He was an electrical engineer, one of the few chess masters who achieved distinction in another career while playing top-class competitive chess.
Botvinnik was the first world-class player to develop within the Soviet Union. This put him under some political pressure, but also gave him considerable influence within Soviet chess. He played a major role in the design of the World Chess Championship system after World War II. After his retirement as a player he coached a few select pupils. They included three future World Champions Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik.
Mikhail Botvinnik [1] (17 August 1911 – 5 May 1995) was a Soviet Russian grandmaster and three-time World Chess Champion.
He was an electrical engineer, one of the few chess masters who achieved distinction in another career while playing top-class competitive chess.
Botvinnik was the first world-class player to develop within the Soviet Union. This put him under some political pressure, but also gave him considerable influence within Soviet chess. He played a major role in the design of the World Chess Championship system after World War II. After his retirement as a player he coached a few select pupils. They included three future World Champions Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik.