After the match, Tal joked, "now all those chessplayers can go back to calm positional chess again." Tal and Botvinnik are indeed a study in contrasts. In their play, Tal was the attacking, combinative genius, while Botvinnik was a deep, strategic player. In their personalities, Tal was very well-liked and gregarious. Botvinnik was always somewhat aloof.

(from Return Match for the World Chess Championship, Tal - Botvinnik, 1961, p. 35)

And a final thing. <HannibalSchlechter> I know that my post most probably won't change a thing concerning your views on the matter, but please watch your language and don't be rude.

<Botvinnik played the whole of this game with youthful energy. What was characteristic was the following: prior to the return match I had never before adopted this system, and it could have been expected to have some surprise value, since in our preparation the possibility of the Saemisch Variation had been taken into account. However, White's tenth and eleventh moves (undoubtedly planned beforehand by Botvinnik) showed that my opponent had studied not only everything that thad already occurred, but everything that might occur.>

I've never seen any game with this hyper-aggressive variant of the Nimzo-Indian for White.

No finesse here,just raw power.

Brutal game.

Botvinnik was one of the greatest players of all time, and his career accomplishments exceed Tal's and most other world champions. Hate him all you want, but there was no one who ever played chess that Botvinnik <couldn't hold a candle to.>

"He was ill, you say? But he was ill all his life. And what in fact happened? Romanov called me to say that the match was to be postponed - Tal was ill. Is there an official doctor's statement? What doctor's statement? He says, he is ill. 'But there is a rule', I said, 'there must be a certificate'. We began shouting at each other. In the evening Romanov phoned me to say that the match was on. He had called Tal in Riga, to say that he should be officially examined, and Tal had refused. 'In general, after their matches with me, Bronstein, Smyslov and Tal no longer showed their former strength. I am to blame for this, since it was I who unclosed them, and then everyone understood how to play against them."

Tal, also, did himself no favors. Everyone says he had poor health, but he also is reported to have smoked and drank heavily. Seems he could be implicated in his own health. I find it remarkable that many chalk Tal's health to "bad luck," when humans time and again have proven to make their own.

Finally Botvinnik never had to win a match to become champion. At least Karpov had to defeat Korchnoi over 24 games in '74.

<Finally Botvinnik never had to win a match to become champion.> I am interested in the numerous observations about this that I have read. Botvinnik for some reason was a poor match player. He lost more matches against top players than he won, and lost more games in those matches than he won. In spite of his marvelous tournament performances in the 1940s that bespeak of his greatness as a chessplayer, there is reason to believe that had the World Championship Event in 1948 been a series of matches, Botvinnik would have been in real trouble.

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