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Apr-30-20
 | | perfidious: <fabelhaft....I think the planned match at the end of the 1940s would have been won easily by Botvinnik. He was at his best around then, while Alekhine peaked at least 15 years before that....> The consensus is that Alekhine had definitely lost a step at the very end of his life, whilst Botvinnik was on peak form in the forties; I too see Botvinnik winning a title match with ease in 1947 or '48. |
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| Jul-02-20 | | ARubinstein: No question about it, Botvinnik was a big favorite against Alekhine by the time the match was being planned. Botvinnik was by far the strongest player in the world throughout the 1940s. |
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| Jul-03-20 | | fabelhaft: <So , fabelhaft , Petrosians USSR championship results were comparable> If that refers to my opinion on the earlier post questioning why Botvinnik usually is ranked ahead of Petrosian, and the latter rarely is ranked among the top 5 of the greatest ever, I think there are many reasons Botvinnik is ranked higher. In the 1940s he had a very impressive sequence of results, including scoring +14-0=4 in 18 games when winning the Soviet Championship, and winning the World Championship with a margin of three points. Petrosian was never in a similar position strength wise. Botvinnik played the first of his seven title matches when he was already 40, and on the whole I think he was quite a bit greater than Petrosian. |
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Aug-17-20
 | | Fusilli: Happy 109th birthday to the patriarch of Soviet chess. This man was serious (no blitzing!) and tenacious... world champion for many years, lost the title and recovered it twice. And he was still world champion past 50, something that we will probably never see again. Granted, chess was an older sport back then. Computers and simple expansion of the game have made players mature and reach their peak so much more rapidly now. But still, Botvinnik was, on and off, world number one for 15 years. |
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| Jan-29-21 | | fabelhaft: Botvinnik was a hardcore Stalinist until his death in 1995, and supported the failed coup attempt in 1991. His views were “fixed forever” according to Kasparov, and while some might seem dated, he is far from alone in having a positive view of Stalin (for example Grischuk does too). This has changed a lot the last decades. Less than 20 percent see Stalin strongly or moderately negatively in Russia, and those numbers are decreasing swiftly. No other ruler of the past is even remotely as popular as Stalin. Even Putin is behind Stalin in approval rating, and all the Russian polls from the last years on greatest individual ever are topped by Stalin. So Botvinnik is much more “in” politically than when he died. |
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Jan-29-21
 | | MissScarlett: What's the difference between a Stalinist and a hardcore Stalinist? |
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| Jan-29-21 | | fabelhaft: <What's the difference between a Stalinist and a hardcore Stalinist?> Well, many were Stalinists in the 30s or 40s but to continue being it during the Khrushchev, Gorbachev and Yeltsin years is a bit more hardcore. At least he didn't gain anything from it. Karpov was a Communist and always said the "right" things in interviews, but I wonder if he was Communist a day later than he could benefit from it. |
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Jan-29-21
 | | keypusher: < MissScarlett: <Botvinnik was a toxic humourless Commie.>
Agreed.>
I can think of at least one funny thing he said. Though it was also a bit cruel. (Reminds me of you, MissS.) Botvinnik / Polugaevsky vs Keres / Prins, 1966 < The Rocket: And the reason most of his opponents were patzers is because Alekhines was barred from playing a lot of tournaments due to antisemitic backlash, even though he was not antisemitic> In 1942-43? You might want to check those dates. < (his texts were either manufactured or written under direct order.)> The Nazis committed lots of genuine crimes, you don't have to make any up. |
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Jan-29-21
 | | jessicafischerqueen:
<fabelhaft> I met a retired Russia soldier- he was a student in an English as a second language class I was teaching years ago. He told me he liked life in the Soviet Union. He said that in the army he always had a decent place to live, clothes, and enough food. He eventually emigrated to Canada some years after the Wall fell. After he got demobbed from the army, he had trouble making ends meet in Russia. |
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| Jan-29-21 | | fabelhaft: On Soviet times I think this is the best possible book to read, 10/10: https://www.amazon.com/Secondhand-T... |
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Jan-29-21
| | keypusher: <fabelhaft: On Soviet times I think this is the best possible book to read, 10/10:> On the strength of that recommendation, I'll try it. Have you (has anyone here) read a book re the other end of Soviet communism, <The House of Government>? I've also heard high praise for that. |
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| Jan-30-21 | | fabelhaft: <keypusher> No, haven’t read that one but the reviews look promising. |
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Feb-02-21
| | keypusher: < fabelhaft: On Soviet times I think this is the best possible book to read, 10/10:> <Secondhand Time> was mesmerizing, harrowing. Thanks for the recommendation. |
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May-02-21
 | | Messiah: https://twitter.com/olimpiuurcan/st... |
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| Aug-17-21 | | tspchessfan: Happy Birthday Dr. Mikhail Botvinnik the great. Your contributions to chess and technology will be remembered for ever. |
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Aug-17-21
| | MissScarlett: Didn't he work for years on a chess computer that was a complete failure? |
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Aug-17-21
 | | offramp: <MissScarlett: Didn't he work for years on a chess computer that was a complete failure?> LOL. When Stalin had a look at the result, the blood must have drained from his Georgian face. When Stalin thought of playing this new computer gave Botvinnik only one resource: He would hide a small competent chess player inside a wooden cabinet. Botvinnik selected the young Tal.
Great player BTW. |
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Aug-17-21
 | | 0ZeR0: Happy birthday Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik. Though you did not teach me personally, I have learned much from your games and writings over the years. A better teacher could not exist. |
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Aug-17-21
| | keypusher: Happy birthday to my favorite commie bastard! |
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| Oct-20-21 | | Caissanist: Nothing much ever came of Botvinnik's computer chess projects, but I doubt that had anything to do with the quality of hs work. He would not have had decent machines to run on, thanks to the failure of the Soviet computer hardware industry after 1968 and Cold War restrictions that prevented them from importing modern machines from the West. |
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Jan-04-22
 | | NatashaFatale: <keypusher> Sorry for the late response. The House of Government is purely wonderful. |
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Jan-05-22
| | keypusher: < PAGE 65 OF 65 · Later>
Premium Chessgames MemberJan-04-22 NatashaFatale: <keypusher> Sorry for the late response. The House of Government is purely wonderful> Yes, I read it. It’s amazing! |
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| Feb-02-22 | | Dionysius1: "Botvinnik once wrote 'Chess is the art which expresses the science of logic as music is the art which expresses the science of acoustics' " (Becoming a Grandmaster, by Raymond Keene. Batsford, 1977. p 35) Bravo! |
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Dec-27-22
 | | HeMateMe: Read <The Russians> by Hedrick Smith, a New York Times correspondent. Still relevant in understanding the Russian psyche, 40 years later. <https://www.bing.com/images/search?...> |
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| May-29-23 | | King.Arthur.Brazil: I would like to say a word about many critics to the big Botvinnik (about his defeat against Kotov, gid=1032133). Fistly, Smyslov placed in his best-games book, two of his victories against KOTOV who seemed to be an attack genius, like others: Ragozin, Keres and Geller. But, none of them succeeded to have a world crown. Moreover, in this theater from 70 over, several times you will see bad results from the people we repute as "best players". Smyslov was 15-16th in the 73 and 13-15th in 77 USSR also . In the Lvov Zonal of 78, Geller was the 15th (last one) and Smyslov only 7-9th. In the last, the leaders were Balashov, Vaganian and Kusmim. My point is that: aged happens to everyone, so you are not the same as you were at 40ties. Even so, Bovinnik resistered as few, his score is: Bronstein (8+ 6- 19=), Geller (1+ 4- 7=, his worst), Keres (8+ 3- 9=), Kotov (4+ 1- 4=), Korchnoi and Stein (1+ 1- 2=), Petrosian (4+ 7- 20=, similar to Geller), Polugaevsky (1+ 0- 1=), Smyslov (29+ 24- 52=), Spassky (1+ 0- 7=), Tal (12+ 12- 20=) and tied with Fischer 1 game. Man, he did great! Just to compare, Smyslov has the following score: Bronstein (7+ 6- 25=), Geller (8+ 11- 37=, his worst too), Keres (9+ 9- 22=), Kotov (6+ 3- 10=), Korchnoi (5+ 3- 14=), Petrosian (6+ 3- 27=), Polugaevsky (4+ 3- 19=), Spassky (3+ 5- 21=, bad too), Stein (1+ 1- 8=),Tal (4+ 3- 21=). But Smyslov were 10y newer than Botvinnik. |
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