chessgames.com
Members · Prefs · Laboratory · Collections · Openings · Endgames · Sacrifices · History · Search Kibitzing · Kibitzer's Café · Chessforums · Tournament Index · Players · Kibitzing

Chessgames premium membership fee will increase to $39 per year effective June 15, 2023. Enroll Now!

Mikhail Botvinnik vs Grigory Levenfish
"Chain Of Command" (game of the day Jan-19-2021)
Moscow (1935), Moscow URS, rd 5, Feb-21
Queen's Gambit Accepted: Mannheim Variation (D23)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

Click Here to play Guess-the-Move
Given 8 times; par: 80 [what's this?]

explore this opening
find similar games 18 more Botvinnik/Levenfish games
PGN: download | view | print Help: general | java-troubleshooting

TIP: As you play through the game, you can get the FEN code for any position by right-clicking on the board and choosing "Copy Position (EPD)". Copy and paste the FEN into a post to display a diagram.

PGN Viewer:  What is this?
For help with this chess viewer, please see the Olga Chess Viewer Quickstart Guide.
PREMIUM MEMBERS CAN REQUEST COMPUTER ANALYSIS [more info]

A COMPUTER ANNOTATED SCORE OF THIS GAME IS AVAILABLE.  [CLICK HERE]

Kibitzer's Corner
Apr-11-05  WorldChampeen: School of Soviet Chess calls this a Catalan I believe, I've looked to see if it occurred in any other games, it always impressed me in this game, that Botvinnik when faced with his gambit pawn being taken with 2. ...dxc4 sent the Queen out, 4. Qa4+ to reclaim it, one of the lesser popular manners of doing so, almost making it the Scaredy Cat gambit...
Apr-11-05  maoam: <WorldChampeen>

The Catalan was invented by Tartakower, it's characterised by 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3. This is just a QGA.

Apr-11-05  WorldChampeen: The Soviet School book does NOT call it a Catalan, I did not mean to mislead anyone on that, it is in that book. I will study it up.
Apr-11-05  weirdoid: I don't know which one is the bigger mistake by black, making the sequence of moves which allow 14. d5 or allowing e4-e5 and d5-d6 afterward. What happened afterward only tells how much torture the black player was willing to endure IMVHO.
Nov-04-09  Plato: 29...bxa3? made White's job much easier. After 29...a5 it's still not easy to break through because all the key points on the a-file could be controlled (after...Bb6). Still, the position was highly unpleasant for Levenfish right out of the opening.

A convincing positional crush by Botvinnik, who shows how powerful an extra central pawn can be.

Oct-24-17  Toribio3: Powerful pawn chain was created by Botvinnik, excellent game!
Jan-19-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  Messiah: One of the best GOTD picks in the past lots of months.

[x] Botvinnik

[x] Levenfish

[x] Good game, indepentently from the actual players

[x] The pun is the title of one of my all-time favourite Star Trek TNG episodes (that was actually a two-part episode)

Spectacular job! Thank you very much!

Jan-19-21  Brenin: Good choice of GOTD. Stockfish gives White only marginally ahead until move 30, but Black's position must have been miserable to play after 15 e5 and 16 d6, and there was never much doubt about the eventual result.
Jan-19-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: dominance, the black Bishop does not have a square to go to on the board.

What if Black plays g4 to open things up?

Jan-19-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  Honza Cervenka: This is MMB at his best. Grigory Yakovlevich was no woodpusher to be crushed easily, and in fact he had very decent lifetime score against Botvinnik, but here he had no chance practically from the opening being all the time on ropes. In 1930s and in 1940s Botvinnik played many games, which looked so onesided like this one.
Jan-19-21  Ironmanth: Nice instructive play by Mikhail here! Thanks, chessgames. Y'all stay safe out there today.
Jan-19-21  dhotts: Black's problems stem from his poor opening play where he moves his knights for no purpose and delays development of his BSB, waiting until move 13...e6. Simple development would have given Black a better game. This must have been some sort of experiment by Levenfish against a young Botvinnik.
Jan-19-21  RookFile: I love Botvinnik's pawn chain from h2 to d6 at the end of the game.
Jan-19-21  thegoodanarchist: As Peter Leko would say, MB probably took time to enjoy his position
Jan-19-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  Richard Taylor: Bovinnik was a great player. By results and length of time as WC he was about 3 after Lasker and Capablanca. His play was very practical and often in his notes he admits his errors if they happen.

Here his plans went well. The pawn chain is instructive

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! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion.

Please observe our posting guidelines:

  1. No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language.
  2. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts.
  3. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members.
  4. Nothing in violation of United States law.
  5. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members.
  6. No trolling.
  7. The use of "sock puppet" accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by moderators, create a false impression of consensus or support, or stage conversations, is prohibited.
  8. Do not degrade Chessgames or any of it's staff/volunteers.

Please try to maintain a semblance of civility at all times.

Blow the Whistle

See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a moderator.


NOTE: Please keep all discussion on-topic. This forum is for this specific game only. To discuss chess or this site in general, visit the Kibitzer's Café.

Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors.
All moderator actions taken are ultimately at the sole discretion of the administration.

This game is type: CLASSICAL. Please report incorrect or missing information by submitting a correction slip to help us improve the quality of our content.

Featured in the Following Game Collections[what is this?]
Botvinnik "100 Selected Games"
by uglybird
Round 5 February 21st
from Moscow 1935 by Benzol
Botvinnik's best games
by HOTDOG
Game 44
from Botvinnik: One Hundred Selected Games by smarticecream
Botvinnik "100 Selected Games"
by skisuitof12
Game 44
from book: Botvinnik: One Hundred Selected Games by PassedPawnDuo
Game collection: QGA
by Gabo5588
Round 5 February 21st
from Moscow 1935 by JoseTigranTalFischer
Think Like A Grandmaster
by JoseTigranTalFischer
Game 76 in "Think Like a Grandmaster" by Alexander Kotov
from Bot_vin_nik Blinked at Fredthebear by fredthebear
Game 44
from Selected Games (Botvinnik) by Qindarka
Game 76
from Think Like a Grandmaster (Kotov) by Qindarka
Botvinnik "100 Selected Games"
by Retarf
Botvinnik "100 Selected Games"
by nakul1964
Botvinnik "100 Selected Games"
by nakul1964
Queen's Gambit Accepted
by Chessdreamer
Game 76
from Think Like a Grandmaster (Kotov) by isfsam
QGA: Mannheim Variation (D23) 1-0 Notes by Stockfish
from yz 1930s Depressed Greatly Worlds by fredthebear
Botvinnik "100 Selected Games"
by arifd
Botvinnik "100 Selected Games"
by psherman31
plus 27 more collections (not shown)

Home | About | Login | Logout | F.A.Q. | Profile | Preferences | Premium Membership | Kibitzer's Café | Biographer's Bistro | New Kibitzing | Chessforums | Tournament Index | Player Directory | Notable Games | World Chess Championships | Opening Explorer | Guess the Move | Game Collections | ChessBookie Game | Chessgames Challenge | Store | Privacy Notice | Contact Us

Copyright 2001-2023, Chessgames Services LLC