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Time
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Mikhail Botvinnik Chess
When
world champion Alexander Alekhine died in March 1946, there
were quite a few contenders for the throne that fell vacant
with his death. FIDE decided to invite the best eight players
in the world to take part in a tournament to find out the
new world champion. It was finally held in 1948, and won by
Mikhail Botvinnik. It was a great triumph for the Soviet School.
The Soviet players held the championship for decades, except
for the three years (1972-75) when American Grandmaster Bobby
Fischer reigned supreme.
Botvinnik
is the only player in the history of the game to have lost
and regained the title twice. He lost it to V. Smyslov in
1955 and regained it two years later. Then came the real challenge
when Mikhail Tal was playing incredible chess. Tal fireworks
added a new dimension to the game. He challenged the classical
theories with his magnificent tactical play that even a player
of Botvinnik's class found rather hard to handle. But Botvinnik
prepared himself well for the return match in 1961 and blunted
the force of Tal's attacks. He finally lost to Tigran Petrosian
in 1963 when he was 52 years old.
The Botvinnik
era saw the rise of many great players and the Soviet supremacy
was established beyond any doubt, until the rise of Bobby
Fischer. The Soviets viewed chess as a form of art and never
welcomed the professionalism that Fischer preached with great
zeal. In fact, Botvinnik once said that high prize money was
a bane to the game!
It is
no doubt an interesting debate. Today top players are all
professionals having a high degree of motivation. The aesthetic
aspect of the game often gets ignored as players have reduced
themselves into somewhat "unimaginative fighting units",
ready to score points only.
Botvinnik
was not a professional player in the modern sense. In fact,
he was an internationally known electrical engineer. That
is another phenomenon quite inconceivable in modern times.
A top level player today has to be a full time professional
having little time for any other pursuit. Are we producing
chess machines only?
Here
is a game played by Botvinnik.
White-Mikhail
Botvinnik
Black-Mikhail Tal [E24]
World Championship, Moscow 1961
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.d4 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 b6 6.f3 Ba6 7.e4
d5 8.cxd5 Bxf1 9.Kxf1 exd5 10.Bg5 h6 11.Qa4+ c6 12.Bh4 dxe4
13.Re1 g5 14.Bf2 Qe7 15.Ne2 b5 16.Qc2 Qxa3 17.h4 gxh4 18.Bxh4
Nbd7 19.Ng3 000 20.Nxe4 Rhe8 21.Kf2 Nxe4+ 22.fxe4 f6 23.Ra1
Qe7 24.Rxa7 Qxe4 25.Qxe4 Rxe4 26.Ra8+ Nb8 27.Bg3 Kb7 28.Rha1
Rc8 29.R8a7+ Kb6 30.Bxb8 b4 31.Bd6 bxc3 32.Bc5+ Kb5 33.R1a4
1-0
Position
after 17.h4
-PATZER
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(R) thedailystar.net 2005
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