Duels of the Mind Game 9: Botvinnik v Capablanca, by James O'Fee

The survey continues of the games included in Ray Keene's DVDs Duels of the Mind:The Twelve Best Games of Chess. The 4 DVDs are available as a package from

The London Chess Centre £24.95
and
The British Chess Magazine Shop £24.99 plus postage £1.50 UK, £3.00 overseas




So far this discussion has covered-

Disc 1
Game 1 Anderssen-Kieseritsky (The Immortal Game)
Game 2 Paulsen-Morphy
Game 3 Zukertort-Blackburne

Disc 2
Game 4 Steinitz-Tchigorin
Game 5
Game 6 Bernstein-Capablanca

Disc 3
Game 7 Bogolyubov-Alekhine
Game 8 Samisch-Nimzowitsch (The Immortal Zugzwang Game)

I notice now that I have neglected Game 5 Pillsbury v Lasker, to which I shall return shortly. But for the moment attention turns to Game 9 Botvinnik v Capablanca. You can play through the game on ChessGames.com here. The game was played at the great AVRO tournament held in the Netherlands in 1938.

I have already discussed Capablanca's standing as one of the great World Champions in Game 6, in which the Cuban played Bernstein. By 1938, however, Capablanca was in the twilight of his career. The former World Champion was already suffering from the high blood pressure which produced his early death in 1942. Nor did the conditions laid down by AVRO (the Dutch national radio company) favour the older Cuban. Games were played in various cities in Holland, requiring continual travel.

Capablanca's opponent, on the other hand, was of the younger generation. The Bolshevik Revolution triumphed in Russia, which had tasted the bitterness of defeat in the First World War. The Bolsheviks introduced many changes but among them, remarkably, was the vigorous support of chess. Through such State favour, there was a rising generation of Soviet Masters - what the propagandists would refer to later as 'The Soviet School of Chess'. And foremost among them was Mikhail Botvinnik (1911-95).

A convinced Communist, Botvinnik received the full backing of the Soviet system. Yet the Second World War disrupted normal chess and it was only in 1948 that Botvinnik was crowned World Champion. Having 'Achieved the Goal' as his autobiography described the feat, Botvinnik concentrated on his work as an electrical engineer, returning from time to time to defend his World Crown. By now all the challengers were Soviet citizens, thrown up by the incomparable State machine.

Botvinnik drew his first challenge match in 1950, against Bronstein. Thereafter he lost matches to Vasily Smyslov and Mikhail Tal. Yet the rules then in force had a provision - "the Botvinnik rule" - that the defeated Champion was entitled to a rematch; and Botvinnik won these return matches to regain the crown. In the 1930s, Alekhine, too, had won such a rematch against Euwe, but Botvinnik became the first player to win the World Championship three times. Finally, in the 1960s, Botvinnnik lost a match to another Soviet Master, Tigran Petrosian. Permanently, this time - there was no 'Botvinnik rule'.

Botvinnik's play was characterised by profound strategy and deep opening preparation. And after Botvinnik retired as a competitive player, his influence on chess in the Soviet Union persisted. The chess doyen formed his 'Botvinnik Chess School' to promote the progress of young players. Through its ranks came two more Soviet World Champions, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov.

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