The Wizard of Riga
Submitted by
chessbibliophile on Sun, 11/22/2009 at 8:38pm.
Little Misha was excited.Botvinnik had come on a holday to enjoy the seaside at Riga.
“Botvinnik is here,” he grandly announced to his parents.
His father looked at him quizzically.
“I am going to challenge him.”
“Botvinnik is World Champion. He has beaten so many big players...”
“But he has not played with me!”
protested Misha with the irreprochable logic of a 12-year-old.
"Mishenka,You have to go to school first," his mother quietly reasoned with him.
Botvinnik was a big man.They would not allow Misha to go anywhere near him.Our little hero was disappointed. Some times parents are so… unreasonable.They don’t understand a thing.Why not ask Maestro to help?
"Who is Maestro?" You ask.
"You don't know Maestro? Surely, you are new to this place! Every one knows in Riga knows him. He is Alexander Koblenz. But I call him Maestro"
"They are not allowing me to beat Botvinnik," complained an indignant Misha to Maestro. The wise teacher gave him an indulgent smile.Of course Misha was going to play with Botvinnik.But they were going to prepare first.Misha's parents trusted Maestro. He was a friend of the family. No one understood their parental concerns as well as he did.All arguments about Misha in the house ended with the same words, "Alik is no fool, Alik knows best." They knew, he loved their Mishenka ever since he saw this lanky little boy with dark penetrating eyes.
But what about Big Misha....Botvinnik? He escaped! Otherwise our lion cub would would have pounced on him, and he was still looking for prey.So who comes next?
Vyacheslav Ragozin, the friend and sparring partner of Botvinnik himself.
The famous master from Moscow had crosssed swords with the likes of Lasker and Capablanca, not to speak of national rivals, Levenfish, Romanovsky and Kan.And he was going to give a simultaneous display in Riga.The announcement was music to Misha's ears.Surely, he was going to beat Ragozin and then the master from Moscow would go to see Botvinnik and give him the bad news: "Mikhail Moiseyevich, there is a little boy in Riga and he is going to take away your crown."
It's time to stop daydreaming.The master from Moscow should not be kept "wating". When Misha reaches the venue, the hall is already packed ,waiting for the celebrity. When Ragozin arrives, there is a thunderous response.People are craning their necks to see this legendary player who had beaten Lasker himself in the famous Moscow 1936 Tournament.When Misha takes his seat at the display, he is given Black pieces.The visiting master has the advantage of the first move, he is told.Misha shrugs his shoulders.Let the master from Moscow make the first move. He, little Misha would make the last, checkmate! That would be nice...
Ragozin moves quickly and confidently, hardly taking notice of our little hero until he is struck by a bolt from the blue:
And a shell-shocked Ragozin resigns.
A star is born.
Notes:
1)The conversations are a fictional representation. Everything else happened.
2)Who is little Misha? Of course you know!
3)In 1969 a colorful version of this story appeared in the Latvian chess magazine sahs:
“At home I pestered the life out of the family until they got his address for me. Then with a chess board under my arm (possibly Botvinnik had forgotten to pack one) I set off to the holiday resort. When I knocked the door was opened to me by his wife who said that Mikhail Moiseyevich was asleep. I was too proud to ask around for a second time.”
The older Misha was to deny this bit about the visit later in his autobiography.
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