| Oct-15-06 | | thesonicvision: knight vs. bad bishop;
very instructional
http://www.northsydneychess.org/gen... |
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| Jun-23-09 | | xombie: Classic Botvinnik. His logical approach to chess is highly instructive. |
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| Jun-29-10 | | estrick: This game is presented and analyzed in Max Euwe's "Judgement & Planning in Chess." |
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Jun-24-11
 | | keypusher: 
click for larger viewWhite's 49th move is pretty. |
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| Jul-30-14 | | xombie: I should look at this game more closely. For one thing, I have experimented with this formation with c5 (to be followed by e5 by black later) leading to a passed d pawn, and lots of counterplay. But it may be that this approach works better when we trade off pieces, as Botvinnik managed it here. The move 20. f4 might be important - or else black plays f5-f4 himself and then Bf4. The other freeing move is d5-d4 but white wins the d pawn there. The N plays a stellar role in the game, firstly by covering d4 (the pawn on f4 is vulnerable to lateral attack). Secondly, the N also prevents black from checking on d1 (the R on the second rank covers the other route). The passive placement of the R on f2 is of no consequence because it effectively stifles black's activity. 49. Nxf5 Bxf5 is not possible since h3+ wins the bishop and then promotes. |
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| Sep-09-14 | | Mating Net: Wow, 49.Nxf5! is crushing. If the Bishop captures the Knight, 50.h3+! deflects the King away from his cleric and White wins the pawn race easily.
click for larger view |
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Mar-13-18
 | | cwcarlson: 27...♗c8 28.b4 (28.♖d2, 28.♔d4) ♗a6= Houdini. |
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| Mar-13-18 | | NBZ: <cwcarlson>: Interesting: in that line, Black manages to activate his bishop and prepare a7-a5. I reckon that's why it's judged equal by Houdini (though personally I would prefer to play as White). A nice move earlier in the game was 24. Rd1! 24. Re1 was the natural move, but runs into 24. ... Rxe1 25. Kxe1 d4! 26. Ne2 Ke6 27. Nxd4+ Kd5 when Black successfully activates his king. Instead, with 24. Rd1!, Botvinnik restrains the d-pawn and prepares to exchange rooks not on e1, but on the e2 square. So 24. Rd1! Re8 25. Rd2 h6 26. Re2 and now if 26. ... Rxe2 27. Nxe2 prevents Black from breaking free with ...d4. A small point and maybe this kind of prophylaxis is second-nature for GMs but I found it quite instructive. |
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| Aug-18-18 | | Howard: Regarding another game from this same tournament, I remarked, "Wonder how far this tournament was from enemy lines". To that, an observant reader stated that Sverdlovsk is over 1,000 miles to the east of Moscow. Quite a distance from the Germans back in the day! |
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| Jan-16-24 | | agataga: Great match for training both opening and late game. Killer move by Botvinnik on 45th move, black could have done nothing. |
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| Jul-26-24 | | frankumber: Why not 50. BishopXKnight ??? |
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Jul-26-24
 | | perfidious: <frankumber: Why not 50. BishopXKnight ???> As noted above by <MatingNet>, 50.h3+ wins. |
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| Jul-26-24 | | frankumber: Yes. A more complete reading of the game/thread was in order. Thank you perfidious. |
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Jul-26-24
 | | HeMateMe: 35...B-e6 seemed to be the losing move. It allowed white to create a passer on the queenside. The chess went on, even with German panzers roaming the country side. |
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Jul-26-24
 | | Fusilli: <HeMateMe: 35...B-e6 seemed to be the losing move. It allowed white to create a passer on the queenside.> True, but white is much better at that point. (FWIW, the engine says white will play 36.b5 anyway against 35...Kf7, trading the b-pawn for the d5 pawn and also creating a passer, with advantage. And he will soon invade with the king too, via e5. It looks hopeless.) I'd say Botvinnik had a pretty big positional advantage by the time he played 20.f4! securing that the black bishop will be a forever bad bishop (even if the engine may say it's equal at that point.) From then on, black's only plan is to hold, resist, and hope for some tactical salvation, but strategically, black has nothing. I like 24.Rd1. It's clear that white needs to offer the rook trade but 24.Re1 would be problematic because of ...d4 after the rook trade and the black king marches to d5. So, Rd1 stops any ...d4 and waits for the best timing to offer the rook trade. 49.Nxf5 is pretty and crushing, but white is winning with multiple other moves at that point. Botvinnik's victory stemmed from his superior strategic management of this game. Very instructive! |
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Jul-27-24
| | HeMateMe: In his auto biography Viktor Korchnoi briefly discusses a tournament which was the final appearance of Botvinnik, his last serious games. "This was the final demonstration of Botvinnik's amazing understanding of chess." High praise from Korchnoi, who generally didn't have a lot of nice things to say about the competition. He actually did say nice things about Bobby Fischer and Robert Byrne. |
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Jul-27-24
| | Fusilli: <HeMateMe> <High praise from Korchnoi, who generally didn't have a lot of nice things to say about the competition.> True. Korchnoi had a 100 to 1 insult-to-praise ratio, more or less. |
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Jul-27-24
| | perfidious: Same as Carlsen, Korchnoi is a player whose fighting spirit I have always admired, but would not necessarily want to spend time with away from the board. Only time I ever saw Viktor the Terrible was during the semifinal of New York PCA/Intel-GP (1994). Tough old bird, with cold eyes; reminded me of numerous professionals I would see playing poker in days to come. |
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