Rubinstein and Botvinnik learn from Chigorin

"Grandmasters steal from each other. Most do not want to admit it." (GM David Bronstein paraphrase)

Indeed, I read something along those lines in one of David Bronstein's books, either the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" or "Secret Notes". Both are great books and I highly recommend them! Bronstein, in the game he analyzes, seeks not to drown the reader with many variations, but to teach the ideas behind the moves! A great teacher!

Recently I was inspired by Simaginfan to buy Lipnitsky's book, "Questions of Modern Chess Theory". I have begun to examine it, and already by the 2nd chapter, it is a thought-provoking book. It triggers memories of contributions by other players, ideas passed from generation to generation; wisdom in chess thought.

Now, both Botvinnik and Smyslov proclaim to follow Chigorin's teachings in the Russian School of Chess (which eventually became the Soviet School of Chess)....and though this is a general proclamation, sometimes you get glimpses of what exactly they are talking about.

From what I understand, it seems to be about an understanding about the general ideas of certain positions and formations, but also about an exhaustive search for Truth in the positions examined, whether in the opening, middlegame or endgame. It is also about being creative, resourceful and dynamic, and about expressing yourself and finding your own style; that which corresponds to your own soul, because within that Soviet School of Chess you have players so different, like Tal and Petrosian, Botvinnik and Smyslov, Spassky and Bronstein.

What gives me the most joy in chess? Not winning and losing, but enjoying the beauty and uniqueness of chess ideas and games, and analyzing positions with friends, trying to find the Truth: who is better? Is this line good, or bad? Is there compensation for the sacrifice of the pawn or piece? Will the attack succeed, or the defense hold?

Another source of joy for me is to find the source of an idea, whether it is an opening system or variation, or even a tactical pattern!

Now, going back to Lipnitsky's book, Chapter 2 is titled "The Centre", and in one section, he shows two games by Botvinnik in which Botvinnik demonstrates a powerful concept/formation. When I saw it, I was reminded of how I had seen it in one of Chigorin's games!

So I looked at Jimmy Adams' book "Mikhail Chigorin: The Creative Genius", and sure enough, I had marked the page where this idea was manifested in a game by Chigorin!

One note, a digression: It amazes me how modern Grandmasters, when they are showing some of their games, fail to share with the chess lovers of the world the heritage, the origin of their "ideas". I noticed this over time.....the first time it became obvious is when watching a video about the 1990 World Championship Match between Karpov and Kasparov....it is a fantastic documentary, with both Karpov and Kasparov analyzing some of the games!

In game 16, Kasparov played the Scotch Opening, and won in a long endgame. But the opening was far from new!

The position after 8.c4 is quite "old". The stem game is Blackburne-Zukertort, 1881! Take a look!

After 8.c4, the two main alternatives are 8...Ba6 and 8...Nb6. At a certain point in the video, you see the position before Karpov plays 8...Nb6 instead of 8...Ba6.

In the video they call it a novelty, but it is not! It was first played by the great Ratmir Kholmov in 1956!

In the documentary, no mention is made as to the fact that some of these opening lines were already being played in the 1800's! To the average chess fan, the sense of heritage and history, the continuity of chess ideas is lost! Now everything is run through an engine, which gives "evals", that are supposed to be "the Truth".

But what about style? What about playing the positions I love to play?

In 2008 I visited Iceland, and played in an individual chess tournament. I was grieving the loss of someone very dear to me, so I could not play well at all. Also, I had not played in tournaments in over 30 years! I took some chess books with me. One of them was a book with a collection of games by Smyslov. When I mentioned this to the IM from Denmark who won the tournament, he said he did not know who Smyslov was! I was dumbfounded! How is it possible?

But after some reflection, I understood: nowadays you can learn chess with an engine, without ever exploring the games of the great Masters of the 19th and 20th centuries.....sad, but true. And unfortunately this phenomenon will become more pronounced as time passes by...computers will run faster, and will calculate and evaluate "better", and the tendency to disregard the old as "inadequate" or "unsound" will be on the rise. How then can we expect chess lovers to value the contributions of Morphy, Chigorin, Zukertort, Rubinstein and others?

Chess will become more and more impersonal, with ratings and evals being more important than the players.....a bit sad, because the human element is lost. The lives of the great Masters are full of tragedy and triumph, overcoming obstacles, such as poverty (Lasker, Petrosian), war (Korchnoi, Spassky), and so many other life-stories that can teach us so much!

It gets a bit ridiculous. I bought a book about the King's Indian Defense by Gallagher. In one chapter, he is talking about the h3 system against the King's Indian, known as the Makogonov Variation. He called it "The Gallagher System", or something like it, and did not even mention Makogonov!

Anyhow, so much for that! I could go on for a while, believe me!

Something similar happens in Lipnitskis' book. He gives the game Kirillov-Botvinnik, Moscow 1931, and shows the following position after 21...Nb4:

Black has a great positional superiority and went on to win, of course.

He also gives the game Lisitsin-Botvinnik, Leningrad 1932:

You can see the similarities between these two games. Same strategic idea!

Now let us look at the stem game, Mieses-Chigorin, Barmen 1905!

Wow!

And that is not all! Rubinstein learned from Chigorin, and applied it! Zubarev-Rubinstein, Moscow 1925!

By occupying the d4 square with the knight, and retaking with the e-pawn, Black achieves positional pressure against the e-pawn.

A simple lesson, learned from Grandfather ( and Grandmaster) Chigorin!