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When I saw the name “Botvinnik” attached to these two volumes, I jumped on them. The past World Champion’s One Hundred Selected Games, even in descriptive notation, is a great way for developing students (and beyond) to improve their understanding and play of chess. The current two books proved to be of a different nature. For starters, although the name “Mikhail Botvinnik” is prominently displayed on the front of the books, readers will not discover until looking inside that each is “compiled and edited” by Igor Botvinnik. While there is a lot of Botvinnik stuff inside – including, of course, annotated games of Botvinnik’s tied World Championship match with David Bronstein in 1951, and his successful World Championship rematch with Mikhail Tal ten years later – it is a mixed bag, and perhaps, like the name on the cover, not quite what was expected. Each book starts with a Preface by “Vladimir Kramnik, World Champion” (now is not the time and here is not the place to battle over who owns the title). They are adequate, but placing the writing at the side of such players as Bronstein, “the Daffy Duck of chess,” and Tal, “the Wizard of Riga” (and no lame author himself), Kramnik’s writing comes off like his play in the Berlin Defense to the Spanish Game. From there, Botvinnik – Bronstein has a chapter titled “From the Editor” although said Ed. does not attach his name to the chapter. This may seem a small thing, but the next two chapters are also unattributed – the first, “An Historic Match” is likely Igor’s work, the second “D. Bronstein (an assessment)” from M.M. The pre-match “assessment” of Bronstein (the Tal book, of course, has an assessment of Tal) by the World Champion is one of several interesting (and occasionally amusing) additions that Botvinnik (both; either) adds to the typical format of a-series-of-annotated-games. Bronstein is “[a] typical scheming (not impetuous) player,” among other things, “[a] neurasthenic and he probably suffers from fixed ideas, but very hard-working” – the insights run for a page and a half, and probably kept translator Ken Neat on his toes. Following the games, an “Appendix” contains the World Champion’s notes about his opponent’s play at several recent tournaments, e.g.
“Opening preparation before the match” and “Summary of the match with Bronstein” are again chapters containing pieces of opening analysis from M. Botvinnik’s notes, and occasionally present basic formulations, revisions and additions, especially to lines like the Meran Variation in the Queen’s Gambit. Fifty years on, the insights are not likely to shock, say, Shirov, but they add to the historical value of the book and broaden an understanding of how lines developed over time. There is then a “Match Table” for the games, their outcomes, and the running scores of the players. Botvinnik -Bronstein ends with “Translator’s Notes” which includes some clarifications and computer-assisted analytical comments. The annotated games, of course, are the real meat of the book. Half of them are annotated by Mikhail Botvinnik, while six are annotated by Eugeny Sveshnikov, two by Salo Flohr, and one each by Grigory Levenfish, Pyotr Romanovsky and Andrei Lilienthal. One game touts the “use made of notes by Botvinnik and Stahlberg,” likely by Igor. Unfortunately, the source of none of the annotations is given, and comments such as “as Bronstein points out in his comments” – without giving any reference – are needlessly teasing in their incompleteness. A bonus for each game, at the beginning and at the end, are notes that the World Champion made to himself in his chess diary. We can peek over Botvinnik’s shoulder for Game One, before:
...and after:
The analysis itself is enough for the reader to understand and enjoy the flow of the play, without being mistaken for efforts by depth-analysts such as Timman or Huebner. Botvinnik - Tal is arranged in a similar format to Botvinnik - Bronstein. After Kramnik’s “Preface” there is an unsigned half-page chapter “Botvinnik about Tal,” clearly penned by the challenger (Botvinnik lost his first title match to Tal the previous year; Tal – Botvinnik 1960, by the exuberant winner is a classic). There is a page and a half on “From Mikhail Botvinnik’s Memoirs,” a page on “Revenge” (by Igor B.), a one-page “M. Tal (a brief assessment)” – prepared for the first match, but considered relevant to the second one – and a half page “From the Regulations for the Return Match.” Then, the “Match Table.” Half of the annotations in the match games are by the winner: M. Botvinnik analyses 10, Evgeny Sveshnikov covers 3, Vasily Smyslov does 2, and Vyacheslav Ragozin, Lev Aronin, Alexander Kotov, Alexander Tolush and Yuri Razuvaev each annotate one game. The final contest includes “notes by Salo Flohr and Mikhail Botvinnik.” The different notes clearly come from different time periods (Sveshnikov refers to the computer programs Junior 7, Fritz 6 and Hiarcs 7) – but, again, there is no indication of the sources. Did Igor Botvinnik gather them all up from previous publications, did he contract with grandmasters to prepare something new for this volume, or did he do a bit of both? It is unclear, which is a pity: certainly Botvinnik has worked hard to put together a complete book on each of Botvinnik’s matches, for which I have not found book coverage in English. (Is there even book coverage of either match at all?) [Editor's Note: Thanks to Prof. Nagesh Havanur for pointing out that there is an old title: World Chess Championship 1951 Match by Winter and Wade. It has been recently reprinted by Harding Simpole Publishing. Besides, there is a personal account and analysis of all the games of the match by Bronstein himself in the book David Bronstein, Chess Improviser by Vainstein (Pergamon Press ,1983)] There is a short page on “Botvinnik’s Diary notes during the First Match with Tal” which doesn’t quite belong in a book on the second match, but Igor points out that unlike during the Botvinnik – Bronstein match, Mikhail didn’t keep a chess diary in Botvinnik Tal II. (Besides, as they say, I guess “Tal is Tal.”) The contents are like the before-game and after-game notes in Botvinnik – Bronstein, only boiled-down: 15th March, game 1. French – variation with a flaw. Let’s go! After the games themselves, what follows is the most interesting part of Botvinnik – Tal, “Mikhail Botvinnik’s Opening Course,” drawn from two of the World Champion’s notebooks, developed before, during and after each of his two matches with Tal. Igor Botvinnik introduces the material:
Within are almost 20 pages of notes on the Modern Benoni, French, Nimzo – Indian, Caro-Kann, King’s Indian, Grunfeld, Sicilian, Slav, Ruy Lopez, English and even a small bit on the King’s Gambit. The book concludes with a 6-page chapter on “Press Conference by Mikhail Botvinnik” following his regaining of the title. Match for the World Chess Championship Mikhail Botvinnik – David Bronstein Moscow 1951 and Return Match for the World Chess Championship Mikhail Botvinnik – Mikhail Tal Moscow 1961 fill an historical gap, and for that the publishers at Edition Olms – those great folks who have reprinted so many 19th and 20th century publications, making them available to researcher and pawnpusher alike – are once or twice again to be roundly thanked. Igor Botvinnik has performed well his task as Compiler and Editor, and created a “whole” where there was once apparently only “parts.” The pages are well laid out, clean and readable, with generally two diagrams per page when it comes to the games. (When, however, did we lose the art of indenting paragraphs? Is this one more side-effect of processing words? Editor: I don't know, I looked around for it but couldn't find it anywhere!)
Bearing in
mind a certain pro-Botvinnik bias (the winners and their comrades get to
write the history), and some of my criticisms above, each title will
nonetheless be of interest to those who are not familiar with these two
important matches. On my happier days, I’m liable to suggest that,
personal resources allowing, readers buy the books to support Olms and chess
historical efforts in general; on my gloomier days, I pine for what books
might have been produced had Bronstein won his match, and Tal remained
healthy enough to keep the World Championship title for a little bit longer.
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