Original: Botvinnik - Petrosian World Championship Match (1963)#############################################
<Candidates Cycle>
-<Change to a Candidates Match format>
Averbakh:
<"At the 1962 Congress at Varna, the Candidates' tournament format was <<<changed>>> to matches...">
--Yuri Averbakh
"Centre-Stage and Behind the Scenes- the Personal Memoir of a Soviet Chess Legend."
Steve Giddins, tranls.
(New in Chess 2011), p.114
*This change was not enacted until the 1963-1966 cycle
Curacao Candidates Tournament: Curacao Candidates (1962)
===
Keres - Geller 2nd place Candidates Playoff (1962)
Petrosian:
<"...after beating Tal in the return match, Botvinnik had said something to the effect that, if a Soviet player won the next Candidates' event, he might decide not to defend his title. Under the rules of the International Chess Federation, the conditions for the world championship match must be ratified by the FIDE President, not less than four months before the start of the match. Given that the matches in Moscow usually began around the middle of March, Botvinnik still had quite a long time in which to consider whether to defend his title. <<<There were some outward signs that the chess federation of the USSR was preparing for the possibility of Botvinnik refusing to play the match.>>> This explained the <<<hastily-arranged match between grandmasters Keres and Geller,>>> who had shared 2nd-3d places in the Candidates' tournament. The match was needed to determine outright 2nd place, the player concerned thereby gaining the right to play in the next Candidates' tournament, but also, what is more important, the right to participate in a match for the world championship itself, if Botvinnik did not play.">
-Igor Botvinnik, ed., Steve Giddens transl. "Botvinnik-Petrosian: The 1963 World Chess Championship Match" (New in Chess 2010), p.93
##########################################
<Preparation>
-<Botvinnik>
<"It is well known that <<<S.A. Furman worked as an openings consultant to Botvinnik, in his world championship matches of 1961 and 1963.>>> This happened after Botvinnik was forced to manage without the help of his old comrade Grigory Goldberg.">
-Igor Botvinnik, ed., Steve Giddens transl. "Botvinnik-Petrosian: The 1963 World Chess Championship Match" (New in Chess 2010), pp.123-24
-<Training Matches>
In January-February 1963 <Botvinnik> played 8 secret training games with Furman. None of the scores were recorded, except for a draw in game 5.
-Igor Botvinnik, ed., Steve Giddens transl. "Botvinnik-Petrosian: The 1963 World Chess Championship Match" (New in Chess 2010), pp.123-132
===
-<Petrosian>
Petrosian:
<"1) Seeking out, analysing and, if possible, finding new possibilities in quiet openings. This was in case the match took on a quiet character, without any great difference in the scores.2) If, on the other hand, my opponent managed to seize and maintain the lead, then in order to be able to effect a sharp change in the character of the struggle, it would be essential to have at the ready some systems that lead to double-edged, even if risky, play.
...Nor did I forget the need for physical preparation.... the necessity of spending a lot of time in the fresh air forced me to invest in a fur coat... The skills of Petrosian the skier increased notably over this period... The endless climbs and descents were especially difficult for me... By the time the skiing season had ended, I had come to love this splendid form of sport...
...<<<About three weeks before the start of the match, I completely stopped all chess work.>>> Skiing, billiards, reading, walking in teh evening, and conversations around a blazing fire- these became the means by which I got myself in the mood for the battle to come.">
-Igor Botvinnik, ed., Steve Giddens transl. "Botvinnik-Petrosian: The 1963 World Chess Championship Match" (New in Chess 2010), pp.99-100
"After the Candidates' tournament, Petrosian stated, in interviews with correspondents, that he had begun preparations for his match with Botvinnik even in Curacao. Or perhaps even earlier? Petrosian had minutely commented Botvinnik's last four world championship matches... in the columns of "Sovietsky Sport."
- Vik L. Vasiliev, "Tigran Petrosian- His Life and Games" Michael Basman transl. (Batsford 1974), p.126
#########################################
<Predictions>
########################################
<Conditions>
-<Return Match>
"Under FIDE rules, the right to a return match was withdrawn at the congress in Luxembourg... in 1959, but this rule only came into effect beginning with the 1963 match. Botvinnik did not protest against this, although he considered it an unjustifiable breach with long-established tradition"
-Igor Botvinnik, ed., Steve Giddens transl. "Botvinnik-Petrosian: The 1963 World Chess Championship Match" (New in Chess 2010), p.10
===
1. Canceling the Champion's right to a rematch.
Averbakh:
<"...the FIDE Congress in Luxembourg in 1959 voted to <<<cancel>>> the champion's right to a return match. The delegates to the Congress acknowledged that allowing the champion to retain the title in the event of a drawn match, and to have a return match if he lost, gave him too many advantages... It meant that in order to keep the title, the challenger had to play the world champion not once, but twice- he had to beat him the first time, and not lose the second.">
--Yuri Averbakh
"Centre-Stage and Behind the Scenes- the Personal Memoir of a Soviet Chess Legend."
Steve Giddins, tranls.
(New in Chess 2011), p.114
===
EDIT <Whiteshark>
<"...Rogard nevertheless did not change the <<<rules>>> laid down for the three-year cycle 1958-1960, and for this period the right to a return match was retained.">
-Mikhail Botvinnik
"Achieving the Aim."
Bernard Cafferty, transl.
(Pergamon 1981), p.160
===
EDIT <Whiteshark>, <tabanus>
Tidskrift för schack, nr. 9, Nov. 1959, p. 265-26
Reports about FIDE-kongressen in Luxemburg.
Transl. by <tabanus>:
<"A significant news concerning the end phase of the competition system is, that the right for a dethroned World Champion to claim a return match is <<<abolished in principal,>>> though shall the current World Champion keep his right to such a match if he in 1960 should lose his title.">
-Tidskrift för Schack, nr. 9, Nov. 1959, p. 265
===
-<Arbiters>: Harry Golombek and Gideon Stahlberg
-<FIDE Representative>: Max Euwe
-Igor Botvinnik, ed., Steve Giddens transl. "Botvinnik-Petrosian: The 1963 World Chess Championship Match" (New in Chess 2010), p.100
-<Seconds>: Boleslavsky (Petrosian)
- Vik L. Vasiliev, "Tigran Petrosian- His Life and Games" Michael Basman transl. (Batsford 1974), pp. 140-141
Igor Botvinnik:
<"It is well known that <<<S.A. Furman worked as an openings consultant to Botvinnik, in his world championship matches of 1961 and 1963.>>> This happened after Botvinnik was forced to manage without the help of his old comrade Grigory Goldberg. Mikhail Moiseevich told how, after his first match with Tal, he sensed Goldberg's admiration for the young champion, but even so, in the summer of 1960, he sent his old comrade a letter... with an invitation to be his second for the return match. He received a 9-page reply, setting out numerous conditions necessary for him to have any hope of revenge, all of which, Botvinnik laughed, were impossible to fulfill!And now it is time to dispose of one legend, which has made the rounds of the chess world. In the Russian book on Furman there is a story about Furman's time as Botvinnik's second. It is claimed that Furman once advised Botvinnik to play for a draw in an adjourned game, but that Botvinnik did not agree and went on to lose the game, after which Furman was sent off to read a lecture to junior players of the Trud chess club, to get him out of the way. When I once drew Mikhail Moiseevich's attention to this episode, I received a brusque answer: 'In this match, as in the earlier ones, Furman was just an openings consultant, not a second, and I did not analyse adjourned positions with him.'">
-Igor Botvinnik, ed., Steve Giddens transl. "Botvinnik-Petrosian: The 1963 World Chess Championship Match" (New in Chess 2010), pp.123-24
===
-<Venue> Estrada Theatre. Adjourned games finished at the Central Chess Club.
-Igor Botvinnik, ed., Steve Giddens transl. "Botvinnik-Petrosian: The 1963 World Chess Championship Match" (New in Chess 2010), p.100
===
Igor Botvinnik:
<"The match, and indeed the whole cycle, took place under the rules adopted by the FIDE Congress of 1959, although as far as the final match is concerned, these rules hardly differed from those applying previously. Once again, there would be <<<up to 24 games, ending when one player reached 12.5 or 13 points. Once again, too, the World Champion needed only a draw to retain his title,>>> whilst the challenger had to win the match to take the world championship.<<<Each player had 2.5 hours for 40 moves. Adjourned sessions would last a maximum of 6 hours, at a time-control of 16 moves per hour.>>>
The player could postpone up to three playing days on grounds of illness, without any penalty. Any further postponements would cost him one point each (i.e., loss of the relevant game).
<<<In analysing adjourned positions, each player was entitled to employ the assistance of only one of his seconds.>>> This second could be nominated at any time, but could only take up his duties two weeks after nomination.
Spectators should not that no disturbance of the playing conditions (for example the lighting, use of flash photography, etc....) was permitted during play. The judges were equally strict with regard to noise. In extreme cases, if the noise reached an unacceptable level, play could be moved to a private room.
The World Champion would receive a medal and a diploma from the world chess federation.
The main difference from the rules used for previous contests was that, in the event of defeat, the World Champion would not have the right to a return match.">
-Igor Botvinnik, ed., Steve Giddens transl. "Botvinnik-Petrosian: The 1963 World Chess Championship Match" (New in Chess 2010), p.14
=================
-<Game start time> 4:30pm
-Igor Botvinnik, ed., Steve Giddens transl. "Botvinnik-Petrosian: The 1963 World Chess Championship Match" (New in Chess 2010), p.100
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<Course of the Match>
<1st game>
Petrosian vs Botvinnik, 1963 <0-1>
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<2d game>
Botvinnik vs Petrosian, 1963 <1/2>
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<3d game>
Petrosian vs Botvinnik, 1963 <1/2>
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<4th game>
Botvinnik vs Petrosian, 1963 <1/2>
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<5th game>
Petrosian vs Botvinnik, 1963 <1-0>
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<6th game>
Botvinnik vs Petrosian, 1963 <1/2>
################################
<7th game>
Petrosian vs Botvinnik, 1963 <1-0>
################################
<8th game>
Botvinnik vs Petrosian, 1963 <1/2>
################################
<9th game>
Petrosian vs Botvinnik, 1963 <1/2>
################################
<10th game>
Botvinnik vs Petrosian, 1963 <1/2>
################################
<11th game>
Petrosian vs Botvinnik, 1963 <1/2>
################################
<12th game>
Botvinnik vs Petrosian, 1963 <1/2>
################################
<13th game>
Petrosian vs Botvinnik, 1963 <1/2>
################################
<14th game>
Botvinnik vs Petrosian, 1963 <1-0>
################################
<15th game>
Petrosian vs Botvinnik, 1963 <1-0>
################################
<16th game>
Botvinnik vs Petrosian, 1963 <1/2>
################################
<17th game>
Petrosian vs Botvinnik, 1963 <1/2>
################################
<18th game>
Botvinnik vs Petrosian, 1963 <0-1>
################################
<19th game>
Petrosian vs Botvinnik, 1963 <1-0>
################################
<20th game>
Botvinnik vs Petrosian, 1963 <1/2>
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<21st game>
Petrosian vs Botvinnik, 1963 <1/2>
################################
<22d game>
Botvinnik vs Petrosian, 1963 <1/2>
#########################################
<ChessNote 8397> Botvinnik on the world championship
http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...
Stuart Rachels (Tuscaloosa, AL, USA) asks whether Hans Ree was right to state on page 128 of the 7/2013 New in Chess:
‘Botvinnik has said that a world championship match, with everything that it involves, would take one year off one’s life.’
The best supporting quote that we can offer is a paragraph by Harry Golombek about the 1963 Botvinnik v Petrosian match, on page 115 of Chess Life, May 1963:
Golombek:
<‘Both contestants have shown, on and off, undoubted signs of strain and both have given utterance to their thoughts on the matter. <<<Botvinnik has said that each world championship match has cost him a year of his life.>>> He may have meant by this that the necessary preparation for such a match took a year, but it is still more likely that he meant the anguish and the pain caused by the whole contest shortened his life expectation by one year.’>
-Harry Golombek, "The World Championship: Second Phase" "Chess Life"
Vol.18 No.5 May 1963, pp.115-16
Kibitzing
