Misplaced Pages

#355644

112-608: Botvinnik was the first world-class player to develop within the Soviet Union. He also played a major role in the organization of chess , making a significant contribution to the design of the World Chess Championship system after World War II and becoming a leading member of the coaching system that enabled the Soviet Union to dominate top-class chess during that time. His pupils include World Champions Anatoly Karpov , Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik . He

224-438: A candidate member of his school's Komsomol branch. Around this time his mother became concerned about his poor physique, and as a result he started a programme of daily exercise, which he maintained for most of his life. When Botvinnik finished the school curriculum, he was below the minimum age for the entrance examinations for higher education. While waiting, he qualified for his first USSR Championship final stage in 1927 as

336-578: A club in the city's Palace of Labour. To test the strength of Soviet chess masters, Krylenko organized the Moscow 1925 chess tournament . On a rest day during the event, world champion José Raúl Capablanca gave a simultaneous exhibition in Leningrad . Botvinnik was selected as one of his opponents, and won his game. In 1926, he reached the final stage of the Leningrad championship. Later that year, he

448-595: A committed communist . In autumn 1923, at the age of twelve, Botvinnik was taught chess by a school friend of his older brother, using a home-made set, and instantly fell in love with the game. He finished in mid-table in the school championship, sought advice from another of his brother's friends, and concluded that for him it was better to think out "concrete concepts" and then derive general principles from these – and went on to beat his brother's friend quite easily. In winter 1924, Botvinnik won his school's championship, and exaggerated his age by three years in order to become

560-408: A dark square. This may be remembered by the phrases "light on the right" and "queen on her own color". In formal competition, the piece colors for every matchup are allocated to players by the organizers. In informal games, colors are decided either by mutual agreement, or randomly, for example by a coin toss, or by one player concealing a white pawn in one hand and a black pawn in the other and having

672-544: A definite significance for me". In 1956, he tied for first place with Smyslov in the 1956 Alexander Alekhine Memorial in Moscow, despite a last-round loss to Keres. Botvinnik was selected for the Soviet Olympiad team from 1954 to 1964 inclusively, and helped his team to gold medal finishes each of those six times. At Amsterdam 1954 he was on board one and won the gold medal with 8½/11. Then at home for Moscow 1956, he

784-608: A dentist, which allowed the family to live outside the Pale of Settlement , to which most Jews in the Russian Empire were restricted at the time. As a result, Botvinnik grew up in Saint Petersburg's Nevsky Prospect . His father forbade speaking Yiddish at home, and Mikhail and his older brother Isaak "Issy" attended Soviet schools. Botvinnik later recounted, "I was asked once, "What do you consider yourself to be from

896-645: A double round-robin event featuring the top five Soviet players and the five strongest non-Soviet players available. Despite politicking over the Soviet choices, both Krylenko and the Central Committee of the Komsomol quickly authorised the tournament. This was played in Moscow in June 1936, and Botvinnik finished second, one point behind Capablanca and 2½ ahead of Flohr. However, he took consolation from

1008-569: A job with the local electricity supply organization – at the lowest pay rate and on condition that he did no research, as he had only a Candidate's degree. Botvinnik's only child, a daughter named Olya, was born in Perm in April 1942. In the evenings, Botvinnik wrote a book in which he annotated all the games of the "Absolute Championship of the USSR", in order to maintain his analytic skills in readiness for

1120-560: A local chess official, he was admitted in 1928 to Leningrad University's Mathematics Department. In January 1929, Botvinnik played for Leningrad in the student team chess championship against Moscow. Leningrad won and the team manager, who was also deputy chairman of the Proletstud , secured Botvinnik a transfer to the Polytechnic's Electromechanical Department, where he was one of only four students who entered straight from school. As

1232-403: A losing champion the automatic right to a rematch. He remained involved with competitive chess, appearing in several highly rated tournaments and continuing to produce memorable games. Botvinnik retired from competitive play in 1970, aged 59, preferring instead to occupy himself with the development of computer chess programs and to assist with the training of younger Soviet players, earning him

SECTION 10

#1732793571356

1344-573: A match with Alekhine. His work included wood-cutting for fuel, which left him with insufficient energy for chess analysis. Botvinnik obtained from Molotov an order that he should be given three days off normal work in order to study chess. In 1943, after a two-year lay-off from competitive chess, Botvinnik won a tournament in Sverdlovsk , scoring 1½  out of 2 against each of his seven competitors – who included Smyslov, Vladimir Makogonov , Boleslavsky, and Ragozin. Chessbase regards this as one of

1456-588: A member of the Petrograd Chess Assembly – to which its president turned a blind eye. Botvinnik won his first two tournaments organized by the Assembly. Shortly afterwards, Nikolai Krylenko , a devoted chess player and leading member of the Soviet legal system who later organized Joseph Stalin 's show trials , began building a huge nationwide chess organization, and the Assembly was replaced by

1568-544: A piece en prise and resign". The game was drawn, and Botvinnik shared first place with Salo Flohr . Botvinnik sent an effusive telegram of thanks to Joseph Stalin after his victory at the great tournament in Nottingham in 1936. Botvinnik played relatively poorly in the very strong 1940 Soviet Championship, finishing in a tie for fifth/sixth places, with 11½/19, two full points behind Igor Bondarevsky and Andor Lilienthal . With World War II under way by this time, and

1680-767: A playoff +2=2. 55 25 Jul–19 Aug 1988 Moscow Anatoly Karpov Garry Kasparov 11½/17 (+6−0=11) 11½/17 (+6−0=11) 56 22 Sep–16 Oct 1989 Odessa Rafael Vaganian 9/15 (+5−2=8) 57 18 Oct–3 Nov 1990 Leningrad Alexander Beliavsky Leonid Yudasin Evgeny Bareev Alexey Vyzmanavin 8½/13 (+5−1=7) 8½/13 (+4−0=9) 8½/13 (+6−2=5) 8½/13 (+5−1=7) 58 1–13 Nov 1991 Moscow Artashes Minasian 8½/11 (+7−1=3) Minasian won this Swiss-style tournament on tiebreak over Elmar Magerramov . [REDACTED] A Soviet stamp dedicated to

1792-414: A playoff +2−1=3. 21 7 Jan–7 Feb 1954 Kiev Yuri Averbakh 14½/19 (+10−0=9) 22 11 Feb–15 Mar 1955 Moscow Efim Geller 12/19 (+10−5=4) Geller defeated Vasily Smyslov in a playoff +1=6. 23 10 Jan–15 Feb 1956 Leningrad Mark Taimanov 11½/17 (+8−2=7) Taimanov defeated Boris Spassky and Yuri Averbakh in

1904-844: A playoff. 24 20 Jan–22 Feb 1957 Moscow Mikhail Tal 14/21 (+9−2=10) 25 12 Jan–14 Feb 1958 Riga Mikhail Tal 12½/18 (+10−3=5) 26 9 Jan–11 Feb 1959 Tbilisi Tigran Petrosian 13½/19 (+8−0=11) 27 26 Jan–26 Feb 1960 Leningrad Viktor Korchnoi 14/19 (+12−3=4) 28 11 Jan–11 Feb 1961 Moscow Tigran Petrosian 13½/19 (+9−1=9) 29 16 Nov–12 Dec 1961 Baku Boris Spassky 14½/20 (+10−1=9) 30 21 Nov–20 Dec 1962 Yerevan Viktor Korchnoi 14/19 (+10−1=8) 31 23 Nov–27 Dec 1963 Leningrad Leonid Stein 12/19 (+6−1=12) Stein defeated Boris Spassky and Ratmir Kholmov in

2016-427: A playoff. 32 25 Dec 1964–27 Jan 1965 Kiev Viktor Korchnoi 15/19 (+11−0=8) 33 21 Nov–24 Dec 1965 Tallinn Leonid Stein 14/19 (+10−1=8) 34 28 Dec 1966 – 2 Feb 1967 Tbilisi Leonid Stein 13/20 (+8−2=10) 35 7–26 Dec 1967 Kharkiv Lev Polugaevsky Mikhail Tal 10/13 10/13 The tournament

2128-526: A relatively poor playing record in the early 1950s: he played no formal competitive games after winning the 1948 match tournament until he defended his title, then struggled to draw his 1951 championship match with Bronstein, placed only fifth in the 1951 Soviet Championship, and tied for third in the 1952 Géza Maróczy Memorial tournament in Budapest ; and he had also performed poorly in Soviet training contests. However, he lost only five of over thirty games in

2240-538: A result, he had to do a whole year's work in five months, and failed one of the examinations. Early in the same year he placed joint third in the semi-final stage of the USSR Championship, and thus failed to reach the final stage. His early progress was fairly rapid, mostly under the training of Soviet Master and coach Abram Model , in Leningrad ; Model taught Botvinnik the Winawer Variation of

2352-680: A role it assumed in 1948. The current World Champion is Ding Liren of China. The reigning Women's World Champion is Ju Wenjun from China. Other competitions for individuals include the World Junior Chess Championship , the European Individual Chess Championship , the tournaments for the World Championship qualification cycle , and the various national championships . Invitation-only tournaments regularly attract

SECTION 20

#1732793571356

2464-511: A series of games between two players, or a team competition in which each player of one team plays one game against a player of the other team. Chess's international governing body is usually known by its French acronym FIDE (pronounced FEE-day) ( French : Fédération internationale des échecs), or International Chess Federation. FIDE's membership consists of the national chess organizations of over 180 countries; there are also several associate members, including various supra-national organizations,

2576-510: A simple trap known as the Scholar's mate (see animated diagram) can be recorded: Variants of algebraic notation include long algebraic , in which both the departure and destination square are indicated; abbreviated algebraic , in which capture signs, check signs, and ranks of pawn captures may be omitted; and Figurine Algebraic Notation, used in chess publications for universal readability regardless of language. Portable Game Notation (PGN)

2688-410: A strong international opponent. In spite of this attempt to dissuade him, Krylenko insisted on staging the match, saying that "We have to know our real strength." Botvinnik used what he regarded as the first version of his method of preparing for a contest, but fell two games behind by the end of the first six, played in Moscow. However, aided by his old friend Ragozin and coach Abram Model, he leveled

2800-430: A symbol of Communist superiority, and hence the Soviet chess world was extremely politicized. As Botvinnik was the first world-class player produced by the Soviet Union, everything he said or did (or did not say or do) had political repercussions, and there were rumors that Soviet opponents were given hints that they should not beat him. David Bronstein wrote that Boris Verlinsky had won the 1929 Soviet Championship and

2912-545: A tournament outside the Soviet Union. Botvinnik also won the very strong Mikhail Chigorin Memorial tournament held at Moscow 1947. Botvinnik strongly influenced the design of the system which would be used for World Championship competition from 1948 to 1963. Viktor Baturinsky wrote: "Now came Botvinnik's turn to defend his title in accordance with the new qualifying system which he himself had outlined in 1946." (This statement referred to Botvinnik's 1951 title defence.) On

3024-494: A tournament to decide the new world champion, but other evidence suggests that FIDE (the " governing body " of chess), had already proposed a World Championship tournament before the Groningen tournament began, and at this stage the Soviet Union was not a member and therefore took no part in framing that proposal. Since Keres lost his first four games against Botvinnik in the 1948 World Championship tournament , winning only in

3136-511: A visit, hoping to play a game against the new champion. Tal was met by Botvinnik's wife, who said the champion was asleep, and that she had made him take a rest from chess. In 1950, Botvinnik was one of the inaugural recipients of the international grandmaster title from FIDE. Botvinnik held the world title, with two brief interruptions, for the next fifteen years, during which he played seven world championship matches. In 1951, he drew with David Bronstein over 24 games in Moscow, +5−5=14, keeping

3248-476: A wide variety of styles. The Staunton pattern is the most common, and is usually required for competition. Chess pieces are divided into two sets, usually light and dark colored, referred to as white and black , regardless of the actual color or design. The players of the sets are referred to as White and Black , respectively. Each set consists of sixteen pieces: one king , one queen , two rooks , two bishops , two knights , and eight pawns . The game

3360-644: Is a board game for two players. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to distinguish it from related games such as xiangqi (Chinese chess) and shogi (Japanese chess). Chess is an abstract strategy game that involves no hidden information and no elements of chance . It is played on a chessboard with 64 squares arranged in an 8×8 grid. The players, referred to generically as "White" and "Black" , each control sixteen pieces : one king , one queen , two rooks , two bishops , two knights , and eight pawns . White moves first, followed by Black; then moves alternate. The object of

3472-399: Is a text-based file format for recording chess games, based on short form English algebraic notation with a small amount of markup . PGN files (suffix .pgn) can be processed by most chess software, as well as being easily readable by humans. Until about 1980, the majority of English language chess publications used descriptive notation , in which files are identified by the initial letter of

Mikhail Botvinnik - Misplaced Pages Continue

3584-415: Is compulsory; a player may not skip a turn, even when having to move is detrimental . Each piece has its own way of moving. In the diagrams, crosses mark the squares to which the piece can move if there are no intervening piece(s) of either color (except the knight, which leaps over any intervening pieces). All pieces except the pawn can capture an enemy piece if it is on a square to which they could move if

3696-423: Is controlled using a chess clock that has two displays, one for each player's remaining time. Analog chess clocks have been largely replaced by digital clocks, which allow for time controls with increments . Time controls are also enforced in correspondence chess competitions. A typical time control is 50 days for every 10 moves. Historically, many different notation systems have been used to record chess moves;

3808-399: Is not a permissible response to a check. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent; this occurs when the opponent's king is in check, and there is no legal way to get it out of check. It is never legal for a player to make a move that puts or leaves the player's own king in check. In casual games, it is common to announce "check" when putting the opponent's king in check, but this

3920-411: Is not required by the rules of chess and is usually not done in tournaments. Once per game, each king can make a move known as castling . Castling consists of moving the king two squares toward a rook of the same color on the same rank, and then placing the rook on the square that the king crossed. Castling is permissible if the following conditions are met: Castling is still permitted if

4032-510: Is often described as the patriarch of the Soviet chess school and is revered for his analytical approach to chess. Botvinnik was born on August 17, 1911, in what was then Kuokkala , Vyborg Governorate , Grand Duchy of Finland , now the district of Repino in Saint Petersburg . His parents were Russian Jews ; his father, Moisei Botvinnik (1878–1931), was a dental technician and his mother, Shifra (Serafima) Rabinovich (1876–1952),

4144-422: Is played on a square board of eight rows (called ranks ) and eight columns (called files ). Although it does not affect game play, by convention the 64 squares alternate in color and are referred to as light and dark squares. Common colors for wooden chessboards are light and dark brown, while vinyl chessboards are commonly buff and green. To start the game, White's pieces are placed on

4256-491: Is recognized in FIDE-sanctioned events; game scores recorded in a different notation system may not be used as evidence in the event of a dispute. Chess is often played casually in public spaces such as parks and town squares. Contemporary chess is an organized sport with structured international and national leagues, tournaments, and congresses . Thousands of chess tournaments, matches, and festivals are held around

4368-436: Is the current World Champion. A huge body of chess theory has developed since the game's inception. Aspects of art are found in chess composition , and chess in its turn influenced Western culture and the arts , and has connections with other fields such as mathematics , computer science , and psychology . One of the goals of early computer scientists was to create a chess-playing machine . In 1997, Deep Blue became

4480-526: Is usually calculated as 1 point for each game won and one-half point for each game drawn. Variations such as "football scoring" (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw) may be used by tournament organizers, but ratings are always calculated on the basis of standard scoring. A player's score may be reported as total score out of games played (e.g. 5½/8), points for versus points against (e.g. 5½–2½), or by number of wins, losses and draws (e.g. +4−1=3). The term "match" refers not to an individual game, but to either

4592-579: The French Defence , which was then regarded as inferior for Black, but Botvinnik analysed it more deeply and played this variation with great success. Botvinnik won the Leningrad Masters' tournament in 1930 with a score of 6½/8, following this up the next year by winning the championship of Leningrad by 2½ points over former Soviet champion Peter Romanovsky . In 1935, Botvinnik married Gayane Davidovna Ananova, of Armenian descent, who

Mikhail Botvinnik - Misplaced Pages Continue

4704-885: The International Braille Chess Association (IBCA), International Committee of Chess for the Deaf (ICCD), and the International Physically Disabled Chess Association (IPCA). FIDE is recognized as a sports governing body by the International Olympic Committee , but chess has never been part of the Olympic Games . FIDE's most visible activity is organizing the World Chess Championship ,

4816-630: The Soviet Union Leagues Men's Basketball Football Handball Hockey Rugby Volleyball Water polo Women's Basketball Football Handball Volleyball Others Athletics Badminton Chess women's Figure skating Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=USSR_Chess_Championship&oldid=1255371546 " Categories : USSR Chess Championships Chess national championships Chess in

4928-644: The 1944 and 1945 Soviet championships, most top Soviet players supported his desire for a World Championship match with Alekhine. However, the allegations that Alekhine had written anti-Semitic articles while in Nazi-occupied France made it difficult to host the match in the USSR. Botvinnik opened negotiations with the British Chess Federation to host the match in England, but these were cut short by Alekhine's death in 1946. When

5040-3963: The 1962 USSR Chess Championship See also [ edit ] Women's Soviet Chess Championship Russian Chess Championship Publications [ edit ] Mark Taimanov, Bernard Cafferty, Soviet Championships, London, Everyman Chess, 1998 ( ISBN   978-1-85744-201-4 ) References [ edit ] ^ "USSR Championship 1952" . Chessgames.com. 1953-02-05 . Retrieved 2012-05-26 . ^ "USSR Championship 1955" . Chessgames.com . Retrieved 2012-05-26 . ^ "USSR Championship 1968/69" . Chessgames.com . Retrieved 2012-05-26 . ^ "USSR Championship 1969" . Chessgames.com. 1969-10-12 . Retrieved 2012-05-26 . ^ "USSR Championship 1977" . Chessgames.com. 1977-12-22 . Retrieved 2012-05-26 . ^ "USSR Championship 1987" . Chessgames.com . Retrieved 2012-05-26 . Further reading [ edit ] Soltis, Andrew (1999). Soviet Chess 1917-1991 . McFarland & Company. ISBN   0-7864-0676-3 . The Soviet Chess Championship 1920-1991 RUSBASE (part V) 1919-1937,1991-1994 RUSBASE (part IV) 1938-1960 RUSBASE (part III), 1961-1969,1985-1990 RUSBASE (part II) 1970-1984 v t e Chess national championships Present Albania Algeria Andorra Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Bulgaria Canada Catalonia Chile China Colombia Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Dominican Republic El Salvador Estonia Faroe Islands Finland France Georgia Germany Great Britain Greece Guatemala Honduras Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Kazakhstan Kenya Kosovo Latvia Lebanon Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Madagascar Malaysia Malta Mexico Moldova Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Myanmar Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Northern Ireland Norway Pakistan Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Romania Russia Scotland Serbia Seychelles Singapore Slovakia Slovenia South Africa South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Suriname Sweden Switzerland Trinidad and Tobago Turkey Ukraine United Arab Emirates United States women's Uruguay Uzbekistan Venezuela Vietnam Wales Zambia Zimbabwe Defunct Czechoslovakia Serbia and Montenegro USSR women's Yugoslavia Cities Berlin Kiev Leningrad Moscow Paris v t e Top sport leagues in

5152-466: The 1980s, Botvinnik proposed a computer program to manage the Soviet economy. However, his proposals did not receive significant attention from the Soviet government. During the last few years of his life, Botvinnik personally financed his economic computer project that he hoped would be used to manage the Russian economy. He kept actively working on the program until his death and financing the work from

5264-1104: The Absolute Championship, 23 Mar–29 Apr 1941, Leningrad/Moscow, 13½/20 (+9−2=9) 13 21 May–17 Jun 1944 Moscow Mikhail Botvinnik 12½/16 (+11−2=3) 14 1 Jun–3 Jul 1945 Moscow Mikhail Botvinnik 15/17 (+13−0=4) 15 2 Feb–8 Mar 1947 Leningrad Paul Keres 14/19 (+10−1=8) 16 10 Nov–13 Dec 1948 Moscow David Bronstein Alexander Kotov 12/18 (+7−1=10) 12/18 (+10−4=4) 17 16 Oct–20 Nov 1949 Moscow Vasily Smyslov David Bronstein 13/19 (+9−2=8) 13/19 (+8−1=10) 18 10 Nov–12 Dec 1950 Moscow Paul Keres 11½/17 (+8−2=7) 19 11 Nov–14 Dec 1951 Moscow Paul Keres 12/17 (+9−2=6) 20 29 Nov–29 Dec 1952 Moscow Mikhail Botvinnik 13½/19 (+9−1=9) Botvinnik defeated Mark Taimanov in

5376-730: The All-Russian Chess Olympiad at the time, this tournament was later recognized as the first USSR championship. 2 8–24 Jul 1923 Petrograd Peter Romanovsky 10/12 (+9−1=2) 3 23 Aug–15 Sep 1924 Moscow Efim Bogoljubov 15/17 (+13−0=4) 4 11 Aug–6 Sep 1925 Leningrad Efim Bogoljubov 14/19 (+11−2=6) 5 26 Sep–25 Oct 1927 Moscow Fedor Bogatyrchuk Peter Romanovsky 14½/20 (+10−1=9) 14½/20 (+12−3=5) All of Bogatyrchuk's tournament results were erased from Soviet records after he emigrated to Canada and

5488-564: The Moscow Championship, ahead of Smyslov. At the same time, opposition to his plan for a match with Alekhine re-surfaced, on the grounds that Alekhine was a political enemy and the only proper course was to demand that he be stripped of the title. The dispute ended in Botvinnik's favor, and in the dismissal of a senior chess official, one of those to have opposed Botvinnik's plan, who was also a KGB colonel. After Botvinnik won

5600-504: The Second World War ended, Botvinnik won the first high-level post-war tournament, at Groningen in 1946 , with 14½ points from nineteen games, ½ point ahead of former World Champion Max Euwe and two ahead of Smyslov. He and Euwe both struggled in the last few rounds, and Botvinnik had a narrow escape against Euwe, who he acknowledged had always been a difficult opponent for him. This was Botvinnik's first outright victory in

5712-617: The Soviet Union won the team gold medals. Botvinnik played one of the final events of his career at the Russia (USSR) vs Rest of the World match in Belgrade 1970, scoring 2½/4 against Milan Matulović , as the USSR narrowly triumphed. After losing the world title for the final time, to Tigran Petrosian in Moscow in 1963, Botvinnik withdrew from the following World Championship cycle after FIDE declined, at its annual congress in 1965, to grant

SECTION 50

#1732793571356

5824-654: The USSR", whose official aim was to identify a Soviet challenger for Alekhine's title. The contestants were the top six finishers in the Soviet Championship – Bondarevsky, Lilienthal, Paul Keres (whose home country, Estonia, had recently been annexed by the Soviet Union), future World Champion Vasily Smyslov , Isaac Boleslavsky and Botvinnik – who were to play a quadruple round-robin . Botvinnik's preparation with his second, Viacheslav Ragozin , included training matches in noisy, smoky rooms and he slept in

5936-464: The basis of his strong results during and just after World War II, Botvinnik was one of five players to contest the 1948 World Chess Championship , which was held at The Hague and Moscow. He won the 1948 tournament convincingly—with a score of 14/20, three points clear—becoming the sixth World Champion. While he was on vacation in Riga after the tournament, an eleven-year-old boy called Mikhail Tal paid

6048-525: The dissertation as "short and good", and the first work in its field. As a result of his efforts, he missed the 1937 Soviet championship, won by Grigory Levenfish , who was then nearly fifty. Later in 1937, Botvinnik drew a match of thirteen games against Levenfish. Botvinnik challenged Levenfish, writing that Krylenko, angered by Botvinnik's absence from the tournament, ordered the match. Botvinnik won further Soviet Championship titles in 1939, 1944, 1945, and 1952, bringing his total to six. In 1945, he dominated

6160-584: The end of the 15th century, with standardization and universal acceptance by the end of the 19th century. Today, chess is one of the world's most popular games, with millions of players worldwide. Organized chess arose in the 19th century. Chess competition today is governed internationally by FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs ; the International Chess Federation). The first universally recognized World Chess Champion , Wilhelm Steinitz , claimed his title in 1886; Ding Liren

6272-404: The end of the game, " 1–0 " means White won, " 0–1 " means Black won, and " ½–½ " indicates a draw. Chess moves can be annotated with punctuation marks and other symbols . For example: " ! " indicates a good move; " !! " an excellent move; " ? " a mistake; " ?? " a blunder; " !? " an interesting move that may not be best; or " ?! " a dubious move not easily refuted. For example, one variation of

6384-448: The enemy pawn's two-square advance; otherwise, the right to do so is forfeited. For example, in the animated diagram, the black pawn advances two squares from g7 to g5, and the white pawn on f5 can take it en passant on g6 (but only immediately after the black pawn's advance). When a pawn advances to its eighth rank , as part of the move, it is promoted and must be exchanged for the player's choice of queen, rook, bishop, or knight of

6496-761: The fact the Soviet Union's best had held their own against top-class competition. In early winter, 1936, Botvinnik was invited to play in a tournament at Nottingham , England. Krylenko authorised his participation and, to help Botvinnik play at his best, allowed Botvinnik's wife to accompany him – a privilege rarely extended to chess players at any time in Soviet history. Taking Lasker's advice, Botvinnik arrived ten days before play started. Although his Soviet rivals forecast disaster for him, he scored an undefeated shared first place (+6=8) with Capablanca, ½ point ahead of current World Champion Max Euwe and rising American stars Reuben Fine and Samuel Reshevsky , and 1 point ahead of ex-champion Alexander Alekhine . This

6608-454: The fifty strongest tournaments between 1851 and 1986. Shortly afterwards, Botvinnik was urged to return to Moscow by the People's Commissar for Power Stations, an admirer and subsequent good friend. On his return, Botvinnik suggested a match with Samuel Reshevsky in order to strengthen his claim for a title match with Alekhine, but this received no political support. In December 1943, he won

6720-536: The final cycle after the outcome of the tournament had been decided, suspicions have sometimes been raised that Keres was forced to "throw" games to allow Botvinnik to win the Championship. Chess historian Taylor Kingston investigated all the available evidence and arguments, and concluded that: Soviet chess officials gave Keres strong hints that he should not hinder Botvinnik's attempt to win the World Championship; Botvinnik only discovered this about half-way through

6832-664: The first computer to beat a reigning World Champion in a match when it defeated Garry Kasparov . Today's chess engines are significantly stronger than the best human players and have deeply influenced the development of chess theory; however, chess is not a solved game . The rules of chess are published by FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs; "International Chess Federation"), chess's world governing body, in its Handbook . Rules published by national governing bodies , or by unaffiliated chess organizations, commercial publishers, etc., may differ in some details. FIDE's rules were most recently revised in 2023. Chess sets come in

SECTION 60

#1732793571356

6944-423: The first rank in the following order, from left to right: rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, rook. Pawns are placed on each square of the second rank. Black's position mirrors White's, with equivalent pieces on every file. The board is oriented so that the right-hand corner nearest each player is a light square; as a result the white queen always starts on a light square, while the black queen starts on

7056-407: The first rank moves to e2"). For pawns, no letter initial is used; so e4 means "pawn moves to the square e4". If the piece makes a capture, "x" is usually inserted before the destination square. Thus Bxf3 means "bishop captures on f3". When a pawn makes a capture, the file from which the pawn departed is used to identify the pawn making the capture, for example, exd5 (pawn on the e-file captures

7168-431: The first round began was a serious mistake and that he should have allowed ten days for acclimatization. Botvinnik wrote that he did not make this mistake again. Botvinnik placed first equal with Flohr, ½ point ahead of Lasker and one point ahead of José Raúl Capablanca , in Moscow's second International Tournament , held in 1935. After consulting Capablanca and Lasker, Krylenko proposed to award Botvinnik

7280-570: The 💕 Chess competition in the Soviet Union [REDACTED] The participants of the fourth USSR Chess Championship in 1925. Sitting (left to right): Vilner , Levenfish , Rokhlin (organizer), Gotthilf , I. Rabinovich , Bogolyubov (winner), Ilyin-Genevsky , Duz-Khotimirsky , Romanovsky , Sergeyev , Nenarokov , Verlinsky , A. Rabinovich . Standing (left to right): von Freymann , Sozin , Eremeev (organizer), Grigoriev , Zubarev , Selezniev , Kaspersky , Kutuzov , Weinstein (organizer). The USSR Chess Championship

7392-523: The funds. After consulting the nearest available Soviet officials, Botvinnik discreetly challenged Alekhine, who promptly accepted, subject to conditions that would enable him to acclimatize in Russia and get some high-quality competitive practice a few months before the match. In Botvinnik's opinion, Alekhine was partly motivated by the desire for a reconciliation with the Soviet authorities, so that he could again visit his homeland. The match, including funding,

7504-436: The g-file, 5th rank" (that is, to the square g5). Different initials may be used for other languages. In chess literature, figurine algebraic notation (FAN) is frequently used to aid understanding independent of language. To resolve ambiguities, an additional letter or number is added to indicate the file or rank from which the piece moved (e.g. Ngf3 means "knight from the g-file moves to the square f3"; R1e2 means "rook on

7616-567: The game is to checkmate (threaten with inescapable capture) the enemy king. There are also several ways a game can end in a draw . The recorded history of chess goes back at least to the emergence of a similar game, chaturanga , in seventh-century India . After its introduction in Persia , it spread to the Arab world and then to Europe. The rules of chess as they are known today emerged in Europe at

7728-459: The line-up and placed Botvinnik on second board, with Keres on top board; Botvinnik protested and refused to play. Keres' playing record from 1950 to early 1952 had been outstanding. Botvinnik won the 1952 Soviet Championship (joint first with Mark Taimanov in the tournament, won the play-off match). He included several wins from that tournament over the 1952 Soviet team members in his book Botvinnik's Best Games 1947–1970 , writing "these games had

7840-450: The money he made for the lectures and seminars he attended, despite prominent health problems. Botvinnik died of pancreatic cancer in May 1995. According to his daughter, Botvinnik remained active until the last few months of his life, and continued to go to work until March 1995 despite blindness in one of his eyes (and extremely poor vision in the other). The Soviet Union regarded chess as

7952-647: The nickname of "Patriarch of the Soviet Chess School" (see below). Botvinnik's autobiography, K Dostizheniyu Tseli , was published in Russian in 1978, and in English translation as Achieving the Aim ( ISBN   0-08-024120-4 ) in 1981. A staunch Communist, he was noticeably shaken by the collapse of the Soviet Union and lost some of his standing in Russian chess during the Boris Yeltsin era. In

8064-454: The older Soviet masters and a member of the Soviet embassy in Prague , had arranged a match between Botvinnik and Salo Flohr , a Czech grandmaster who was then regarded as one of the most credible contenders for Alexander Alekhine 's World Chess Championship title. The highest-level chess officials in the Soviet Union opposed this on the grounds that Botvinnik stood little chance against such

8176-414: The opponent choose. White moves first, after which players alternate turns, moving one piece per turn (except for castling , when two pieces are moved). A piece is moved to either an unoccupied square or one occupied by an opponent's piece, which is captured and removed from play. With the sole exception of en passant , all pieces capture by moving to the square that the opponent's piece occupies. Moving

8288-442: The opponent has enough pieces left to deliver checkmate). The duration of a game ranges from long (or "classical") games, which can take up to seven hours (even longer if adjournments are permitted), to bullet chess (under 3 minutes per player for the entire game). Intermediate between these are rapid chess games, lasting between one and two hours per game, a popular time control in amateur weekend tournaments. Time

8400-427: The piece chosen is indicated after the move (for example, e1=Q or e1Q ). Castling is indicated by the special notations 0-0 (or O-O ) for kingside castling and 0-0-0 (or O-O-O ) for queenside castling. A move that places the opponent's king in check usually has the notation " + " added. There are no specific notations for discovered check or double check . Checkmate can be indicated by " # ". At

8512-443: The piece on d5). Ranks may be omitted if unambiguous, for example, exd (pawn on the e-file captures a piece somewhere on the d-file). A minority of publications use " : " to indicate a capture, and some omit the capture symbol altogether. In its most abbreviated form, exd5 may be rendered simply as ed . An en passant capture may optionally be marked with the notation " e.p. " If a pawn moves to its last rank, achieving promotion,

8624-555: The piece that occupies the first rank at the beginning of the game. In descriptive notation, the common opening move 1.e4 is rendered as "1.P-K4" ("pawn to king four"). Another system is ICCF numeric notation , recognized by the International Correspondence Chess Federation though its use is in decline. In tournament games, players are normally required to keep a score (record of the game). For this purpose, only algebraic notation

8736-585: The playing room, without opening the window. He won the tournament, 2½ points ahead of Keres and three ahead of Smyslov; moreover, with plus scores in the "mini-matches" against all his rivals. In June 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union . Botvinnik's wife Gayane, a ballerina, told him that her colleagues at the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theatre were being evacuated to the city of Perm , then known as Molotov in honour of Vyacheslav Molotov . The family found an apartment there, and Botvinnik obtained

8848-436: The point of view of nationality?" My reply was, "Yes, my position is 'complicated'. I am a Jew by blood, a Russian by culture, Soviet by upbringing."" On his religious views, he called himself an atheist. In 1920, his mother became ill and his father left the family, but maintained contact with the children, even after his second marriage to a Russian woman. At about the same time, Botvinnik started reading newspapers, and became

8960-617: The pre- Revolution masters were absent. In late summer 1931, he graduated with a degree in electrical engineering , after completing a practical assignment on temporary transmission lines at the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station . He stayed on at the Leningrad Polytechnical Institute to study for a Candidate of Sciences degree. In 1933, Botvinnik repeated his Soviet Championship win, in his home city of Leningrad, with 14/19, describing

9072-475: The rematch in Moscow; Smyslov said his health was poor during the return match. In 1960, Botvinnik was convincingly beaten 8½–12½ at Moscow by Tal, now 23 years old, but again exercised his right to a rematch in 1961, and won by 13–8 in Moscow. Commentators agreed that Tal's play was weaker in the rematch, probably due to his health, but also that Botvinnik's play was better than in the 1960 match, largely due to thorough preparation. Botvinnik changed his style in

9184-461: The rematch, avoiding the tactical complications in which Tal excelled and aiming for closed positions and endgames, where Tal's technique was not outstanding. Finally, in 1963, he lost the title to Tigran Petrosian , by 9½–12½ in Moscow. FIDE had by then altered the rules, and he was not allowed a rematch. The rematch rule had been nicknamed the "Botvinnik rule" because he twice benefited from it. Though ranking as formal World Champion, Botvinnik had

9296-429: The required piece is not available (e.g. a second queen) an inverted rook is sometimes used as a substitute, but this is not recognized in FIDE-sanctioned games. A game can be won in the following ways: There are several ways a game can end in a draw : In competition, chess games are played with a time control . If a player's time runs out before the game is completed, the game is automatically lost (provided

9408-430: The results as evidence that Krylenko 's plan to develop a new generation of Soviet masters had borne fruit. He and other young masters successfully requested the support of a senior Leningrad Communist Party official in arranging contests involving both Soviet and foreign players, as there had been none since the Moscow 1925 chess tournament . Soon afterwards, Botvinnik was informed that Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky , one of

9520-402: The rook is under attack, or if the rook crosses an attacked square. When a pawn makes a two-step advance from its starting position and there is an opponent's pawn on a square next to the destination square on an adjacent file, then the opponent's pawn can capture it en passant ("in passing"), moving to the square the pawn passed over. This can be done only on the turn immediately following

9632-407: The same color. Usually, the pawn is chosen to be promoted to a queen, but in some cases, another piece is chosen; this is called underpromotion . In the animated diagram , the pawn on c7 can be advanced to the eighth rank and be promoted. There is no restriction on the piece promoted to, so it is possible to have more pieces of the same type than at the start of the game (e.g., two or more queens). If

9744-526: The score in Leningrad and the match was drawn. When describing the post-match party, Botvinnik wrote that at the time he danced the foxtrot and Charleston to a professional standard. In his first tournament outside the USSR, the Hastings 1934–35, Botvinnik achieved only a tie for 5th–6th places, with 5/9. He wrote that, in London after the tournament, Emanuel Lasker said his arrival only two hours before

9856-415: The square were unoccupied. Pieces are generally not permitted to move through squares occupied by pieces of either color, except for the knight and during castling. When a king is under immediate attack, it is said to be in check . A move in response to a check is legal only if it results in a position where the king is no longer in check. There are three ways to counter a check: Castling

9968-452: The standard system today is short-form algebraic notation . In this system, each square is uniquely identified by a set of coordinates, a – h for the files followed by 1 – 8 for the ranks. The usual format is The pieces are identified by their initials. In English, these are K (king), Q (queen), R (rook), B (bishop), and N (knight; N is used to avoid confusion with king). For example, Qg5 means "queen moves to

10080-447: The strong possibility of little or no chess practice for some time in the future, Botvinnik seems to have prevailed upon the Soviet chess leadership to hold another tournament "in order to clarify the situation". This wound up being the 1941 Absolute Championship of the USSR, which featured the top six finishers from the 1940 event, playing each other four times. After a personal appeal to the defence minister, Vyacheslav Molotov , Botvinnik

10192-485: The title Grandmaster , but Botvinnik objected that "titles were not the point." However, he accepted a free car and a 67% increase in his postgraduate study grant , both provided by the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry . He later reported to Krylenko that the 1935 tournament made it difficult to judge the strength of the top Soviet players, as it included a mixture of top-class and weaker players. Botvinnik advocated

10304-494: The tournament and protested so strongly that he angered Soviet officials; Keres probably did not deliberately lose games to Botvinnik or anyone else in the tournament. Bronstein insinuated that Soviet officials pressured him to lose in the 1951 world championship match so that Botvinnik would keep the title, but comments by Botvinnik's second, Salo Flohr , and Botvinnik's own annotations to the critical 23rd game indicate that Botvinnik knew of no such plot. Chess Chess

10416-461: The tournament described the approach to preparation which he had been developing since 1933. One striking feature of this was emphasis on opening preparation in order to gain a permanent positional advantage in the middlegame , rather than seeking immediate tactical surprises that could only be used once. Botvinnik took an early lead in the 1940 USSR Championship, but faded badly in the later stages, eventually sharing fifth place. He attributed this to

10528-628: The tournament, scoring 15/17; however, in 1952 he tied with Mark Taimanov and won the play-off match. In 1938, the world's top eight players met in the Netherlands to compete in the AVRO tournament , whose winner was supposed to get a title match with the World Champion, Alexander Alekhine . Botvinnik placed third, behind Paul Keres and Reuben Fine . According to Botvinnik, Alekhine was most interested in playing an opponent who could raise

10640-461: The two tournaments; three of the four who finished ahead of him in the 1951 championship were future world champions Smyslov and Petrosian and a leading world championship contender (and winner in both tournaments) Paul Keres; and he finished ahead of Petrosian and even with Smyslov in 1952. Botvinnik did not play in the Soviet team that won the 1952 Chess Olympiad in Helsinki: the players voted for

10752-426: The unaccustomed difficulty of concentrating in a party-like atmosphere filled with noise and tobacco smoke. Botvinnik wrote to a friendly official, commenting that the champion was to be the winner of a match between Igor Bondarevsky and Andor Lilienthal , who had tied for first place, but had no achievements in international competition. The official's efforts led to a tournament for the title of "Absolute Champion of

10864-463: The world every year catering to players of all levels. Tournaments with a small number of players may use the round-robin format, in which every player plays one game against every other player. For a large number of players, the Swiss system may be used, in which each player is paired against an opponent who has the same (or as similar as possible) score in each round. In either case, a player's score

10976-462: The world title, but it was a struggle for Botvinnik, who won the second-last game and drew the last in order to tie the match. In 1954, he drew with Vasily Smyslov over 24 games in Moscow, +7−7=10, again retaining the title. In 1957, he lost to Smyslov by 9½–12½ in Moscow, but the rules then in force allowed him a rematch without having to go through the Candidates' Tournament , and in 1958 he won

11088-755: The world's strongest players. Examples include Spain's Linares event, Monte Carlo's Melody Amber tournament, the Dortmund Sparkassen meeting, Sofia's M-tel Masters , and Wijk aan Zee's Tata Steel tournament. Regular team chess events include the Chess Olympiad and the European Team Chess Championship . The World Chess Solving Championship and World Correspondence Chess Championships include both team and individual events; these are held independently of FIDE. USSR Chess Championship From Misplaced Pages,

11200-441: The youngest player ever at that time, tied for fifth and sixth places and gained the title of master. He wanted to study Electrical Technology at the Leningrad Polytechnical Institute and passed the entrance examination; however, there was a persistent excess of applications for this course and the Proletstud , which controlled admissions, had a policy of admitting only children of engineers and industrial workers. After an appeal by

11312-490: Was Tel Aviv 1964 , where he won the bronze with 9/12, playing board 2 as he had lost his title to Petrosian. Overall, in six Olympiads, he scored 54½/73 for an outstanding 74.6 percent. Botvinnik also played twice for the USSR in the European Team Championship. At Oberhausen 1961, he scored 6/9 for the gold medal on board one. But at Hamburg 1965, he struggled on board two with only 3½/8. Both times

11424-1302: Was a 126-player Swiss. 36 30 Dec 1968–1 Feb 1969 Alma-Ata Lev Polugaevsky Alexander Zaitsev 12½/19 (+7−1=11) 12½/19 (+6=13) Polugaevsky defeated Zaitsev in a playoff +2−1=3. 37 6 Sep–12 Oct 1969 Moscow Tigran Petrosian 14/22 (+6−0=16) Petrosian defeated Polugaevsky in a playoff held in Feb 1970 by +2=3. 38 25 Nov–28 Dec 1970 Riga Viktor Korchnoi 16/21 (+12−1=8) 39 15 Sep–17 Oct 1971 Leningrad Vladimir Savon 15/21 (+9−0=12) 40 16 Nov–19 Dec 1972 Baku Mikhail Tal 15/21 (+9−0=12) 41 1–27 Oct 1973 Moscow Boris Spassky 11½/17 (+7−1=9) 42 30 Nov–23 Dec 1974 Leningrad Alexander Beliavsky Mikhail Tal 9½/15 (+6−2=7) 9½/15 (+6−2=7) 43 28 Nov–22 Dec 1975 Yerevan Tigran Petrosian 10/15 (+6−1=8) 44 26 Nov–24 Dec 1976 Moscow Anatoly Karpov 12/17 (+8−1=8) 45 28 Nov–22 Dec 1977 Leningrad Boris Gulko Iosif Dorfman 9½/15 (+4−0=11) 9½/15 (+4−0=11) A playoff, held in 1978,

11536-419: Was again board one, and scored 9½/13 for the bronze medal. For Munich 1958 , he scored 9/12 for the silver medal on board one. At Leipzig 1960 , he played board two behind Mikhail Tal, having lost his title to Tal earlier that year, but he won the board two gold medal with 10½/13. He was back on board one for Varna 1962 , scored 8/12, but failed to win a medal for the only time at an Olympiad. His final Olympiad

11648-545: Was authorised at the highest Soviet political level in January 1939; however, a letter of confirmation was only sent two months later – in Botvinnik's opinion, because of opposition by his Soviet rivals, especially those who had become prominent before the Russian Revolution – and the outbreak of World War II prevented a World Championship match. In spring 1939, Botvinnik won the USSR Championship, and his book on

11760-904: Was declared a nonperson. 6 2–20 Sep 1929 Odessa Boris Verlinsky 5½/8 (+4−1=3), 4/5 (+4−1=0), and 3½/4 (+3−0=1) The tournament was conducted in three stages. 7 10 Oct–11 Nov 1931 Moscow Mikhail Botvinnik 13½/17 (+12−2=3) 8 16 Aug–9 Sep 1933 Leningrad Mikhail Botvinnik 14/19 (+11−2=6) 9 7 Dec 1934–2 Jan 1935 Leningrad Grigory Levenfish Ilya Rabinovich 12/19 (+8−3=8) 12/19 (+9−4=6) 10 12 Apr–14 May 1937 Tbilisi Grigory Levenfish 12½/19 (+9−3=7) 11 15 Apr–16 May 1939 Leningrad Mikhail Botvinnik 12½/17 (+8−0=9) 12 5 Sep–3 Oct 1940 Moscow Andor Lilienthal Igor Bondarevsky 13½/19 (+8−0=11) 13½/19 (+10−2=7) Mikhail Botvinnik won

11872-1083: Was drawn +1−1=4. 46 1–28 Dec 1978 Tbilisi Mikhail Tal Vitaly Tseshkovsky 11/17 (+5−0=12) 11/17 (+6−1=10) 47 29 Nov–27 Dec 1979 Minsk Efim Geller 11½/17 (+6−0=11) 48 25 Dec 1980–21 Jan 1981 Vilnius Lev Psakhis Alexander Beliavsky 10½/17 (+8−4=5) 10½/17 (+6−2=9) 49 27 Nov–22 Dec 1981 Frunze Garry Kasparov Lev Psakhis 12½/17 (+10−2=5) 12½/17 (+9−1=7) 50 2–28 Apr 1983 Moscow Anatoly Karpov 9½/15 (+5−1=9) 51 2–28 Apr 1984 Lviv Andrei Sokolov 12½/17 (+8−0=9) 52 22 Jan–19 Feb 1985 Riga Viktor Gavrikov Mikhail Gurevich Alexander Chernin 11/19 (+4−1=14) 11/19 (+6−3=10) 11/19 (+5−2=12) 53 4–28 Feb 1986 Kiev Vitaly Tseshkovsky 11/17 (+6−1=10) 54 4–29 Mar 1987 Minsk Alexander Beliavsky 11/17 (+7−2=8) Beliavsky defeated Valery Salov in

11984-464: Was exempted from war work for three days a week in order to concentrate on chess preparations. He won this tournament convincingly, and thus reclaimed his position as the USSR's top player. Bronstein claimed that at the end of the 1946 Groningen tournament, a few months after the death of reigning world champion Alexander Alekhine , Botvinnik personally invited Samuel Reshevsky , Reuben Fine , Max Euwe , Vasily Smyslov , and Paul Keres to join him in

12096-591: Was granted the first Soviet Grandmaster title for this achievement, yet he was later stripped of it, when it was thought more politically correct to make Botvinnik the first official Soviet GM (as distinct from the then-nonexistent FIDE grandmaster title). Botvinnik wrote that before the last round of the 1935 Moscow tournament, Soviet Commissar of Justice Nikolai Krylenko , who was also in charge of Soviet chess, proposed that Ilya Rabinovich should deliberately lose to Botvinnik, to ensure that Botvinnik took first place. Botvinnik refused, saying "... then I will myself put

12208-857: Was played from 1920 to 1991. Organized by the USSR Chess Federation , it was the strongest national chess championship ever held, with eight world chess champions and four world championship finalists among its winners. It was held as a round-robin tournament with the exception of the 35th and 58th championships, which were of the Swiss system . Most wins [ edit ] Six titles: Mikhail Botvinnik , Mikhail Tal Four titles: Tigran Petrosian , Viktor Korchnoi , Alexander Beliavsky Three titles: Paul Keres , Leonid Stein , Anatoly Karpov List of winners [ edit ] Edition Date Place Winner Score Notes 1 4–24 Oct 1920 Moscow Alexander Alekhine 12/15 (+9−0=6) Known as

12320-496: Was selected for Leningrad's team in a match against Stockholm , held in Sweden, and scored +1=1 against the future grandmaster Gösta Stoltz . On his return, he entertained his schoolmates with a vivid account of the rough sea journey back to Russia. Botvinnik was commissioned to annotate two games from the match, and the fact that his analyses were to be published made him aware of the need for objectivity. In December 1926, he became

12432-536: Was the daughter of his algebra and geometry teacher. She was a student at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in Leningrad and, later, a ballerina in the Bolshoi Theatre . They had one daughter, named Olga, who was born in 1942. In 1931, at the age of 20, Botvinnik won his first Soviet Championship in Moscow, scoring 13½ out of 17. He commented that the field was not very strong, as some of

12544-472: Was the first tournament victory by a Soviet master outside his own country. When the result reached Russia, Krylenko drafted a letter to be sent in Botvinnik's name to Stalin. On returning to Russia, Botvinnik discovered he had been awarded the "Mark of Honour". Three weeks later, Botvinnik began work on his dissertation for the Candidate's degree, obtaining this in June 1937, after his supervisor described

#355644