ORIGINAL: Botvinnik - Bronstein World Championship Match (1951)

16 March - 11 May 1951

DRAFT

David Bronstein was born in Bila Tserkva, Ukraine in 1924.<1> He showed early promise, debuting in the 1939 Ukrainian Championship at age 15.<2> A year later, his strong 2nd behind Isaac Boleslavsky in the 1940 Ukrainian Championship earned him the Soviet national master title.<1,3> Four years later he qualified for the USSR Championship (1944), where he finished 15th and notched his first <career victory> - <insert game link here>-Bronstein vs Botvinnik, 1944 over Mikhail Botvinnik. He improved to 3rd in the USSR Championship (1945), which garnered him a spot on the lower boards in Soviet team events, where he performed well.<4> He further progressed in smaller events with good results, such as winning two Moscow championships in a row.<5> But his performance against the best opposition was not yet strong enough to achieve the Soviet grandmaster title.<6> FIDE still invited him with six other Soviets to the Saltsjobaden Interzonal (1948).<7> Bronstein won, and was immediately awarded the Soviet grandmaster title.<6> He carried this excellent form forward, sharing 1st in both the USSR Championship (1948) and the USSR Championship (1949). He went on to tie Boleslavsky for 1st in the Budapest Candidates (1950), and won the subsequent playoff match. Bronstein had earned the right to face title holder Mikhail Botvinnik in a world championship match.

Botvinnik had played no chess in public since he had won the FIDE World Championship Tournament (1948), but he studied thoroughly by annotating every game Bronstein had played since the start of the Saltsjöbaden Interzonal.<8> Beginning in January 1951, Botvinnik also began compiling a notebook filled with his latest ideas in all the openings he thought might figure prominently in the match.<9> Bronstein claimed that Botvinnik hadn't played since 1948 "because he did not want to reveal his opening secrets."<10> Botvinnik finalized his preparation just days before the match with two secret training games against Viacheslav Ragozin.<11> Bronstein also played two training games, against Semyon Furman and Paul Keres.<12>

Match conditions had been decided at the Paris 1949 FIDE congress.<13> The winner would be the first to score 12 1/2 points from a maximum of 24 games, with the champion enjoying draw odds. The time control was 40 moves in 2 1/2 hours, and 16 moves an hour thereafter, with an adjournment to the following day after five hours of play.<13,14> According to FIDE rules, the winner would receive $5,000 and the loser $3,000,<13> but Andrew Soltis maintains that Botvinnik and Bronstein actually got considerably less than this.<15> If the champion lost, he had the right to play the new champion and the winner of the next three year candidates cycle in a three player match tournament for the title. <13,16> The games were played in Moscow's Tchaikovsky Concert Hall under the direction of arbiter Karel Opocensky and controller Gideon Stahlberg. The seconds were Ragozin and Salomon Flohr for Botvinnik, and Alexander Konstantinopolsky for Bronstein.<17>

Bronstein <opened the match>-<insert game link here> Botvinnik vs Bronstein, 1951 with the Dutch Defense. Botvinnik considered himself an expert on both sides of the Dutch, and had not prepared for this system.<9,18> Botvinnik suspected that Bronstein meant to "force me to fight against my 'own' systems," a ploy he dismissed as "naive."<18> After scoring +0 -1 =2 in three attempts with the Dutch, Bronstein abandoned it after <game 9.>-<insert game link here>Botvinnik vs Bronstein, 1951 By <game 22>-<insert game link here> Bronstein vs Botvinnik, 1951, Bronstein led by a point and needed only win once more, or draw twice in the last two games, in order to unseat the champion. Botvinnik responded with one of his best games of the match. He describes the final move of the <23rd game> -<insert game here> Botvinnik vs Bronstein, 1951, 57. Bg5: "Zugzwang... Bronstein needed forty minutes to convince himself of the inevitability of defeat."<19> Bronstein could still have become champion by winning the <final game>-<insert game link here> Bronstein vs Botvinnik, 1951, but after pressing with the white pieces for 22 moves, he appeared to be without winning chances and accepted Botvinnik's draw offer.<20> By tying the match score 12-12, Botvinnik retained his title.

After the match, Botvinnik was complimentary to his opponent, noting that Bronstein "presses the attack with remarkable power, he has an excellent command of openings and is frequently able to wrest the initiative from the start."<21> Years later, Botvinnik and Bronstein spoke in less friendly terms about the match. Bronstein complained that "When the 24th game was finished, many journalists came to the stage and asked Botvinnik to hold a press conference. The Champion agreed but 'forgot' to invite me to attend."<22> Botvinnik accused Bronstein of "outrageous" behavior: "He would make a move and quickly go behind the stage, then... suddenly dart out and disappear again. In the auditorium there was laughter, and this hindered my playing."<23>

Bronstein has controversially hinted that there was government pressure on him to lose the match. In a 1993 interview he explained that "There was no direct pressure... But... there was the psychological pressure of the environment..." in part caused by his father's "several years in prison" and what he labeled "the marked preference for the institutional Botvinnik." Bronstein concluded that "it seemed to me that winning could seriously harm me, which does not mean that I deliberately lost."<24>

NOTES

1 David Bronstein and Tom Fürstenberg, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (Cadogan 1995), pp.263-264

2 Alexey Popovsky, "Rusbase" [rusbase-1]

3 Alexey Popovsky, "Rusbase" [rusbase-2]

4 After his 3d place at the USSR Championship (1945), Bronstein joined the Soviet team in the following international events: 10th board in the USSR-USA Radio Match (1945) Alexey Popovsky, "Rusbase" [rusbase-3] 1st board in the Prague-Moscow Match (1946) http://www.olimpbase.org/other/resu... 7th board in the USSR-Great Britain Radio Match (1946) Alexey Popovsky, "Rusbase" [rusbase-4] 10th board in the USSR-USA Match (1946) Alexey Popovsky, "Rusbase" [rusbase-5] and 9th board in the USSR-Great Britain Match (1947) Harry Golombek, "Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess" (Crown Publishers, Inc. 1977), p.45

5 Alexey Popovsky, "Rusbase" [rusbase-6] [rusbase-7]

6 "Tidskrift för Schack" nr.8-9 (Aug-Sept 1948), pp.180-181 http://www.schack.se/tfs/history/19... User: Tabanus transl.

7 Kotov and Yudovich, "Soviet Chess School" (Raduga Publishers 1982), pp.77-78

8 Mikhail Botvinnik, "Match for the World Championship- Botvinnik Bronstein Moscow 1951" Igor Botvinnik ed. Ken Neat transl. (Edition Olms 2004), pp.103-113

9 Botvinnik, "Match for the World Championship- Botvinnik Bronstein Moscow 1951," pp.114-119

10 Bronstein and Fürstenberg, pp.16-17

11 Jan Timman, "Secret Matches- the Unknown Training Games of Mikhail Botvinnik" (Russell Enterprises, Inc., 2000), p.9

12 Bronstein and Fürstenberg, p.300

13 "Tidskrift för schack" nr. 7-8 (July-Aug 1949), pp.153-157 http://www.schack.se/tfs/history/19... User: Tabanus transl.

14 "Chess Life" (10 Feb 1951), p.1

15 Andrew Soltis, "Soviet Chess 1917-1991" (McFarland 2000), p.188

16 Yuri Averbakh, "Centre-Stage and Behind The Scenes- the Personal Memoir of a Soviet Chess Legend" Steve Giddins, transl. (New in Chess 2011), p.112

17 Botvinnik, "Match for the World Championship- Botvinnik Bronstein Moscow 1951," p.11

18 Botvinnik, "Match for the World Championship- Botvinnik Bronstein Moscow 1951," p.16

19 Mikhail Botvinnik, "Half a Century of Chess" E. Strauss transl. (Cadogan 1996), pp.163-164

20 Botvinnik, "Match for the World Championship- Botvinnik Bronstein Moscow 1951," p.102

21 "Chess Review" (Sept 1951), p.279

22 Bronstein and Fürstenberg, p.17

23 Genna Sosonko, "Russian Silhouettes, 3d Edition" (New in Chess 2001), p.39

24 "Revista Internacional de Ajedrez" (Mar 1993), pp.38-42. In Edward Winter, Chess Note 4753 http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...

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DAVID BRONSTEIN
(born Feb-19-1924, died Dec-05-2006) Ukraine

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Bronstein pre-match highlights:

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12-31 Dec, 1939
<11th Ukrainian Championship in Dnepropetrovsk> 8th, behind Boleslavsky, Poliak, Konstantinovsky, Kaem, Kotlerman, Kirillov and Lipnitsky, with +6 -6 =3

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1940
<12 Ukrainian Championship in Kiev 1940> 2d, behind Boleslavsky, ahead of Kirillov, Rudakovsky, Zhukhovitsky, Goldenov and Poliak, with +7 -1 =9

Awarded the Soviet Master title.

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Feb-March, 1944
<USSR Championship Semifinal in Baku> 4th, behind Lilienthal, Makogonov and Mikenas, with +5 -4 =2

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21 May - 17 June, 1944
USSR Championship (1944) 15th, behind Botvinnik, Smyslov, Boleslavsky, Flohr, Mikenas, Makogonov, Tolush, Lilienthal, Sokolsky, Veresov, Ragozin, Kotov, Khavin and Lisitsin, with +4 -7 =5

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Sept-Oct, 1944
<Championship of "Club Bolshevik" in Kiev> Shared 5th with Makogonov, behind Sokolsky, Flohr, Boleslavsky and Tolush, with +4 -3 =4

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1945
<USSR Championship Semifinal in Moscow> 1st over Kan, Alatortsev and Romanovsky, with +9 -2 =4

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1 June - 1 July, 1945
USSR Championship (1945) 3d, behind Botvinnik and Boleslavsky, with +7 -4 =6

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1-4 Sept, 1945
USSR - USA Radio Match (1945) 10th board vs. Santasiere, with +2 -0 =0

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25 Jan - 17 Feb, 1946
<25th Moscow Championship> 1st, over Simagin, Alatortsev, Kotov, Panov and Smyslov, with +10 -2 =3

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2-20 March, 1946 (Prague) - 2-15 May 1946 (Moscow) <Prague-Moscow Match 1946> 1st board, with +10 -1 =1.

2d through 7th boards for Moscow: Kotov, Smyslov, Lilienthal, Alatortsev, Bondarevsky and Simagin.

=================

19-22 June, 1946
<USSR-Great Britain Radio Match 1946> 7th board vs. Winter, with +1 -1 =0

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12-15 Sept, 1946
Game Collection: 0 10th board vs. Ulvestad, with +1 -1 =0

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Date ???
<26th Moscow Championship 1947> 1st, over Ravinsky, Simagin and Panov with +7 -3 =4

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2 Feb - 8 March, 1947
USSR Championship (1947) 6th, behind Keres, Boleslavsky, Smyslov, Bondarevsky and Tolush, with +5 -2 =12

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14 July - 4 Aug, 1947
<Parnu National Training Tournament 1947> Shared 5th with Smyslov and Boleslavsky, behind Keres, Kotov and Lilienthal, with +5 -2 =6

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21-23 Sept, 1947
<USSR-Great Britain Match 1947> 9th board vs. Abrahams, scoring +2-0=0.

1st through 8th boards: Keres, Smyslov, Boleslavsky, Kotov, Bondarevsky, Lilienthal, Flohr and Ragozin.

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11 Oct - 5 Nov, 1947
<USSR Championship Semifinal> Shared 3d with Lisitsyn, behind Aronin and Taimanov, with +7 -2 =6

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16 July - 14 Aug, 1948
Saltsjobaden Interzonal (1948) 1st place, over Szabo, Boleslavsky, Kotov, Lilienthal, Bondarvesky, Najdorf and Flohr, with +8 -0 =11

Game Collection: Bronstein at the Saltsjöbaden Interzonal (1948)

Awarded the Soviet Grandmaster title.

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10 Nov - 13 Dec, 1948
USSR Championship (1948) Shared 1st with Kotov, over Furman, Flohr, Tolush, Bondarevsky and Keres, with +7 -1 =10

=================

5-17 March, 1949 (Budapest) and 2-15 April, 1949 (Moscow) <Moscow-Budapest Match 1949> 4th board, with +8 -1 =7.

1st through 3d boards for Moscow: Kotov, Smyslov and Simagin.

Awarded the FIDE International Grandmaster title (July).

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16 Oct - 20 Nov, 1949
USSR Championship (1949) Shared 1st with Smyslov, over Geller, Taimanov and Furman, with +8 -1 =10

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9 April - 16 May, 1950
Budapest Candidates (1950) Shared 1st with Boleslavsky, over Smyslov, Keres, Najdorf and Kotov, with +8 -2 =8.

Game Collection: Bronstein at the Budapest Candidates 1950

July-Aug, 1950
<Candidates playoff vs. Boleslavsky> 1st, with +3 -2 =9

Game Collection: 0

================

16 March - 11 May, 1951
Botvinnik - Bronstein World Championship Match (1951)

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Chess Review 1951 p. 172 Kmoch game report

<"57.Bg5"

Is there a possibility to use also the {} in the Intros, to make the move look like Bg5?>

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-<1a> Kotov and Yudovich, "Soviet Chess School" (Raduga Publishers 1982), pp.77-78

"(The interzonal) was distinguished from all the rest because its competitors were not the winners of zonal tournaments, but chess players put on the list by votes of specialists. Seven Soviet chess players were among those invited..."

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Saltsjobaden Interzonal (1948)

There was no Soviet zonal for this event,<1a> so FIDE directly chose all seven Soviets, including Bronstein, by a vote.<2a> The chosen Soviets were Bronstein, Boleslavsky, Kotov, Lilienthal, Flohr, Bondarevsky and Ragozin. The top 9 finishers in the interzonal tournament would advance to the Budapest Candidates (1950).

The unsuccessful invitees to the 1948 Championship were seeded directly into the <Budapest Candidates 1950>, but only Vasily Smyslov and Paul Keres decided to compete in that event.<3a>

Since Smyslov and Keres were the only two Soviets besides Botvinnik who played in the <1948 WCC tourament>, and they were seeded directly into <Budapest 1950>, that means that FIDE's choice of the 7 Soviet Saltsjobaden Interzonal (1948) invitees indicates that they considered Bronstein among the top 11 Soviet players, even though he was not in fact yet a grandmaster. This makes sense, given that from his excellent 3d place in the USSR Championship (1945), Bronstein had joined the Soviet team in international matches.

In chronological order, in international team events preceding the Saltsjobaden Interzonal (1948), he played 10th board in the USSR - USA Radio Match (1945), 1st board in the <Prague-Moscow Match 1946>, 7th board in the <USSR-Great Britain Radio Match 1946>, 10th board in the Game Collection: 0, and 9th board in the <USSR-Great Britain Match 1947>.

On the other hand, Bronstein had generally been relegated to the lower boards in Soviet team events, and he had scored rather indifferent results in all four of the events he played running up to the Saltsjöbaden Interzonal. He had yet to achieve the title of Soviet Grandmaster.<4a>

After winning the interzonal, however, Bronstein really began to play like a world championship challenger, posting back to back shared firsts in the <USSR Championships>.

-<1a> Kotov and Yudovich, "Soviet Chess School" (Raduga Publishers 1982), pp.77-78; "Rusbase" http://al20102007.narod.ru/zont.html

-<2a> "Tidskrift för Schack" nr.6-7 (June-July 1948), p.139 http://www.schack.se/tfs/history/19...

-<3a> Wikipedia article: Candidates Tournament

-<4a> "Tidskrift för Schack" nr.8-9 (Aug-Sept 1948), p.18 http://www.schack.se/tfs/history/19...

===

At the time of Saltsjobaden Interzonal (1948), Bronstein held the Soviet Master title, and was awarded the Soviet Grandmaster title after winning the event.<4a>

-<4a>"Tidskrift för Schack" nr.8-9 (Aug-Sept 1948), p.18o http://www.schack.se/tfs/history/19...

===

Bronstein was awarded the FIDE International Grandmaster title in July 1949. From the FIDE congress of that year: "1) The title of international grandmaster goes to the following players... Players who are qualified to participate in FIDE's Candidates tournament, for now the 14 who are qualified for Budapest..."<5a>

-<5a> "Tidskrift för Schack" nr.7-8 (July-Aug 1949), p.159 http://www.schack.se/tfs/history/19...

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<"The only thing I am prepared to say about all this controversy is that I was subjected to strong psychological pressure from various sources and <<<it was entirely up to me to yield to that pressure or not.>>> Let's leave it at that. I had reasons not to become the World Champion as in those times such a title meant that you were entering an official world of chess bureaucracy with many formal obligations. Such a position is not compatible with my character. Since my childhood I have enjoyed freedom and despite the country that I grew up in, I have tried to live all my years in this spirit and I am very happy that today I feel the same and can enjoy my freedom.">

-David Bronstein and Tom Furstenberg
"The Sorcerer's Apprentice"
(Cadogan 1995), p.16

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Edward Winter, Chessnote 4753:

http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...

<The late David Bronstein seldom gave interviews, but a substantial one with Antonio Gude appeared on pages 38-42 of the March 1993 Revista Internacional de Ajedrez. Bronstein expressed irritation that he was remembered for his world championship match with Botvinnik and his book on the 1953 Candidates' tournament. Asked whether he had been under pressure to lose the former event, he stated that, although there had not been direct pressure, circumstances related to his father, the fact that he was a Jew, and a clear institutional preference for Botvinnik had resulted in psychological pressure; Bronstein considered that winning the match could have been very damaging for him, although that did not mean that he had <<<lost intentionally.>>> For the record we quote the full exchange on this matter:

‘Gude: ¿Qué me dice del match con Botvinnik? ¿Le presionaron para que usted perdiera?

Bronstein: No hubo presión directa, naturalmente. Pero existían circunstancias, como mi padre, un manifiesto opositor al régimen, que había estado varios años en prisión, mi condición de judío, la marcada preferencia institucional por Botvinnik, a quien se le veía como un modelo soviético de campeón ... Había la presión psicológica del entorno, y a mí me parecía que ganar podría perjudicarme seriamente, lo cual no significa que yo perdiera de forma deliberada ...'

Google Translation:

<'Gude: What about the match with Botvinnik? Would you pressured to lose?

Bronstein: There was no direct pressure naturally. But there are circumstances, like my father, an opposition manifesto regime, who had been several years in prison, my Jewishness, the marked preference for institutional Botvinnik, whom he saw as a Soviet champion model ... There was the psychological pressure of the environment, and <<<it seemed to me that winning could seriously harm me, which does not mean that I deliberately lost>>> ... '>

Bronstein spoke of the influence of his father, a rebellious defender of democracy. ‘From him I inherited that trait: when I am forbidden to do something, I rebel.'>

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<Game 23>

23d game King's Indian

Botvinnik vs Bronstein, 1951 <1-0>

Botvinnik:

<"(Bronstein) <<<behaved outrageously.>>> In the auditorium, directly opposite the stage, was the box of the KGB, where all his supporters from his Dinamo club were sitting. So when he sacrificed something or won a pawn, they all applauded. He would make a move and quickly go behind the stage, then he would suddenly dart out and disapperar again. In the auditorium there was laughter, and this hindered my playing. And regarding the fact that he claimed during the 23d game he was thinking more about the fate of his father, he was prompted to say this by Weinstein, his evil genius. Weinstein was a dreadful man, simply dreadful. He hated me, and he did not want me to become World Champion.">

-Genna Sosonko
"Russian Silhouettes"
(New in Chess, 3d Edition, 2001), p.39

============

Andrew Soltis, "Soviet Chess 1917-1991" (McFarland 3000), pp.192-94

Lev Khariton, "Love and Bitterness" "Chesscafe.com" (Sept 1988) http://www.chesscafe.com/text/botbr...

===

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GAme 24 Botvinnik: "Draw agreed on the proposal of Black"

-Botvinnik, "Match for the World Championship- Botvinnik Bronstein Moscow 1951" p.102

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<"Botvinnik praised Bronstein's play. He stated particularly that Bronstein <<<"presses the attack with remarkable power, he has an excellent command of openings and is frequently able to wrest the initiative from the start.>>> Bronstein plays less successfully in the end-game and patently has to improve in this respect... I have to admit that the match revealed a number of faults in my own play. Likely this happened because I had not played for a considerable time... ">

-"Chess Review" (Sept 1951), p.279

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Conditions

-<Match Length>:

FIDE rules Paris 1949 Congress :

-<Punkt 11>

<11 World Cup Match up to 24 games. When one of the players reaches <<<12 ½ score,>>> he shall be declared the winner, and the match will terminate.>

Tidskrift för schack, nr. 7-8, Juli-Aug. 1949, p.156 http://www.schack.se/tfs/history/19...

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-<Time Control>

FIDE rules Paris 1949 Congress :

-<Punkt 12>

<12. At World contest should generally played three games a week. All unfinished games from each round continued the following day. The first <<<forty moves>>> in two and a half hours, and the game is to be adjourned after five hours of total play time. Cancelled portions school played with sixteen moves . A further interruption shall be made only after six hour total playing time, then then, at least eighty-eight moves.>

More and BETTER on <punkt12>, courtesy <Tabanus>:

TOP secret decoding:
<12. At a World championship contest* there should in general be played three games a week, so that unfinished games from each round are continued the following day. The first 40 moves shall be made in two and a half hours, and the game will be interrupted after five hours of total playing time. Adjourned games shall be played with 16 moves an hour. Further adjournments will happen only after six hours total playing time, i. e. when at least 88 moves have been made.>

Not sure if this makes sense, but the decoding should be fairly accurate. The "six hours" are counted from the time of the 1st adjournment:

40 moves (max 5 hours) + 3 x 16 moves (max 6 hours) = 88 moves (max 11 hours).

*Whether tournament or match (my interpret.)

Or to put it differently:
Adjournment after 5 hours (min. 40 moves) + after 6 more hours (min. 3 x 16 moves) = second adjournment after min. 88 moves.

Tidskrift för schack, nr. 7-8, Juli-Aug. 1949, p.157 http://www.schack.se/tfs/history/19...

===============

-<Draw odds> for the champion:

FIDE rules Paris 1949 Congress :

-<Punkt 9>

<9."If a world champion in a world championship match achieves a <<<draw>>>, or ties for first place with one or more participants in a world championship tournament, he retains his title.">

Tidskrift för schack, nr. 7-8, Juli-Aug. 1949, p.156 http://www.schack.se/tfs/history/19...

-<Botvinnik,> writing about the time just before he was about to begin the match against <Bronstein> in 1951:

<"By that time the recently confirmed rules for world championship matches had come into force. In the winter of 1949 I had published a draft for these rules. As a preparation I studied everything that had been published on the topic earlier. In drawing up the draft I took great care to ensure that the two players in the match had equal rights. The champion had just one advantage- in the event of a drawn match he kept his title. To take the title the challenger had to... (win the match). In July 1949 the twenty-fifth anniversary of FIDE was celebrated at the Congress in Paris... and <<<points to do with the rules of the world championship were allotted to me.>>>

The founder President of FIDE, A. Rueb... was opposed to the acceptance of the rules at this Congress... but finally he withdrew his objections. The incoming President, F. Rogard... also had no objections- he needed the support of the Soviet delegation.">

Mikhail Botvinnik,
"Achieving the Aim"
Bernard Cafferty, transl.
(Pergamon 1981), pp. 127-128

===