Botvinnik chess. Mikhail Botvinnik. Sports biography. Distinctive character traits

Founder of the Soviet chess school. A strategist for whom chess was war. Sixth world champion, USSR flag. Man of the system. Each era has its own heroes: Botvinnik, like no one else, became the personification of the Soviet era - a stern, ascetic, strong-willed fighter who clearly knew his goal and stopped at nothing to achieve it.
Frankly, I never liked studying Botvinnik’s games, although for historical reasons I know his work better than others. A good third of the books in my closet were dedicated to the first Soviet champion; they could be easily obtained during shortages and sales from under the counter. This was the main character of Russian chess literature. Banner! And so for the soul I studied the games of other players. Just as in literature I preferred the books of Jack London and Alexander Belyaev to the works of Sholokhov and Brezhnev.
Interesting: Botvinnik did not have the chance to become world champion when he deserved it, but became one when others deserved it more! From the late 30s and throughout the 40s, Mikhail Moiseevich was objectively the strongest player in the world, and in the 50s he was third at best. Keres played more often and more consistently, and Smyslov was simply stronger!
The main advantages of Botvinnik as a chess player were his fundamental opening preparation and good positional understanding. Due to his youth, he was quite good at counting, so he was very strong as a practitioner, and after winning the title, blunders and miscalculations began to occur in his games.
The art of preparing for competitions was raised to unprecedented heights by the efforts of the sixth world champion. In his ability to work according to a plan and subordinate all circumstances to a higher goal, he had no equal. Colossal determination, strict, almost military discipline, of course, a regimen, sports, plus a reasonable combination of exercise and rest! Having developed his training system, Botvinnik then strictly followed it.
He was preparing for the game as if it were his last battle. He saw his opponent as an enemy, victory over whom was a matter of life and death. This extreme, military approach to chess became very popular after him. Because it brought success.
Mikhail Moiseevich enjoyed great support from the Soviet authorities. All conditions were created for him to have a successful career. At the same time, Botvinnik surprisingly managed to maintain the independence of his views and actions. He did not sign collective letters, avoided social pressure, and kept himself very isolated. Having got used to the image of the patriarch of Soviet chess, he became a very categorical person. This was a guru speaking the ultimate truth. Objections were not accepted! For example, until the end of his life he believed that blitz is harmful to the development of a chess player, just like frequent performances. Who knows, maybe he was right, but chess life is developing in exactly the opposite direction!
I would especially like to note Botvinnik’s phenomenal ability to play matches. In the confrontation of characters, the struggle of psychology, in the conditions of targeted opening preparation, the sixth champion felt like a fish in water. Victories in rematches over the younger and stronger Smyslov and Tal, in my opinion, are his main feat. He even knew how to beat time!
In terms of work on opening theory, Botvinnik compared favorably with his contemporaries. This man dug very deeply: he didn’t just find new moves in known positions, but developed entire development schemes. Not limiting himself to options and estimates, I tried to continue opening research in the middlegame, analyzed typical positions and studied possible plans of the parties. Following Mikhail Moiseevich, many Soviet grandmasters began to work in the same fundamental way. This is one of the reasons why representatives of the Soviet chess school have dominated the international arena for half a century. Look, who is now, at the turn of the century, at the top of the chess pyramid? His students...
Thanks to Botvinnik's efforts, a great variety of opening systems became popular. One can recall the “stone wall” in the Dutch Defense, Botvinnik’s variation in the Slavic, his system in Grunfeld (5.Qb3), positions with an isolator arising from different openings. Of course, the Vinaver Variation (3...Bb4) in the French Defense and much, much more.
For the last 30 years of his life, Mikhail Moiseevich devoted himself to chess programming. Alas, his project of modeling the thinking process of a chess master was never brought to a successful conclusion. Relying on the speed of computer hardware in combination with adjusting the evaluation function turned out to be more productive. The great state that Botvinnik personified also collapsed. One can imagine how difficult and bitter it was for him – a convinced communist, a person of national stature – in the early 90s...
It was then that I saw him at the Central Shock Club. Although he was over 80, he was a man with a tenacious, clear gaze. The ex-champion spoke little, but confidently, and when asked who would defeat Kasparov, he answered briefly: “Kramnik!” There were still seven years left before the match in London.

Mikhail Moiseevich Botvinnik

08/17/1911 (Kuokkala village - now Repino, Russia) - 05/5/1995 (Moscow, Russia)

The sixth world champion in the history of chess and the 1st Soviet world champion (1948-1957, 1958-1960, 1961-1963). Grandmaster of the USSR (1935), international grandmaster (1950) and arbiter in chess composition (1956); Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (1945), 6-time champion of the USSR (1931-1952). Chairman of the All-Union Chess Section (1938-1939) and the board of the USSR - Netherlands society (since 1960). Honored Worker of Culture of the RSFSR (1971), Honored Worker of Science and Technology of Russia (1991). Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor.

Biography

Mikhail Moiseevich Botvinnik was born on August 17, 1911 in the holiday village of Kuokkala (near St. Petersburg) in the family of a dental technician, Moisei Girshovich Botvinnik, and a dentist, Shifra Samoilovna Rabinovich.

At the age of 12 he was introduced to chess and at the same time of the year he took part in a school tournament. Having become interested in chess, he began to study from books, among them “Chess sheet” by M. Chigorin for 1876-1877, textbooks on openings by N. Grekov and V. Nenarokov. During Em's tour. Laskera in Leningrad records his played games with his comments. The following spring, he won the school championship. After this, he becomes a member of the city chess meeting, adding to his age for this.

Within a year, Mikhail became famous among chess players in Leningrad, quickly overcoming the qualification levels. In 1925 he won three first category tournaments.

During the 1st International Moscow Tournament, H.R. Capablanca comes to Leningrad and gives a session of simultaneous play on 30 boards. The session ends with the victory of the champion with a score of 22: 8. One of the defeats was inflicted on him by Mikhail Botvinnik.

In 1926, Botvinnik performed at the 5th Leningrad Championship, sharing 2-3rd place with I. Rabinovich. In the championship of the North-West region - 3rd place. His debut on the international stage took place in the Leningrad - Stockholm match, where Mikhail defeated the future grandmaster G. Stolz on the sixth board with a score of 1.5: 0.5. At the same time, Botvinnik tried himself as a chess commentator.

Participating in the 5th USSR Championship in the fall of 1927 in Moscow, Mikhail Moiseevich shared 5-6th place with V. Makogonov, thereby exceeding the master’s standard by 2.5 points.

Victories in the Leningrad championships (1931-1932), Leningrad masters tournaments (1930, 1932-1933), USSR championships (1931, 1933) put Botvinnik among the strongest chess players in the country. Meetings with leading foreign chess players confirmed the high class of his play:

a draw in the match with S. Floor (Botvinnik had to win back two points),
1st place in the Leningrad masters tournament with the participation of M. Euwe and G. Kmoch in 1934;
1st-2nd place, shared with Floor, at the 2nd Moscow international tournament in 1935, ahead of Em. Lasker, X. R. Capablanca;
2nd place at the 3rd Moscow international tournament (1936);
1st-2nd place, shared with Capablanca at the Nottingham tournament in 1936, ahead of A. Alekhine, Euwe, Em. Lasker.

In 1935, Botvinnik married a smart and beautiful ballerina at the Opera and Ballet Theater. Kirov Gayane Davidovna Ananova.

In the AVRO tournament of 1938, Botvinnik took 3rd place, winning games against Alekhine and Capablanca, confirming his right to a match with the world champion. Alekhine accepted Botvinnik's challenge, but the match was prevented by the outbreak of World War II (1939-1945).

Since the 1930s Botvinnik was the leader of Soviet chess players. In 1940 he joined the CPSU(b).

During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, Botvinnik worked as an electrical engineer in Perm. Successful performances in tournaments and national championships (1943-1945) showed that Botvinnik was ready to challenge the world champion title (the match with Alekhine never took place due to the unexpected death of the world champion), being the main contender.

The world championship match tournament (The Hague - Moscow) in 1948 ended with the victory of Botvinnik, who convincingly won the title of champion, ahead of the 2nd prize-winner by 3 points.

In 1951, Botvinnik played a draw in the world championship match with D. Bronstein, retaining the title of champion. The championship match with V. Smyslov in 1954 also ended in a draw. In 1957, the repeat match for the world championship ended in victory for Smyslov, but a year later Botvinnik took revenge.

In a duel with M. Tal in 1960, Botvinnik again lost the world title, again convincingly beating Tal in a rematch.

In 1963, Botvinnik lost the world championship match to T. Petrosyan (according to FIDE rules, rematches were canceled).

Botvinnik continued to perform successfully in tournaments: 1st place in Amsterdam (1963 and 1966), Noordwijk (1965), Hastings (1966/1967); 1st-2nd in Beverwijk (1969); 2nd-3rd in Palma (Mallorca island, 1967); 2nd in Monte Carlo (1968); 3rd-4th international in Leiden (1970; Botvinnik’s last tournament). In 1970, Botvinnik also played in the “Match of the Century” (USSR national team against the world team, the competition took place in Belgrade), where he defeated M. Matulovich on the eighth board.

In total, Botvinnik played 1202 games in the competition, scoring almost 70% of the possible points. Having played in 59 tournaments, Botvinnik took 1st place in 33, split 1st-2nd in 6, 2nd-3rd in 14. He won 6 matches out of 13, lost 3 and ended in draws in 4.

For achievements in the field of chess he was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor (1936), the Order of Lenin (1957), the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1961), and the Order of the October Revolution (1981).

Nature of the game

The art of preparing for competitions was raised to unprecedented heights by the efforts of the sixth world champion. He had no equal in his ability to work according to plan and subordinate all circumstances to a higher goal. Colossal determination and strict, almost military discipline, regime, sports, a reasonable combination of stress and rest - having developed his training system, Botvinnik strictly followed it.
He prepared himself for the game as if it were a battle. Forming a personal hostility towards his opponent, he saw him as an enemy. This extreme, military approach to chess became very popular after him. The main advantages of Botvinnik as a chess player were his fundamental opening preparation and good positional understanding. In his youth, he counted well, so he was very strong as a practitioner, and after gaining the title, blunders and miscalculations began to occur in his games.

Contribution to theory

In the history of chess, a whole era is associated with the name of M. M. Botvinnik. He was the first to establish the priority of the Soviet chess school in world chess. His play was distinguished by deep strategic plans, unexpected tactical strikes, and a constant desire for initiative and the creation of integral parties.

He was the first to pay special attention to the issues of training chess players, created his own method of preparing for competitions, in which an important place was given to physical exercise, strengthening psychological stability, etc.

Botvinnik made a valuable contribution to the theory of openings, developed a number of original opening systems (for example, the Botvinnik Variation in the Defense, the Botvinnik Variation in the Slavic Defense, etc.), and also significantly enriched the theory of the endgame (especially rook endings) with valuable analyses. In terms of work on opening theory, Botvinnik compared favorably with his contemporaries. This man dug very deeply: he didn’t just find new moves in known positions, but developed entire development schemes. Not limiting himself to options and estimates, I tried to continue opening research in the middlegame, analyzed typical positions and studied possible plans of the parties. Following Mikhail Moiseevich, many Soviet grandmasters began to work in the same fundamental way. This is one of the reasons why representatives of the Soviet chess school dominated the international arena for more than half a century. His students during the period of leadership of the youth chess school “Botvinnik School” were A. Karpov, G. Kasparov, V. Kramnik and others.

Successfully combining chess activities with scientific work in the field of electrical engineering, Botvinnik is the author of a number of inventions, patented in many countries, since the early 1970s. led the creation of the Pioneer chess computer program.

Botvinnik subjected a thorough analysis of his own play and a detailed analysis of his opponent's play. This allowed him to brilliantly win back the championship title several times, imposing a style that was inconvenient for him on his opponent.

His books on chess, energy, and cybernetics have been published in many languages.

Botvinnik was the chief arbiter of a number of major chess competitions.

Mikhail Moiseevich enjoyed great support from the Soviet authorities. All conditions were created for him to have a successful career. At the same time, Botvinnik surprisingly managed to maintain the independence of his views and actions. He did not sign collective letters, avoided social pressure, and kept himself very isolated. It should be noted that Mikhail Moiseevich was distinguished by a rather tough character. His judgments were sometimes overly categorical, including in relation to himself. In his comments to his games, Botvinnik does not hesitate to admit his own mistakes and weaknesses.

Botvinnik's best games were included in the golden fund of chess art. Most of his games were included in the three-volume book “The Chess Works of M. M. Botvinnik.”

Mikhail Moiseevich Botvinnik (August 4 (17), 1911, Kuokkala, Vyborg Province, Grand Duchy of Finland - May 5, 1995, Moscow) - 6th in the history of chess and 1st Soviet world champion (1948-1957, 1958-1960, 1961 -1963).

Grandmaster of the USSR (1935), international grandmaster (1950) and arbiter in chess composition (1956); Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (1945), 6-time champion of the USSR (1931, 1933, 1939, 1944, 1945, 1952), absolute champion of the USSR (1941). Champion of Moscow (1943/44). Six-time winner of the Chess Olympiads as part of the USSR team (two-time winner in the individual competition). "Patriarch" of the Soviet chess school. Chairman of the All-Union Chess Section (1938-1939) and the board of the USSR - Netherlands society (since 1960). Honored Worker of Culture of the RSFSR (1971), Honored Worker of Science and Technology of Russia (1991). Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor.

Mikhail Moiseevich Botvinnik was born on August 17, 1911 in the dacha village of Kuokkala in the family of dental technician Moisei Girshovich (Leibovich) Botvinnik (1878-1931) and dentist Shifra Samoilovna Rabinovich (1879-1952).

In September 1923, at the age of 12, he became acquainted with chess and at the same time of year took part in a school tournament (school 157). Later he began to study from books, among them “The Chess Sheet” by M. Chigorin for the years 1876-1877. Later he acquired textbooks on openings by N. Grekov and V. Nenarokov. During Em's tour. Laskera in Leningrad records his played games with his comments. The following spring, he achieves his first tournament victory at the school championship. After this, he attends the city chess meeting and becomes its member, for this he adds to his age.

In the 19th issue of the Chess Sheet magazine for 1924, Mikhail Botvinnik was first mentioned as the winner of a non-category tournament. Within a year, Mikhail became famous among chess players in Leningrad. He quickly overcomes the qualification steps. In 1925 he won three first category tournaments.

During the 1st international tournament in Moscow, H.R. Capablanca comes to Leningrad and gives a simultaneous game on 30 boards on November 20 in the Philharmonic building, which ends with the victory of the champion with a score of 22: 8 (+18 −4 = 8). One of his defeats was inflicted on him by Mikhail Botvinnik.

In 1926 he competes at the 5th Leningrad Championship, where he shares 2nd-3rd place with I. Rabinovich. The championship of the North-West region also ends successfully - 3rd place. He celebrated his debut on the international stage in the match Leningrad - Stockholm, where he defeated the future grandmaster G. Stolz on the sixth board with a score of 1½: ½. At the same time, he tried himself as a chess commentator.

Thanks to his achievements in Leningrad tournaments, he received the right to participate in the 5th USSR Championship, held in the fall of 1927 in Moscow, where he shared 5-6th place with V. Makogonov, thereby exceeding the master’s standard by 2½ points.

For the next two or three years, Botvinnik devoted little time to chess, which was associated with finishing school and entering the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. At this time, he won the championship of metalworkers and workers' research, and also participated in a number of team competitions. In September 1929 he played at the 6th USSR Championship. He takes first place in the preliminary group, but due to the loss of two games in the semi-finals, he drops out of the fight for the title. Some of the reasons for the failure were the complex tournament regulations and poor physical preparation.

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, there was a change of leaders in the Soviet chess movement; until then, masters known back in Tsarist Russia predominated. Despite such a young age, Mikhail Botvinnik’s methods of preparing for competitions were increasingly popular among young chess players. Botvinnik's victory at the masters tournament in 1930 in Leningrad shows that young chess players are not inferior to the masters. But due to the short distance, doubts still arose about the strength of the younger generation, which were finally dispelled by Botvinnik’s convincing victory at the 8th Leningrad Championship.

Even before the start of the 7th USSR Championship in 1931, Botvinnik was considered as one of the contenders for the title. Two defeats in a row in the preliminary tournament and an unsuccessful start in the final (defeats to A. Ilyin-Zhenevsky and V. Sozin) did not stop Mikhail, and he became the first champion of the USSR - a graduate of the Soviet chess school.

In 1932-1933 he performed convincingly at three Leningrad tournaments: 1st place in the 9th city championship and in the masters tournament in the House of Scientists, and also shared 1st-2nd places in the masters tournament.

In August 1933, the 8th USSR Championship began, where Mikhail had to defend the title of USSR champion. The composition of the tournament was, compared to the previous championship, stronger, since famous masters were present: G. Levenfish, I. Rabinovich, P. Romanovsky, F. Duz-Khotimirsky. The first half of the tournament went well, the gap from the pursuers was 2 points after the 12th round. But due to attempts to squeeze the maximum out of each game, too much effort was expended, which affected the finish. Despite this, the gap was enough to become the national champion for the second time. Subsequently, Botvinnik tried to distribute forces more optimally, which was not always possible.

He graduates from college and receives a degree in electrical engineering. Enters graduate school and becomes a member of the Lenin Komsomol.

In the early 1930s, the situation on the world chess scene was as follows. After winning the match for the world title in Buenos Aires (1927), Alexander Alekhine was in the best sports shape, as evidenced by victories at major international tournaments: San Remo (1930), Bled (1931), Bern (1932). After losing the match, Jose Raul Capablanca felt like he was in a slump. Emanuel Lasker hardly performed. After winning the Carlsbad tournament (1929), A. Nimzowitsch called on the world community to organize a match between him and the world champion, but he remained unanswered. In addition to the old masters, among the new generation it is worth noting the Americans S. Reshevsky and I. Kazden, the Swedes G. Stolz and G. Stahlberg, and the Hungarian A. Lilienthal. But the Czechoslovakian chess player S. Flor progressed the most. Having taken part in more than 20 international tournaments in a short time, he won half of them, and was among the winners in the rest. He won matches against G. Stolz and the Indian master of the British champion M. Sultan Khan, and brought the match to a draw against the ex-world champion M. Euwe. In the West they began to talk about him seriously as one of the contenders for the world championship. To strengthen his position, Flor approached the Soviet embassy in Prague in the fall of 1933 with a proposal to play a match with Botvinnik. Negotiations were conducted with the embassy adviser A. Ilyin-Zhenevsky. The match took place in November-December 1933. The first part of the match took place in the Hall of Columns of the Moscow House of Unions, and the second in the Great Hall of the Leningrad Observatory. Not since the Alekhine - Capablanca match has a single chess competition attracted such great interest. Czech, Dutch and other newspapers published daily telegrams about the progress of the match and regularly published the games played in it. In the first half of the match, Botvinnik lost 2 games, and the remaining 4 ended in a draw. In the second half of the match, Botvinnik was able to win two games and tied the match.

The match opened a new stage in international meetings of Soviet chess players. In the summer of 1934, a tournament was held in Leningrad, in which, in addition to ten Soviet masters, the Austrian theorist H. Kmoch and the contender for the title of world champion M. Euwe also participated, who shared 2-3rd places at a large international tournament in Zurich, where he inflicted the only defeat A. Alekhine. Despite the defeat to G. Lisitsyn and an illness that cast doubt on the possibility of finishing the tournament, Botvinnik wins the decisive game against I. Rabinovich and takes 1st place. At the end of 1934, Botvinnik was invited to the Hastings Christmas tournament. In which M. Euwe, S. Flor and H.R. Capablanca also participated. Due to difficult regulations (no days to finish the game) and lack of time for acclimatization (arrived two hours before the start of the tour), he makes two serious mistakes in game with J. Thomas and hesitantly plays the game against M. Euwe and after three rounds has only half a point, which, due to the short distance, made it impossible to qualify for prizes. Having scored 4½ points in the remaining games, he shares 5th-6th place with A. Lilienthal.

The next test was the 2nd Moscow International Chess Tournament (1935). In the ten years that have passed since the first tournament, only four of the participating Soviet masters remained; the remaining eight places were given to young chess players.

Victories in the Leningrad championships (1931-1932), Leningrad masters tournaments (1930, 1932-1933), USSR championships (1931, 1933) put Botvinnik among the strongest chess players in the country.

Since the 1930s Botvinnik is the leader of Soviet chess players: victories in the USSR Championship (1939), in the match with V. Ragozin (1940), in the match tournament for the title of absolute champion of the USSR (1941). In 1940 he joined the CPSU(b).

During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, Botvinnik worked in Perm as an electrical engineer. Winner of the Masters Tournament in Sverdlovsk (1943), Moscow Championship (1943/1944, out of competition). Successful performances in the national championships (1944-1945) and in a team radio match with US chess players (1945) showed that Botvinnik was ready to challenge the title of world champion (the match with Alekhine did not take place due to the unexpected death of the world champion), and victories in major international tournaments in Groningen (1946) and in memory of M. Chigorin in Moscow (1947) confirmed that Botvinnik was the main contender for the title of world champion.

The world championship match tournament (The Hague - Moscow) (1948) ended with the victory of Botvinnik, who in brilliant style won the title of champion, ahead of the 2nd prize-winner by 3 points. At the same time, he convincingly won all the micro-matches against his opponents.

In the next three years, until the world championship match with Bronstein, Botvinnik did not play a single tournament game, devoting himself entirely to science and preparing his doctoral dissertation.

In 1951, Botvinnik drew the world championship match with D. Bronstein and retained the title of champion. Participant of the Maroczy Memorial (Budapest, 1952) - 3-5th m.; USSR championships: 1951 - 5-6th m.; 1952 - 1st; 1955 - 3rd-6th place.

The world championship match with V. Smyslov (1954) also ended in a draw.

Shared 1st-2nd place at the international tournament in memory of Alekhine (1956) with Smyslov.

In 1957, the 2nd match for the world championship ended in victory for Smyslov, but a year later Botvinnik took revenge.

Botvinnik also performed excellently in other competitions - at the World Olympiads (1958 and 1960), the Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR (1959); won the tournament in Wageningen (1958, the Netherlands).

In a duel with M. Tal (1960), Botvinnik lost the world champion title for the second time, but in the rematch he convincingly beat his young opponent.

Performances in international tournaments: victories in Hastings (1961/1962) and Stockholm (1962).

Lost the world championship match to T. Petrosyan (1963) (according to FIDE rules, rematches were canceled).

Botvinnik continued to perform successfully in tournaments: 1st place in Amsterdam (1963 and 1966), Noordwijk (1965), Hastings (1966/1967); 1st-2nd in Beverwijk (1969); 2nd-3rd in Palma (Mallorca island, 1967); 2nd in Monte Carlo (1968). In 1970, Botvinnik also played in the “Match of the Century” (USSR national team against the world team, the competition took place in Belgrade), where he defeated M. Matulovich on the eighth board (+1, =3).

In total, Botvinnik played 1202 games in the competition, scoring almost 70% of the points. Having played in 59 tournaments, Botvinnik took 1st place in 33, split 1st-2nd in 6, 2nd-3rd in 14. He won 6 matches out of 13, lost 3 and ended in draws in 4.

Founder and permanent director of the Botvinnik School, where the most talented young chess players of the Soviet Union improved. He worked at the Institute of Electric Power Engineering for more than 50 years. In the last decades of his life, he worked in his own laboratory on the problem of computer modeling of human thinking.

There is only one documented case where Botvinnik made a mistake in predicting the development of a major chess talent. In 1963, according to Boris Zlotnik, Botvinnik said about young Anatoly Karpov: “It’s a shame, but nothing will come of Tolya.” However, the 12th world champion denied this prediction.

He died on May 5, 1995 in his Moscow apartment near Frunzenskaya Embankment from a long-term cancer. As the nephew of the world champion Igor Botvinnik recalled, Mikhail Moiseevich died in full consciousness, with the greatest courage and dignity, and on the eve of his death he gave his relatives comprehensive instructions on the procedure for organizing the funeral. A memorial service was not held in accordance with these orders; of the prominent chess players, only Vasily Smyslov was able to say goodbye to him. According to Botvinnik’s will, his body was cremated, and the urn was buried in the columbarium of the Novodevichy cemetery next to the burial of his wife, ballerina Gayane Davidovna Ananova. Botvinnik is survived by his daughter and grandchildren.

Family

Father - dental technician Moses Girshovich (Leibovich) Botvinnik (born in 1878 in the village of Kudrischino, Minsk province, from a tenant family), was a member of the RSDLP, worked in the underground printing house of the Bund and in 1903 was arrested in Rostov-on-Don while transporting illegal literature. From 1923 until the end of his life, Moisei Lvovich Botvinnik worked as a dental technician at the Central Dental Laboratory of the North-Western Railway in Leningrad.

Mother - dentist Shifra (Serafima) Samoilovna Rabinovich (born in 1876 in Kreslavka, Vitebsk province, from the family of private attorney Samuil Zalmanovich Rabinovich, died in 1952 in Moscow) - was also a member of the Menshevik RSDLP, in 1905 she was exiled to Siberia in the Bund case.

The elder brother, Isaac (Isya) Moiseevich Botvinnik (died on September 17, 1941 in the village of Petroslavyanka), was the head of the special devices workshops and the contact network of the Lentramway, and supervised the creation of the first street traffic light system in Leningrad. M. M. Botvinnik also had a sister, Maria.

Wife (since 1935) - ballerina of the Opera and Ballet Theater. Kirova Gayane Davidovna Botvinnik (1914-1987; née Ananova). Daughter - Olga Mikhailovna Fioshkina (born 1942, Perm). Grandchildren - Georgy and Elena.

Cousin (son of his mother’s sister and cousin) - Riga mathematician, historian of mathematics and popularizer of science Isaac Moiseevich Rabinovich (born 1911), author of the works “Mathematician Pierce Bol from Riga” (together with A. D. Myshkis and with an appended commentary M. M. Botvinnik “On the chess game of P. G. Bol”, 1965), “The obstinate derivative” (1968), “On iatromathematicians” (1974), etc.

Cousin - chess player Yuli Yakovlevich Botvinnik (Lvov champion in 1946), now alive. Cousin nephew - Igor Yulievich Botvinnik (1950-2011) - international chess arbiter.

Cousin nephew (son of M. Botvinnik’s maternal cousin Liya Aleksandrovna Rabinovich-Gromova) is mathematician Mikhail Leonidovich Gromov.

Cousin nephew (grandson of M. Botvinnik’s maternal aunt Sofia Samuilovna Rabinovich) is the famous Latvian lawyer and public figure Alexander Zhanovich Bergman (Polish, born 1925).

MIKHAIL BOTVINNIK

6 TH WORLD CHAMPION 1948-1957, 1958-1960, 1961-1963

Sixth world champion, grandmaster of the USSR (1935), international grandmaster (1950), honored master of sports (1945). Six-time champion of the USSR (1931, 1933, 1939, 1944, 1945, 1952).

Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor.

Mikhail Moiseevich Botvinnik was born on August 17, 1911 in the village of Repino near St. Petersburg (until 1948, Kuokkala, Vyborg Province, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire), in the family of a dental technician.

I became acquainted with chess relatively late, at the age of twelve.

Within four years (1923-1927) Mikhail Botvinnik receives the necessary knowledge and improves his playing technique. During this period, he learns to analyze and comment on games, studies the history of chess, studies, and the development of theory. After graduating from the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, he conducts editorial work in the magazine “Chess List”, takes part in the publication of books: “Match Alekhine - Capablanca”, “Match Alekhine - Bogolyubov”, a collection of games from the seventh national championship.

In 1927 in the 5th USSR Championship16-year-old Botvinnik made his debut.

In 1931 at the age of 20 he wins the USSR championship in Moscow, two years later - a new victory in the national championship in Leningrad. The victories of the young master in the national championships, Leningrad championships, and Leningrad masters tournaments propelled Botvinnik into the ranksthe strongest chess players in the country.

He fully proved this with his successes in international competitions, winning the Leningrad tournament with the participation of Max Euwe and Hans Kmoch (1934) , sharing first and second places at the 2nd Moscow international tournament (1935) ahead of Emanuel Lasker and Jose Raul Capablanca. For this success he was awarded the title of Grandmaster of the USSR.

In 1936 A tournament was held in Nottingham with the participation of the strongest grandmasters in the world - Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe. Botvinnik shared the first prize with Capablanca. In this tournament, Botvinnik shared first and second places with Capablanca - above Alekhine, Lasker, Euwe, Fain, Reshevsky, Flor. Botvinnik knew that his compatriots were rooting for him, and he played calmly and confidently, going through the entire tournament without defeat.
After Nottingham, Botvinnik became the most likely candidate for the match with the world champion. After Nottingham, Botvinnik performed relatively rarely for some time - intense work at the institute took up a lot of time. Botvinnik successfully defended his dissertation on the topic “The influence of excitation oscillations on the oscillations of the rotor of a synchronous machine” and received the title of Candidate of Technical Sciences.

In 1938Negotiations began about a match with Alekhine. The world champion agreed, but the Second World War began. During the war, Botvinnik was at engineering work.

In 1944-1945Botvinnik takes part in two national championships and achieves victory. At the first post-war tournament in Groningen he wins first prize. Next year, victory in the Chigorin memory tournament. When the Great Patriotic War began, due to his eyesight he was exempt from conscription and, together with the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater, where his wife, ballerina Gayane Ananova, worked, was evacuated to Perm, two days before the Nazis completely surrounded Leningrad. In Perm he worked in his main specialty as an electrical engineer.

In January 1943Botvinnik wrote a letter to Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov saying that he did not have time to study chess and, as a result, got the opportunity to devote two days entirely to chess.

In the first post-war years, he won a major international tournament in Groningen in 1946(ahead of Max Euwe, Vasily Smyslov, Isaac Boleslavsky, etc.), as well as in the international tournament of Slavic countries in memory of Mikhail Chigorin(1947).

In 1946Alexander Alekhine died, the chess world was left without a champion. The Congress of the International Chess Federation decided to determine the champion in a match tournament of the five strongest grandmasters in the world - Botvinnik, Keres, Smyslov, Reshevsky and Euwe. Competitions were held (1948) in The Hague and Moscow. The match tournament ended with the victory of Botvinnik, who took first place.
According to the decision of the International Chess Federation, the world champion is obliged to defend his title once every three years.

The first such match took place in 1951 with David Bronstein.

In 1952The world champion defended his doctoral dissertation and became a Doctor of Technical Sciences.

The match was very closely fought and ended in a draw, which allowed the champion to retain the title. One more match (1954) ended in a draw, this time Botvinnik's opponent was Vasily Smyslov.

In three years (1957) Smyslov makes a second attempt and wins. A rematch 1958 Botvinnik wins by two points and regains the title.
Botvinnik's next opponent was grandmaster Mikhail Tal.

The world champion loses to Tal (1960) and for the second time loses the highest title. In a rematch (1962) Botvinnik wins with a big advantage.

In 1963Mikhail Botvinnik lost to Tigran Petrosyan in his last match and decided not to participate in the world championship in the future.

The first Soviet world champion confirmed the priority of the Soviet chess school.
Botvinnik was the first to develop a program for individual preparation of a chess player for competitions. As a chess researcher, he made a great contribution to the development of many openings and to the theory of the endgame.

For many years, Mikhail Botvinnik ran a chess school.

Students of the school of Mikhail Botvinnik - Garry Kasparov

Children's school M.M. Botvinnik opened in 1963 and operated until mid-1965. The first students were A. Karpov, Y. Balashov, Y. Razuvaev, G. Timoschenko, N. Rashkovsky. In 1969, classes resumed. Students came to sessions from different cities of the country three times for 10 days. In 1973 at the school M.M. 10-year-old G. Kasparov began studying Botvinnik.

Botvinnik is one of the few top-class chess players who managed to combine chess with another profession. He managed to reach the top in the chess world and become a famous scientist in the field of electrical engineering. For outstanding chess achievements, he was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor. Mikhail Botvinnik received the second Order of the Badge of Honor for his fruitful production activities in the field of electrical engineering.

BOTVINNIK - PORTISH
Amsterdam, 1968

PRACTICAL ADVICE M.M. BOTVINNIK

Mikhail Botvinnik

HOW TO DEAL WITH TIME THROUGH

I have long advised our masters, who systematically find themselves in time trouble, to have one way to combat this shortcoming. Unfortunately, it seems that they did not take my advice, and yet it is very simple. You need to play training games and at the same time pay attention primarily to the clock, and not to the quality of the game or its result, and continue these exercises until you develop the skill of managing time wisely, having time to calculate all the necessary options. I think that with this method, 90 percent of those suffering from “time trouble” would be completely cured, with the exception, of course, of the “hopelessly ill”.

To my chess students who suffer from constant time pressure,Botvinnik advised:

Play for three minutes per move;

Play training games and at the same time pay attention first of all to the clock... and continue these exercises until you develop the skill of managing time wisely;

Play anti-money matches, learn to understand your opening systems more deeply, and make a better game plan.

“...Taking into account my impulsiveness, which needed to be fought, Mikhail Moiseevich advised me, in addition to the usual chess clock, to place an hourglass clock nearby, so that I wouldn’t make a single move until the clock worked and the limiting time had passed. That's not enough. In order to avoid violations of the intended task, I had to sit... placing the palms of my hands under me, holding them, which is called all my weight,” Mark Taimanov .

Other deficiencies should also be treated using this method. During special training games, the main attention must be paid to a certain disadvantage - until it disappears...

HOW TO STUDY ENDGAME

In the event that a master is weak in the endgame, he can only follow the example of Chekhover, who has recently worked a lot in the field of endgames and especially etudes and has achieved success. At the same time, in training games you should strive for the endgame, which will help you gain the appropriate experience. The same method can be used to make up for the problems of the middlegame, although here the issue is more complicated.

If there is no precision in the game, study the endgame, the most precise part of a chess game. Here you can move in two directions:

Know technical positions;

Study endings in games of great chess players.

HOW TO PLAY IN DEBUT

In the opening you can avoid the fact that you know everything, you need to know what everyone doesn’t know.

HOW TO PRACTICE YOURSELF

...Home analysis has its own specific features: the master is not limited by time and can move the pieces. Despite these differences, there are also many similarities between analysis and practical play. It is known that almost all outstanding chess players were also excellent analysts.

Conclusion This suggests itself: whoever wants to become an outstanding chess player must improve in the field of chess analysis...
Of course, notes on games written “on the fly” in 1-2 hours cannot be considered analysis. Such “analysis” only plays a negative role, because it can turn into a bad habit.

About the tasks of M.M. Mark Taimanov talks to Botvinnik about analytical work at home:

“Botvinnik did not give us lectures or give us ready-made recipes. He assigned everyone personal two-week analytical work (on the opening, middlegame, endgame) and conducted a kind of seminar. We were the speakers, he was the demanding opponent. How much literature we re-read in preparation for a public speech, how much we analyzed, filling entire notebooks for the report! I think it was great training.

Botvinnik also introduced control sessions for us with clocks on five to seven boards. Analysis of the games played with him was also an interesting topic of study.”

HOW TO DEVELOP COMBINATION VISION

In this case, training in solving etudes and practical positions with unusual and beautiful content is useful.

TOURNAMENT MODE

When the competition takes place daily and in the afternoon.
Breakfast
Walk - 1 hour.
Preparing for the game (25-30 minutes).
Rest.

Dinner
Rest - approximately 1 hour. Lying down in front of the game is very useful, after this you feel invigorated, and most importantly - not to be distracted by thoughts about extraneous matters
Walking distance to the tournament hall (if possible) is 20-25 minutes.

Dinner
Sleep (under no circumstances should you analyze it before going to bed!).

Five days before the tournament you must stop all chess activities. You need to give yourself rest, and most importantly, in order not to lose your taste for fighting.

About the M.M. regime Mikhail Beilin tells Botvinnik “My meetings in the chess kingdom”:

- Mikhail Botvinnik created a comprehensive system of preparation for chess competitions, including theoretical, practical, physical, psychological preparation, and also developed a regime that ensures the reflection of this system.

TOWhat does the Botvinnik regime look like?
At first glance, the mode is simple. Everything is done in the allotted time, but strictly, without deviations. For an ordinary person, such severity soon begins to seem cruel....
He takes on any job or task without hesitation..., maintains an enviable capacity for work and, as a rule, a great mood.
The regime includes mandatory physical exercise, not so intense, but certainly, sufficient sleep (deep, by the way), normal balanced nutrition (with an appetite, but without excesses), communication with friends and work, work and work again...

What is the secret of this regime?
There is no secret. The point is regularity over decades and a complete lack of indulgences for himself (... he sees no reason for indulgences for others if they have obligations). Hence the high degree of reliability of M.M. Botvinnik.

Kasparov says : “Rapid chess,” said Botvinnik, “is the death of our game!” I tell him: “That’s how they still play...even Vasily Vasilyevich...” He answered: “But I don’t give a damn about the opinion of the majority! I'm used to living my own life

mind!"

Chess players about Mikhail Botvinnik

Vladimir Kramnik: “Botvinnik is not only my, Kasparov’s, Karpov’s teacher, he is the teacher of all chess players.”

Alexander Roshal tried to reassure everyone: “Botvinnik’s character,” he said, “really was not sugar, but if you eat only sugar, you will have diabetes.”

APHORISMS M.M. BOTVINNIK

Mikhail Botvinnik

“A young man can show the maximum of his abilities in chess if he first of all studies the content of chess, and then its features associated with the game, with wrestling. Only this path can ensure long-term and lasting success."

“Every style is good if it leads to victory. But the more versatile a chess player is, the greater his chances of winning.”

“Chess art is one of the artistic forms of reflecting the logical side of human thinking. Therefore, the art of chess occupies a special position among other sciences. In other words, chess in its field has approximately the same relation to logic as music has to acoustics.”

“Money is lost - nothing is lost. Health is lost - a lot is lost. Courage is lost - everything is lost"