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1948 World Chess Championship ★★★ INTRO ★★★ The 1948 World Chess Championship was a 5 player five-cycle round robin (each player plays against each other 5 times) between 37 year old Mikhail Botvinnik of the Soviet Union, 27 year old Vasily Smyslov also of the Soviet Union, 37 year old Smauel Reshevsky of the United States, 32 year old Paul Keres of the Soviet Union and 47 year old Max Euwe of the Netherlands. ★★★ BACKGROUND ★★★ The participants were the 8 players that competed in the 1938 AVRO Tournament (see AVRO (1938) for games and more info). The players were Paul Keres, Reuben Fine, Mikhail Botvinnik, Max Euwe, Samuel Reshevsky, Alexander Alekhine, Jose Raul Capablanca and Salomon Flohr. However, not all of the above players competed. Capablanca died on March 8th, 1942 and Alekhine died on March 24th, 1946. As well, Salomon Flohr got replaced by Vasily Smyslov. Fine did not want to compete. FIDE organized a 5 player cycle round robin tournament. The tournament was down to 5 players: 37 year old Mikhail Botvinnik of the Soviet Union, 27 year old Vasily Smyslov also of the Soviet Union, 37 year old Smauel Reshevsky of the United States, 32 year old Paul Keres of the Soviet Union and 47 year old Max Euwe of the Netherlands. ★★★ CONDITIONS ★★★ The match took place in The Hague. ★★★ MATCH ★★★ After 5 rounds, Botvinnik took the lead with 3 1/2 points, Reshevsky was second with 2 1/2, Smyslov and Keres were close behind each having 2 and Euwe had scored none. After 10 rounds, Botvinnik kept the lead and had 6, Reshevsky was in second with 4 1/2 points, Smyslov and Keres was once again close behind with each having 4 but Euwe only had 1 1/2. After 15 rounds of play, Botvinnik kept leading with 9 points, Keres then took second with 6 1/2, Reshevsky close on his heels with 6, Smyslov with 5 1/2, and sadly,Euwe only had 3. After 20 rounds, Botvinnik kept a commanding lead with 12 points, Smyslov and Reshevsky tied for second each with 8 1/2, Keres with 7 1/2 and Euwe way behind with 3 1/2. ★★★ FINAL ★★★ After 25 rounds of play, Botvinnik was crowded the first FIDE world champion finishing with 14 points out a possible 25. Smyslov took second with 11. Tied for third were Reshevsky and Keres each finishing with 10 1/2. Euwe came in last,and only had 4 points, 6 1/2 points behind 3rd place and 10 points behind the winner. Mikhail Botvinnik had became the 6th official world championship. ★★★ MINI TABLE ★★★ Botvinnik - 1 1/2 1 1 1 - 1/2 1/2 1 1 1 - 0 1 1/2 1/2 1 - 1 1/2 1/2 1 0 (10 wins, 8 draws, 2 losses) <1st, 70% score> Smyslov 1/2 0 1/2 1 - 1/2 0 1/2 1 1 - 1/2 0 0 1/2 1 - 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 - 1 (6 wins, 10 draws, 4 losses) <2nd, 55% score> Reshevsky 1/2 - 1 0 1 1/2 1/2 - 1/2 1/2 0 0 1 - 1/2 1/2 1 0 1 - 1/2 1/2 0 1 (+6, =9, -5) <=3rd, 52.5%> Keres 1 1 0 - 0 1/2 1 1/2 0 - 1 1/2 1 0 1 - 0 0 0 1 1/2 - 1/2 1 (+8, =5, -7) <=3rd, 52.5%> Euwe 0 0 - 0 0 1/2 1/2 0 - 1/2 0 0 1 1/2 - 0 1/2 0 0 0 - 1/2 0 0 0 (+1, =6, -14) <5th, 20%> ★★★ OTHER LINKS ★★★ See also: FIDE World Championship Tournament (1948) Head to Head Records Prior to 1948: Botvinnik-Smyslov: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... (6 wins, 5 draws and 1 loss in favour of Botvinnik) Botvinnik-Reshevsky: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... (2 wins, 3 draws and 0 losses in favour of Botvinnik) Botvinnik-Keres: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... (2 wins, 6 draws and 0 losses in favour of Botvinnik) Botvinnik-Euwe: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... (2 wins, 4 draws and 0 losses in favour of Euwe) Smyslov-Reshevsky: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... (2 wins, 0 draws and 1 loss in favour of Smyslov) Smyslov-Keres: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... (4 wins, 4 draws and 1 loss in favour of Keres) Smyslov-Euwe: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... (Smyslov beat Euwe 1-0 in their only meeting prior to 1948) Reshevsky-Keres: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... (3 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses in favour of Keres) Reshevsky-Euwe: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... (1 win, 2 draws and 1 loss for both players) Keres-Euwe: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... (7 wins, 5 draws and 7 losses for both players) Previous World Championship: Game Collection: 1937 World Chess Championship Next World Championship: Game Collection: 1951 World Chess Championship 50 games, 1948 Alekhine - My Best Games of Chess 1908-1937 "My Best Games of Chess 1908-1937" by Alexander Alekhine. Two Volumes Bound as One. Dover Edition 1985. GAME 49 (Alekhine vs. Gofmeister, 1917) cannot be added into this collection due to the fact that it is an incomplete fragment of an odds game. 219 games, 1906-1937 Attacking Manual 1 Jacob Aagaard Games from Jacob Aagaard's Quality Chess Book The Attacking Manual 1-Basic Principles. These two books are his attempt to teach everything about Attacking Chess. Volume 1 is on Dynamics while Volume 2 is about tactics. His attempt to write a Vukovic type Art of Attack Book with clearer thinking/writing and modern ideas. This is a working book and includes diagrams to study Stoyko style. Entertaining Annotations. Recommended! His Concepts by Chapters 1) Bring All Your Toys to the Nursery-include all your pieces in your attack 2) Don't Lose your Breath-Momentum 3) Add Some Color to your Play -Colour Schemes 4) Size Matters- Numbers over Size(material worth) 5) Hit 'em where it hurts - attack the weakness point in your opponents position 6) Chewing on Granite - attack the strongest point in your opponents position 7) Evolution and Revolution -( build-fight-build-fight) Manual 1 speaks to Aagaard's ideas around Attacking the King with each chapter discussing an idea and illustrative games to support them. An introductory sample is found here http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebook... also: The Chessgame link to the Volume 2 - collection Game Collection: Attacking Manual Volume 2- Aagaard Plus: Added to the end of this collection: These are positions with white having a one point a pawn on f6 and a fiancheto pawn structure by black. 76 games, 1929-2008 Bird's Opening Game Collection Collection of 1.f4 games....This collection includes Bird's opening games from world class players as well as games that are important to the theory of this opening. 73 games, 1620-2008 Birds Opening Games from book by Timothy Taylor 21 games, 1927-2006 Bobby Fischer: Road to the Crown In 1971, at the Candidates Matches for the ultimate chess crown, the promising young American grandmaster, Bobby Fischer, made chess history by winning an unprecedented thirteen games in a row with seven extra consecutive games at the Palma de Mallorca Interzonal in 1970, giving him a streak of 20 games in a row and winning every game. Fischer crushed such titans like Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen with a perfect 6-0 score in both cases. Former world champion "Iron" Tigran Petrosian was the only candidate who was able to put up any resistance, and Fischer crushed even "the Tiger" 6.5-2.5. The last game at the interzonal was resigned by Panno without making a move. 19 games, 1970-1971 Book: Chess Praxis (Nimzowitsch) 'Chess Praxis' by Aron Nimzowitsch. Translated by Robert Sherwood. 106 games, 1907-1928 Boris Spassky's Best Games The best games of Spassky's career. Chess is like life. - Boris Spassky Which do I prefer? Sex or chess? It depends on the position. - Boris Spassky When I am in form, my style is a little bit stubborn, almost brutal. Sometimes I feel a great spirit of fight which drives me on. – Boris Spassky After I won the title, I was confronted with the real world. People do not behave naturally anymore - hypocrisy is everywhere. - Boris Spassky In my country, at that time, being a champion of chess was like being a King. At that time I was a King … and when you are King you feel a lot of responsibility, but there is nobody there to help you. - Boris Spassky I don’t want ever to be champion again. - Boris Spassky I enjoy life, sometimes with a good bottle of wine! But don't count on me in tournaments that demand a lot of nervous energy, like the French championship. I am empty; these are not for me anymore. - Boris Spassky The Cary Grant of the 64 Squares. - Larry Parr Highly cultured with interests in all fields of human knowledge, a man of impeccable comportment, great modesty ... one of the favorites of all chessplayers. - Max Euwe When Spassky offers you a piece, you may just as well resign. – Miguel Najdorf I believe that judged by his style of play, Spassky is much closer to Alekhine and Tal than to Smyslov, Botvinnik, or Petrosian. This is probably why, when Spassky was in his best form, neither Tal nor Korchnoi could really put up much resistance against him. Spassky could read their play (especially that of Tal) like an open book. – Garry Kasparov The universal chess style, characterized by the ability to play quite different types of chess positions, is considered by many to derive from that of Boris Spassky. But I think that the general idea that Spassky has a universal style overlooks the fact that from an early age, Spassky had a bent for sharp, attacking play and a good eye for the initiative. – Garry Kasparov It is characteristic that Spassky has never in his life started a game with 1.Nf3. He must have considered it a “semi-move”, real moves being only those that lead to an immediate fight. All of those notorious opening peculiarities (such as avoiding this, that, and the other and preventing the other that and this) seemed repulsive to him. – Garry Kasparov Spassky was the first great chess player to use both 1.e4 and 1.d4 with equal success. He managed to employ these moves more harmoniously than any other world champion. – Garry Kasparov One of the soundest attacking players ever, Spassky nonetheless took very few chances. Totally dominant until he lost to the irresistible juggernaut known as Bobby Fischer. After that loss, he was never the same. – Bruce Pandolfini Spassky sacrifices his pieces with the utmost imperturbability. He can blunder away a piece, and you are never sure whether it's a blunder or a fantastically deep sacrifice. He sits at the board with the same dead expression whether he's mating or being mated. – Bobby Fischer Spassky is also a correct player, in this 'classical' aspect he is like Smyslov. But whereas Smyslov is a sedate player, Spassky has an attacking style. He combines the qualities of different chess players. Like Alekhine he values time. He is a very good strategic player. His games are pleasant to watch: he uses the whole board. He manages to deal with everything, grabs space, turns on the pressure here and there... - Vladimir Kramnik He was less concerned about the position’s evaluation than about the character of the arising struggle. If he liked the character of the battle, he felt absolutely at home and, as a rule, didn’t fail to outplay his opponents. – Garry Kasparov (on Spassky) 113 games, 1949-2001 Botvinnik's Best Games 1947-1970 David McKay publisher 100 games, 1947-1967 Botvinnik: One Hundred Selected Games 'Botvinnik: One Hundred Selected Games' by Mikhail Botvinnik. Translated by Stephen Garry. 100 games, 1926-1946 C10 French: Rubenstein [Black] 51 games, 2009-2014 Chess Explained - The Taimanov Sicilian Chess Explained - The Taimanov Sicilian From James Rizzitano's book 14 games, 1998-2005 Chess Informant: 100 Golden Games + 10 Best Every game that received golden game status from the first publication in 1966-to present. *In 2008, Informant put out 'Best of the Best 1000' to celebrate their 100th issue and nominate the 10 best golden games. Those are at the top of this list. For the 10 best of vol. 1-24: Game Collection: 0 Game Collection: 0 Game Collection: 0 The 100 Golden: 100 games, 1966-2007 Dynamic Chess Strategy (Suba) 'Dynamic Chess Strategy' by Mihai Suba. Extended and updated edition. 34 games, 1974-1990 Dynamic English 99 games, 1966-2008 Dynamic Pawn Play In Chess (1) 101 games, 1857-1999 Dynamic Pawn Play In Chess (2) 26 games, 1950-1999 Endgames virtuoso Smyslov THE GAMES IN THIS COLLECTON ARE TAKEN OUT THE BOOK "SMYSLOV ENDGAMES VIRTUOSO" editorial HISPANO EUROPEA 97 games, 1939-1992 English: Levon Aronian Collection 52 games, 2015-2018 English: Vladimir Kramnik Collection 88 games, 1990-2013

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