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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 1 of 8; games 1-25 of 190  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Botvinnik vs Szabo 1-0 31 1946 Groningen D41 Queen's Gambit Declined, Semi-Tarrasch 2. Euwe vs Yanofsky 1-0 46 1946 Groningen E40 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3 3. Flohr vs Tartakower ½-½ 55 1946 Groningen E33 Nimzo-Indian, Classical 4. G Stoltz vs Kotov ½-½ 41 1946 Groningen D45 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 5. Denker vs Najdorf ½-½ 42 1946 Groningen E69 King's Indian, Fianchetto, Classical Main line 6. O'Kelly vs M Christoffel 1-0 41 1946 Groningen B81 Sicilian, Scheveningen, Keres Attack 7. Smyslov vs Vidmar 1-0 43 1946 Groningen C64 Ruy Lopez, Classical 8. Boleslavsky vs C Guimard   ½-½ 41 1946 Groningen C14 French, Classical 9. O Bernstein vs C Kottnauer 0-1 55 1946 Groningen D46 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 10. H Steiner vs E Lundin 0-1 38 1946 Groningen D02 Queen's Pawn Game 11. E Lundin vs Botvinnik 0-1 52 1946 Groningen E18 Queen's Indian, Old Main line, 7.Nc3 12. C Kottnauer vs Euwe 0-1 31 1946 Groningen A28 English 13. Kotov vs Flohr 1-0 40 1946 Groningen D96 Grunfeld, Russian Variation 14. Najdorf vs Boleslavsky 1-0 37 1946 Groningen A54 Old Indian, Ukrainian Variation, 4.Nf3 15. C Guimard vs O'Kelly ½-½ 40 1946 Groningen D12 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 16. Smyslov vs H Steiner 1-0 34 1946 Groningen A51 Budapest Gambit 17. Szabo vs Denker 0-1 39 1946 Groningen E19 Queen's Indian, Old Main line, 9.Qxc3 18. Vidmar vs Tartakower 0-1 45 1946 Groningen A95 Dutch, Stonewall 19. Yanofsky vs G Stoltz   ½-½ 41 1946 Groningen B32 Sicilian 20. M Christoffel vs O Bernstein   1-0 39 1946 Groningen C97 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin 21. Botvinnik vs Smyslov 1-0 50 1946 Groningen D98 Grunfeld, Russian 22. Euwe vs M Christoffel 1-0 34 1946 Groningen D13 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Exchange Variation 23. Flohr vs Yanofsky 1-0 52 1946 Groningen D19 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Dutch 24. Tartakower vs Kotov ½-½ 25 1946 Groningen D45 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 25. O'Kelly vs Najdorf ½-½ 19 1946 Groningen D17 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav  page 1 of 8; games 1-25 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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