A pioneer in Computer Chess and Chess Coach, Mikhail Botvinnik had an incredibly strong impact on Russian and global chess.
He was the first world class player to develop in the USSR and he was the driving organizational force for chess after WWII
creating the 'Russian School of Chess' teaching students like Karpov, Kasparov, and Kramnik.
Not only was he a great coach, but an unbelievable player, holding the world championship title for 13 years during a period of 1948-1963.
Growing up was... complicated for Botvinnik. His parents were Russian Jews, they and other Jewish people were confined to live outside of the Pale of Settlement in St Petersburg.
He was later asked his nationality his reply was - 'I am a Jew by blood, a Russian by culture, and Soviet by upbringing'.
He first learned chess at 12, in 1923, and finished mid-table in his school's championship.
In 1924, he won his school's championship.
In 1925, he was selected to participate against a simul with Jose Capablanca, the then World Champion, and Botvinnik won.
Botvinnik finished school below the minimum age for higher education, so he played in the USSR Championship as the youngest ever player, finishing 5th and gaining the Master title.
In 1931, at the age of 20, he placed first in the Soviet Championship saying the field was not very strong. Later that year, he graduated with a degree in electrical engineering.
Growing on a global scale, in 1938 he placed 3rd in a Candidates style match to see who played World Champion Alexander Alekhine.
During that time, the challenger needed to raise funds for the World Championship to occur. Botvinnik had the backing from the Soviet government and challenged Alekhin who immediately accepted,
but due to Alekhine's turbulent relationship with the USSR and the Russian Revolution, and the outbreak of WWII, the World Championship match was prevented.
During WWII, Botvinnik wrote a book of his games in order to stay sharp for his eventual match against Alekhine.
He played what he could during the war, but high level chess needed to wait until after the war.
In 1948, he created and played in a new qualifying system for the World Championship and won by a full 3 points, becoming the World Champion.
In 1950, he was an inaugural member to receive the 'Grandmaster' title from FIDE.
Over the course of 15 years, he played in 7 world championships. Losing 2 matches, but won them on rematches due to the 'Botvinnik Rule' - allowing former champions to rematch their challenger for the title.
He retired from competetive chess in 1970 and began to focus on computer chess programs and coaching younger players until his death in 1995.
In today's game, we are going back to the end of WWII in 1945 during round 3 of the USSR Championship.
Mikhail Botvinnik v. Alexander Koblents
Now, if we're ready. Let's begin.
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 c6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 Be7 7.O-O
O-O 8.b3 b6 9.Bb2 Bb7 10.Qe2 Rc8 11.Rac1 Bd6 12.e4 dxc4
13.bxc4 e5 14.dxe5 Bxe5 15.Rcd1 Qe7 16.Nh4 Qb4 17.Qc2 Nc5
18.a3 Qa5 19.Nf5 Rcd8 20.f4 Nxd3 21.Rxd3 Qc5+ 22.Kh1 Qxc4
23.fxe5 Rxd3 24.exf6 Rd7 25.Qc1 Rfd8 26.Rg1 1-0
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1032112
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Botvinnik
http://cassidynoble.com/