The Genius Sacrifices of Mikhail Botvinnik
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Mikhail Botvinnik was born on August 17th, 1911, in what was Kuokalla, Grand Duchy of Finland and what is now a district of Saint Petersburg, Russia. He was the 6th World Chess Champion.
His influence and coaching brought about Soviet Chess domination in the mid and late 20th century.
Mikhail Botvinnik was very well known for his risky playing style and sacrifices. He often played positional sacrifices. Rather than sacrificing a piece to gain an immediate victory, he sacrificed to gain a better position and a lasting advantage.
Today we will look at some of his best sacrifices that paid off, and even some that didn't. Let's jump in!
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Sacking a Knight for Two Pawns
The game was played in 1961, nine years before Botvinnik retired from professional chess playing. He was playing against a Czechoslovak-German grandmaster named Luděk Pachman.
Mikhail Botvinnik's position was very closed throughout the game, but his neat sacrifice suddenly turned the tables on his opponent. White went on to win the game 12 moves later.
This game was also played in 1961, at the World Chess Championship. Mikhail Botvinnik was up against a young Mikhail Tal.
Tal had won the title against Botvinnik in 1960, but the former world champion was coming back for a rematch. It was round 17 of the 21 rounds that were played.
Botvinnik's sacrifice pays off at first, giving him a super strong center. But he unfortunately struggles to find the win or keep a draw and loses to Tal. 4 games later, Mikhail Botvinnik regained his World Chess Championship title, winning it for the third time.
If Tal would learn to program himself properly, then it would become quite impossible to play against him. - Mikhail Botvinnik
In 1945 at the USSR Chess Championship, a young Mikhail Botvinnik in his prime played against Alexander Tolush, a fellow Soviet chess player who was also a mentor of Boris Spassky.
An impressive positional thrashing by Botvinnik. The exchange sacrifice on move 21 was a deep concept. People who play the French defense want to get rid of Black's light-square bishop believing that it is bound to be a trouble making piece. Botvinnik shows in this game that the bishop is not bad, because it is guarding the pawn chain from behind.
Many deem this game to be one of the best chess games of the 20th century, and I can see exactly why. It was beautiful playing from Botvinnik, and a game to remember.
One of Botvinnik's' most memorable sacs ever came in 1935 when playing against Vitaly Chekhover.
Unfathomable vision from Botvinnik. Just thinking about how he saw so many moves ahead just makes my brain dizzy.
It is also a rare thing to see checkmate in a professional classical chess match. It is my personal favorite game from Mikhail Botvinnik.
We have seen Botvinnik play some pretty sneaky sacrifices, but every once in a while, you play someone who is just sneakier...
Mikhail Botvinnik played another equally famous Russian player Vasily Smyslov in 1954 at the World Chess Championship
Now, let's have a look at this very interesting match.
Smyslov plays Botvinnik's game and crushes him. In the 24 games that were played, the pair tied 12-12, which with the format then meant Botvinnik retained his title.
Vasily Smyslov went on to beat Mikhail Botvinnik in the 1957 World Chess Championship
Our final game was played in 1943. Mikhail Botvinnik was up against a player named Victor Alexandrovic Liublinsky, try saying that 3 times really fast.
It was a losing position for black, but by complicating the position tremendously, black converts and grasps an extremely open and free position.
All you can say to explain is just the utter genius of Botvinnik's playing.
Well, we have seen 4 games where Botvinnik's amazing sacrifices have given him victory, 1 game where his sacrifice didn't pay off, and 1 other game where he got to experience losing to a sacrifice. All the games were very interesting and extremely entertaining.
Mikhail Botvinnik had a very unique playing style I haven't seen before. After writing this post, I would call him my favorite chess player of all time.
Mikhail Botvinnik died on May 5th, 1995, of pancreatic cancer.
Botvinnik's chess career was the way of a genius, although he was not a genius - Vladmir Kramnik
Botvinnik's influence on the game of chess was unimaginable. He went on to be mentors of many grandmasters, most notably: Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, and Vladmir Kramnik
Chess is a part of culture and if a culture is declining then Chess too will decline - Mikhail Botvinnik
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