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Groningen (1946) The tournament held at Groningen, Netherlands 13 Aug-7 Sept 1946, was a watershed in chess history. Not only was it the first major international tournament after World War II, it marked the first time the Soviet Union sent a team of players to a foreign event. Their results confirmed the growing recognition of the great strength of Soviet players: Smyslov finished third, Boleslavsky and Flohr tied for sixth; though Kotov finished out of the running, he defeated both of the top finishers. These were Mikhail Botvinnik and Max Euwe, who were in a close race to the end. Botvinnik had a lead much of the way, but successive losses to Kotov and Yanofsky in rounds 14-15 let Euwe go ahead by a point. However, Euwe then drew three in a row while Botvinnik won three in a row to pull ahead by a half-point going into the last round. And nerves took over. Botvinnik was outplayed by Najdorf, but Euwe blundered and lost a drawn position against Kotov leaving the final standings unchanged. For Botvinnik, it was his first outright victory outside the Soviet Union, on his road to the World Championship; for Euwe, it was his last great international success. Groningen, Netherlands, 13 August - 7 September 1946 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 Botvinnik * ½ 1 0 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 14.5 2 Euwe ½ * 0 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 14.0 3 Smyslov 0 1 * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 12.5 4 Najdorf 1 ½ ½ * 1 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 11.5 5 Szabo 0 0 ½ 0 * 1 ½ 0 1 0 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 11.5 6 Boleslavsky 0 0 0 0 0 * ½ 1 1 1 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 11.0 7 Flohr ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 11.0 8 Lundin 0 ½ ½ 1 1 0 ½ * ½ 0 ½ 1 0 1 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 10.5 9 Stoltz 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ * 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 0 ½ 1 1 10.5 10 Denker ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 1 0 * 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 9.5 11 Kotov 1 1 ½ ½ 0 0 1 ½ ½ 1 * ½ 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 0 1 0 9.5 12 Tartakower 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 9.5 13 Kottnauer 0 0 0 1 0 ½ ½ 1 0 1 1 0 * 1 1 0 ½ ½ 0 1 9.0 14 Yanofsky 1 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 * ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ 8.5 15 Bernstein 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 0 1 ½ 0 ½ * ½ ½ ½ 0 0 7.0 16 Guimard 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 1 0 ½ * 1 ½ ½ 1 7.0 17 Vidmar 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 * ½ ½ 0 6.5 18 Steiner 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * 1 ½ 6.0 19 O'Kelly 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 * ½ 5.5 20 Christoffel 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 1 ½ 0 * 5.0 Thanks to <suenteus po 147> and <nescio> for round-by-round pairings and the crosstable. See also Wikipedia article: Groningen 1946 chess tournament. Original collection: Game Collection: Groningen 1946, by User: number 23 Nber.  page 2 of 8; games 26-50 of 190  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 26. Boleslavsky vs Szabo   0-1 31 1946 Groningen C82 Ruy Lopez, Open 27. H Steiner vs Vidmar   ½-½ 30 1946 Groningen D59 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower 28. Stoltz vs C Kottnauer   1-0 49 1946 Groningen D45 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 29. Denker vs E Lundin   1-0 42 1946 Groningen D22 Queen's Gambit Accepted 30. O Bernstein vs Guimard   ½-½ 60 1946 Groningen C01 French, Exchange 31. H Steiner vs Botvinnik 0-1 28 1946 Groningen A90 Dutch 32. Guimard vs Euwe 0-1 35 1946 Groningen A49 King's Indian, Fianchetto without c4 33. C Kottnauer vs Flohr ½-½ 40 1946 Groningen D12 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 34. Vidmar vs Kotov ½-½ 30 1946 Groningen D42 Queen's Gambit Declined, Semi-Tarrasch, 7.Bd3 35. Najdorf vs O Bernstein ½-½ 30 1946 Groningen D37 Queen's Gambit Declined 36. Szabo vs O'Kelly 1-0 16 1946 Groningen D06 Queen's Gambit Declined 37. Smyslov vs Denker ½-½ 29 1946 Groningen B73 Sicilian, Dragon, Classical 38. Yanofsky vs Tartakower   ½-½ 69 1946 Groningen B03 Alekhine's Defense 39. E Lundin vs Boleslavsky 0-1 22 1946 Groningen E95 King's Indian, Orthodox, 7...Nbd7, 8.Re1 40. M Christoffel vs Stoltz   0-1 30 1946 Groningen B73 Sicilian, Dragon, Classical 41. Botvinnik vs Vidmar 1-0 60 1946 Groningen D02 Queen's Pawn Game 42. Euwe vs Najdorf ½-½ 28 1946 Groningen E33 Nimzo-Indian, Classical 43. Flohr vs M Christoffel 1-0 29 1946 Groningen D44 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 44. Kotov vs Yanofsky ½-½ 52 1946 Groningen E26 Nimzo-Indian, Samisch 45. O'Kelly vs E Lundin 0-1 30 1946 Groningen D45 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 46. Boleslavsky vs Smyslov 0-1 34 1946 Groningen C97 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin 47. O Bernstein vs Szabo   ½-½ 89 1946 Groningen D02 Queen's Pawn Game 48. Stoltz vs Guimard   1-0 41 1946 Groningen D37 Queen's Gambit Declined 49. Denker vs H Steiner   1-0 40 1946 Groningen D37 Queen's Gambit Declined 50. Tartakower vs C Kottnauer   1-0 44 1946 Groningen D02 Queen's Pawn Game  page 2 of 8; games 26-50 of 190    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   Dec-20-12    Benzol: Blessed be the <cg librarian> indeed. The two missing games are now part of the collection. :) Aug-30-13    nescio: I think it should be mentoned that the organizers of this tournament had a luxury problem before it started. After everyone had arrived (which was by no means a certainty a year after the second world war) it turned out there were 21 participants instead of 20. They could have extended the schedule with 2 extra rounds, even make it a 22-player tournament, for the head of the Soviet delegation was Gavriil Veresov, champion of Belarus. Unfortunately that was impossible, if I remember correctly because the Americans and the Soviets had to leave on schedule to arrive in time for a USSR-USA match. To ask a foreigner to withdraw was out of the question, and Lodewijk Prins didn't want to let go this chance to play against the world's best. When Euwe declared that he was ready to withdraw, the Soviets, in particular Botvinnik and Veresov, convinced Prins to withdraw by promising him an invitation to a tournament in Moscow in the near future. Needless to say, that invitation has still to come. Feb-03-14    GrahamClayton: Despite finishing only 11th, Kotov was the only player to defeat both the 1st and 2nd place finishers (Botvinnik and Euwe). Apr-20-14    FSR: <GrahamClayton> Shades of St Petersburg (1909), where Dus-Chotimirsky finished 13th with a -2 result, but beat the joint winners Lasker and Rubinstein. Those two wins were 40% of his five wins in the tournament! Lasker and Rubinstein mauled the field, each scoring 14.5/18. The only other game either lost was Lasker's loss to Rubinstein. Apr-20-14    plang: Kotov was a lot stronger player than Dus-Chotimirsky Apr-20-14    FSR: <plang> It's true, he did win the Stockholm Interzonal (1952) by 3.5 points, then a record. Apr-21-14    FSR: Er, make that three points. Counting is FUN-damental. Apr-21-14    perfidious: Pity that fine result availed him naught, come to Zurich Candidates (1953), where Kotov inflicted the only defeat upon Smyslov, the winner, though himself an also-ran. Apr-02-21    keypusher: Going in to the game against Kotov, Botvinnik had ten wins and three draws. He went 3-3 the rest of the way, and was lucky to win M Christoffel vs Botvinnik, 1946. Apr-02-21    keypusher: Should note that Botvinnik played some great games but had some good luck earlier in the tournament too, viz. Botvinnik vs Szabo, 1946 Botvinnik vs O'Kelly, 1946 (<nescio> called this win "one of the lowest points in his career", see Botvinnik vs Keres, 1948 (kibitz #64)) So the +10=3 stat is a bit misleading. NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! 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