MIKHAIL BOTVINNIK (born Aug-17-1911, died May-05-1995, 83 years old) 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 Vasily Smyslov 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. Live footages of Botvinnik from 1933-1963 starting at the following link: Mikhail Botvinnik (kibitz #1197). Special edition of This Week in Chess devoted to Botvinnik and his career, assembled by Mark Crowther soon after Botvinnik's death in 1995: http://www.theweekinchess.com/html/... Wikipedia article: Mikhail Botvinnik (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] Last updated: 2020-11-22 08:25:51

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page 1 of 48; games 1-25 of 1,200  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Botvinnik vs I Kalinin 1-0 29 1924 Leningrad 2/3th cat C55 Two Knights Defense 2. Botvinnik vs N Begunov 1-0 32 1924 Leningrad 2/3th cat D30 Queen's Gambit Declined 3. Botvinnik vs N Timofeev 1-0 23 1924 Leningrad D26 Queen's Gambit Accepted 4. Botvinnik vs I Folga 1-0 37 1924 Leningrad A48 King's Indian 5. G Andreev vs Botvinnik 0-1 46 1924 Leningrad E60 King's Indian Defense 6. V Miliutin vs Botvinnik 0-1 23 1924 Ch Leningrad juniors D72 Neo-Grunfeld, 5.cd, Main line 7. S Kaminer vs Botvinnik 1-0 28 1924 Training Game D30 Queen's Gambit Declined 8. Botvinnik vs A Zilberman 1-0 48 1924 Leningrad jr D51 Queen's Gambit Declined 9. Botvinnik vs A Makhlin 1-0 28 1924 Leningrad 2/3th cat C62 Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defense 10. G Abramovic vs Botvinnik 0-1 32 1924 Leningrad jr E61 King's Indian 11. Botvinnik vs S Kaminer 0-1 41 1924 Training Game E90 King's Indian 12. G Abramovic vs Botvinnik 0-1 17 1924 URS A80 Dutch 13. V Zbandutto vs Botvinnik ½-½ 43 1924 Leningrad 2nd cat C98 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin 14. Botvinnik vs B Rivlin 1-0 21 1925 Botvinnik-Rivlin Match D46 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 15. Botvinnik vs B Rivlin 1-0 33 1925 Leningrad 1st cat D67 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense, Bd3 line 16. G Yagdfeld vs Botvinnik 0-1 35 1925 Leningrad (1b and 2a category) D15 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 17. B Yuriev vs Botvinnik 1-0 38 1925 Leningrad 1st cat D02 Queen's Pawn Game 18. Botvinnik vs M Shebarshin 1-0 32 1925 Leningrad 1st cat A50 Queen's Pawn Game 19. J Dobropistsev vs Botvinnik 0-1 35 1925 Leningrad 1st cat C98 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin 20. N Proskurin vs Botvinnik 0-1 36 1925 Leningrad 1st cat C90 Ruy Lopez, Closed 21. Botvinnik vs Y Zverev 1-0 38 1925 Leningrad 1st cat D92 Grunfeld, 5.Bf4 22. A Perfiliev vs Botvinnik 0-1 36 1925 Leningrad 1st cat C56 Two Knights 23. B Rivlin vs Botvinnik 0-1 32 1925 Leningrad 1st cat D51 Queen's Gambit Declined 24. Botvinnik vs S Kaminer 1-0 39 1925 Leningrad (1b and 2a category) D44 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 25. A Vaits vs Botvinnik 0-1 31 1925 Leningrad 1st cat D51 Queen's Gambit Declined  page 1 of 48; games 1-25 of 1,200

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 48 OF 66 ·  Later Kibitzing> Aug-17-11    swissfed: Kramnik on Mikhail Botvinnik <You could say that the establishment of Soviet and Russian chess began with him. He was the first person to set up a whole system of preparation and our first World Champion, if you don¡¦t count Alekhine, who nevertheless emigrated. Botvinnik was behind the long run of success for Soviet chess. In 1987 I got into his school and spent time with him over the next 2 or 3 years. I got a great deal from that in all regards. I was 12 years old, and at such an age it¡¦s very important to spend time with a legend. He gave me a lot of useful professional advice, but it was also simply very pleasant to hear about his encounters with chess ¡§dinosaurs¡¨, who seemed like people from the Stone Age. He made a very big impression on me. Although he left us quite soon I¡¦ll always consider him one of my first real teachers.> Aug-17-11    kramputz: Botvinnk admired Stalin, probably for political reasons. He saved the freedom of Keres for his own selfishness. Aug-17-11    Peligroso Patzer: <Troller: <100 year centenary> for this legend ***> I hate to cavil frivolously and inconsequentially, but the phrase "100 year centenary" is pleonastically redundant. Aug-17-11    polarmis: Just to add that <swissfed>'s Kramnik quote on Botvinnik can be found here: http://www.whychess.org/en/node/1402 Aug-17-11    perfidious: <Karpova> Across the years, I've gotten the impression that Botvinnik did not especially care for Spassky, whose approach to preparation was, of course, rather different than that of Mikhail Moiseevich. <Peligroso Patzer: <Troller: <100 year centenary> for this legend ***> I hate to cavil frivolously and inconsequentially, but the phrase "100 year centenary" is pleonastically redundant.> How 'bout another I've heard till I'm weary unto death of it? ATM machine. Yeah, just love them-those automatic teller machine machines, don't you know. Aug-17-11    ughaibu: Are ATM machines the ones that require PIN numbers? Aug-17-11    Gregor Samsa Mendel: <ughaibu>--Yes, but be careful. I've heard you can catch the HIV virus from those things. Aug-17-11    JoergWalter: <perfidious, ughaibu, Gregor> ok guys by now I understand the "Pleonasmus". Kindly, help me with <shach matov's> line up of words: <one of the all-time greatest>. What's the technical term for this? (bs is not a techninal term I guess) Aug-17-11    ughaibu: I guess ECT therapy would only be effective prophalactically. Aug-19-11    Albertan: 100th birth Anniversary of Mikhail Botvinnik http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/08/17/5... Aug-19-11    swissfed: I singled out for me a group of chess players from whom I wanted to borrow the best qualities: the psychological stability from Karpov, the meticulous positional technique from Petrosian, <the logic from Botvinnik,> the intuition from Alekhine, the ability of taking a risk from Tal. � Garry Kasparov Aug-20-11    DrMAL: "After I emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1977, a judgmental letter against me was signed by 31 Soviet grandmasters, and Botvinnik was the only one who did not do that." -Viktor Korchnoi Aug-20-11    polarmis: Not sure if Korchnoi said that to anyone (seems unlikely) but he's recorded on video a few days ago saying only 4 grandmasters didn't sign - Gulko, Spassky, Bronstein and Botvinnik. (plus e.g. Karpov didn't sign that particular letter) http://whychess.org/en/node/1464 Aug-20-11    perfidious: <polarmis: Not sure if Korchnoi said that to anyone (seems unlikely) but he's recorded on video a few days ago saying only 4 grandmasters didn't sign - Gulko, Spassky, Bronstein and Botvinnik. (plus e.g. Karpov didn't sign that particular letter)....> This was mentioned in an interview given by Korchnoi published in Chess Life and Review, circa 1977. While I don't know where Gulko stood in the eyes of Soviet chess bureaucrats at the time, Spassky was, as usual, at odds with the machine and already living abroad, Bronstein (another renegade) was not then being allowed to play outside Soviet bloc countries and what were the authorities going to do to Botvinnik? I found Fischer's comments on Botvinnik, as attributed to him by Portisch in the above page, most impressive; if he could acknowledge that his own approach, for all his greatness, was not perfect, we ordinary mortals may yet learn a thing or three! Aug-21-11    kingfu: Doctor Mal, Thank you for the insight. Of course, Botvinnik "admired" Stalin. If you did NOT then say hello to the Gulag or the after life. Botvinnik ran the Moscow Central Chess Club. Botvinnik played the French Defense. Before I die , I will visit The Moscow Central Chess Club. And I will bow before the portrait of MIKHAIL BOTVINNIK. Spasibo, Maestro. Aug-22-11    polarmis: Botvinnik didn't only play blitz "once in a train in 1929" :) http://www.whychess.org/en/node/1486 Aug-22-11    DrMAL: <polarmis: Not sure> Then ask for a reference. http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/k... The other "troller" earned an IGNORE. Aug-22-11    polarmis: Yep, Russian source here, though given Korchnoi definitely did say something more accurate at about the same time I'd be slightly doubtful about it: http://sport.ria.ru/other_sport/201... Aug-22-11    DrMAL: The Russian source substantiates mine. Yay Botvinnik! Aug-22-11    polarmis: Well it would, given that's the source for the ChessVibes report :) Aug-22-11    DrMAL: Shhh don't tell anybody! LOL Aug-23-11    Albertan: Marking the centenary of a cerebral champ By David R. Sands,The Washington Times http://www.washingtontimes.com/news... Aug-24-11    kingfu: Thanks Al, Great stuff as usual Aug-25-11    Albertan: Your welcome Kingfu.I'm glad you enjoyed the article. Sep-06-11    kingfu: I am going to be bi. It is not what you are thinking. I will go to Alberta in the summer times. I will go to Arizona in the winters. Let's play golf! Let's play Chess. I am not very good at either. 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