyone that he was going to win the adjourned eleventh Game and then failing to win it. Reshevsky is biased, of course. I thought Fischer had a legitimate gripe, and that it was unreasonable that the match schedule should be geared around the patron's social schedule rather than around the player's needs.

I did write in another post:

<Sammy was arrogant let's face it. But so are other great chessplayers.>

Here's Chessmetrics list of the Top 8 players in the world as of January 1939:

#1. Botvinnik 2766 27y5m
#2. Fine 2751 24y3m
#3. Alekhine 2750 46y3m
#4. Reshevsky 2748 27y2m
#5. Keres 2732 23y0m
#6. Capablanca 2719 50y2m
#7. Euwe 2718 37y8m
#8. Flohr 2704 30y2m

All eight of them were at AVRO, so the sponsors at least invited the right people (Eliskases and Pirc are next on the list). Ratings don't always tell the whole story, of course, but it seems rash to say that none of these would have had a real chance against Alekhine (except Reshevsky who even gave himself only an outside chance). I wonder if his opinion wasn't colored by his memories of how Alekhine had played earlier, rather than how Alekhine was actually playing at that time.

Now, here's the Top 10 in January 1946:

#1. Botvinnik 2883 34y5m
#2. Keres 2768 30y0m
#3. Alekhine 2758 53y3m
#4. Najdorf 2751 35y9m
#5. Smyslov 2751 24y10m
#6. Boleslavsky 2746 26y7m
#7. Makogonov 2731 41y5m
#8. Ståhlberg 2716 38y0m
#9. Kotov 2689 32y5m
#10. Tartakower 2688 58y11m

Sonofagun, Alekhine is still Number 3. I'd had the idea that his play had fallen off a lot more during the war years, and maybe it had, but it didn't affect this ranking. Although this time there's a 125 point gap between Botvinnik and Alekhine. Had Alekhine survived long enough to play his match with Botvnnik, the match might have killed him.