Botvinnik's Best Games: Volume 1, 1925 - 1941

شامل 121 بازی به طور کامل و مشروح با تجزیه تحلیل کامل

کتابی نفیس و ارزشمند -یکی از بهترین کتابها در سرار جهان

تعداد صفحات : 410

زبان انگلیسی

میخائیل مُیسِویچ بُتوینیک ‏ (۱۹۱۱-۱۹۹۵) یکی از برجسته‌ترین شطرنج‌بازان، مربیان شطرنج و نویسندگان شطرنج است. بتوینیک یهودی‌الاصل و مهندس برق بود و اولین قهرمان شطرنج جهان از اتحاد جماهیر شوروی بود. او نخستین قهرمان شطرنج جهان اهل شوروی پس از وقوع انقلاب در این کشور بود. از سال ۱۹۴۸ تا ۱۹۵۷ و از سال ۱۹۵۸ تا ۱۹۶۰ و از سال ۱۹۶۱ تا ۱۹۶۳ بود.

فیده پس از مرگ الکساندر آلخین یک دوره مسابقات قهرمانی بین بزرگ‌ترین شطرنج‌بازان آن زمان جهان (بتوینیک، کرس، اسمیسلوف، رشفسکی و اویوه) ترتیب داد که در پایان، میخائیل بتوینیک قهرمان شد.

او در سال ۱۹۵۱ برای دفاع از عنوان خود به دیدار دیوید برونشتین رفت و با نمایشی ضعیف به نتیجه ۵ برد و ۵ شکست و ۱۴ تساوی دست یافت و طبق قوانین عنوان در اختیار قهرمان باقی ماند. همین نتیجه در سال ۱۹۵۴ دوباره تکرار شد و این بار حریف باتوینیک واسیلی اسمیسلوف بود که نتوانست عنوان قهرمانی را از دست بتوینیک در آورد اما بتوینیک در سال ۱۹۵۷ مقام قهرمانی را با نتیجه ۳ برد و ۶ شکست و ۱۳ تساوی به واسیلی اسمیسلوف واگذار کرد اما در رویارویی انتقامی در سال بعد با نتیجه ۷ برد و ۵ شکست و ۱۱ تساوی او را شکست داد. همین اتفاق در سال ۱۹۶۰ و ۱۹۶۱ برای میخائیل تال اتفاق افتاد. بتوینیک در ۱۹۶۰ با نتیجه ۲ برد و ۶ شکست و ۱۳ تساوی عنوان خود را به میخائیل تال واگذار کرد اما سال بعد در رویارویی انتقامی با نتیجه ۱۰ برد و ۵ شکست و ۶ تساوی عنوان خود را پس گرفت. در سال ۱۹۶۳ تیگران پتروسیان او را با نتیجه ۵ برد و ۲ شکست و ۱۵ تساوی شکست داد و فیده دیگر به او فرصت بازی انتقامی که برای پس‌گرفتن عنوان قهرمانی برگزار می‌شود را نداد. او در اعتراض به این امر دیگر در هیچ بازی قهرمانی شرکت نکرد. باتوینیک با ۶ قهرمانی شوروی در سال‌های ۱۹۴۵، ۱۹۴۴، ۱۹۳۹، ۱۹۳۳، ۱۹۳۱و ۱۹۵۲ به همراهمیخائیل تال از این حیث رکورددار است.

بتوینیک پایه‌گذار آنالیز مدرن در شطرنج است و از اولین افرادی است که به نقش تمرینات ورزشی در شطرنج پی برد. او هم‌چنین بنیان‌گذار مدرسه شطرنج بتوینیک در شوروی بود که قهرمانان بسیاری از جمله آناتولی کارپف و گری کاسپارف را تربیت کرده است.

Botvinnik’s Best Games
Volume 1: 1925-1941

by Mikhail Botvinnik

Leningrad 1925. The First Category Tournament is in progress. A shy bespectacled lad is waiting for his game to begin. His name is Misha and he is only 14-years-old. Other players do not think much of him. How can they? He has already lost two games and is in the lower half of the score table. But today he is determined to win.

Perfiliev - Botvinnik 1925

Black to move

Download game in pgn

Misha finished third in this event. But his confidence had grown, and thus began the remarkable career of a great player whom we now recognize as Mikhail Moiseevich Botvinnik (1911-1995), 6th World Champion.

The first volume of his Best Games here deals with the early phase of his eventful life when he rose to become the USSR Champion and also participated in international tournaments like Moscow 1935, Nottingham 1936 and AVRO 1938. It was in these events that he played with his predecessors, Lasker, Capablanca and Alekhine and peers like Euwe, Reshevsky and Fine.

Jose Raul Capablanca

Capa was Botvinnik’s idol, but the Cuban’s powers were put to severe tests by his young admirer and rival during the 1930s. Botvinnik finished ahead of Capa in Moscow 1935. But in Moscow 1936 they raced neck and neck until they met in the 7th round.

A terrific battle that also determined the outcome of this tournament. Capa remained unbeaten and finished first. Botvinnik was second, trailing behind by just one point. And it was just this game that cost him the first prize!

Botvinnik-Capablanca Moscow 1936

White to move

Download game in pgn

Two years later the rivals were to meet again in AVRO 1938 and the younger man was to beat his idol in an historic game that he called the game of his life.

Much of Botvinnik’s analysis has stood the test of time. But some of it has been subjected to revision, especially by his disciple, Garry Kasparov (notably in My Great Predecessors Part II). As for the present trilogy, the translator Dr. Ken Neat has taken pains to correct the lines given in the original Russian edition. In some cases theory itself has moved on after decades of trial and error. A case in point is the 8….Qd8 line that we saw in the game Perfiliev-Botvinnik, 1925.

Here Black missed the bus with 12...Nxd4?

Two Knights Defence 4.d4 Variation

White to move

Download game in pgn

All the same it's remarkable that young Misha scored a win from a lost position. And he was just 14-years-old!

Similarly in the Botvinnik-Capablanca battle Black probably missed a draw in the following position:

In their analysis neither Botvinnik nor Capablanca considered 38…Kg8. It appears that the Black king would be in great danger after 39.Qd4+. If he tries to save the king, White advances his passed pawns and promotes one of them with a queen. However, 38…Kg8! does draw as shown in the above analysis.

This brings me to the openings in this volume. Botvinnik excelled in Closed and Semi-Closed games. If you are an aficionado of the French and the Dutch, the Queen's Gambit and the Slav, you cannot miss this work at all.

There are many memorable games here. Don’t miss those games with Lasker, Capabanca and Alekhine, not to mention Levenfish and Panov and among others.

How does this volume compare with the earlier 100 Selected Games? First, Botvinnik has taken the trouble of correcting his own analysis wherever possible. Second, this book has 124 games covering the period 1925-1941. The earlier book has 78 games for the same period and it concludes with the year 1947, the year before he became world champion.

It would be churlish to point out flaws in a major undertaking of this kind. Only a reviewer’s duty demands that one should. The printing standards are just OK. On occasion a few words are misspelt. The images are a mixed bag. Some are rare and many familiar to students of chess history. A few do not belong to this volume as they feature later figures like Tal and Petrosian. In a couple of cases rivals like Boleslavsky and Rauzer are not identified. But these are minor blemishes in a work of this kind.

In the next review I shall deal with the second volume of this magnum opus.

Get the BOOK: Botvinnik’s Best Games Volume 1: 1925-1941