1947 Nov.-Dec. Chigorin Memorial, Moscow

1.Botvinnik 11/15
2.Ragozin 10.5
=3-4.Boleslavsky 10
=3-4.Smyslov 10
5.Kotov 9.5
=6-7.Keres 9
=6-7.Novotelnov 9
8.Pachman 8.5
9.Trifunovic 8
10.Gligoric 7.5
11.Bondarevsky 6.5
12.Kholmov 5.5
13.Kottnauer 5
=14-15.Sokolsky 4
=14-15.Plater 4
16.Zvetkov 2

the round before (the XIII°), BOTVINNIK lost a game against a 23 years old young czech player...

Botvinnik vs Pachman, 1947

at the beginning of the last but one XIV° round
(the above game's one), the first positons pairing was:

1.Botvinnik 9.5
2.Keres 9 <(!)>
=3-6.Ragozin 8.5
=3-6.Boleslavsky 8.5
=3-6.Smyslov 8.5
=3-6.Kotov 8.5
=7-8.Novotelnov 7.5
=7-8.Pachman 7.5
9.Trifunovic 7
etc......

Its worth of mention that at the XI° ROUND the pairing was:

1.Botvinnik 9
=2-4.Boleslavsky 7.5
=2-4.Keres 7.5
=2-4.Kotov7.5
etc...

SO, this basic match arrived at the KERES raising up's peak, and after an ugly BOT's rout.....

But After the XIV° ROUND's games, the pairing was:

1.Botvinnik 10.5
=2-3.Smyslov 9.5
=2-3.Ragozin 9.5
=4-6.Boleslavsky 9
=4-6.Kers 9
=4-6.Kotov 9
=7-8.Novotelnov 8
=7-8.Pachman 8
9.Trifunovic 7.5
etc....

And with a easy 13 moves last-round draw
Botvinnik vs P Trifunovic, 1947 BOTVINNIK ensured a solitary first place.

....IMO same BOT's notes about the pre-struggle are very interesting:...

<"My last inconter with KERES was about 7 years before, FLHOR adviced me, as i was black, to play for a draw, and then try to win the last game vs. TRIFUNOVIC by white. i decided otherwise> (!)<. On the eve of the AJA's competition, won this game was an important factor. in this way, My chances in the imminent World Championship-match were improved, as my principal competitor was awarded only like the SEMERINGEN-BADEN's 1937 and AVRO's 1938 great internationals tournaments winner....">

...TREMENDOUS!!!.... What an iron's will!...And what a TOTAL psychological war...

In the follow game against KERES, the first played in the 1948's WC tournament, BOT gave this comment: <"SO, finally we meet in Aja. After the 1948's Moscow game PAUL wasnt calm for shore.>(!)<..I decided for a complicate struggle..."> NO mention that BOTVINNIK won this game too.

Back to the Tchigorin memorial, After a demoralizating white-defeated (17.♖g5??) vs. PACHMAN, im shore the 99% players were planing for a draw against such a competitor like KERES....But BOT not!!... He (by Black) decided for a last-blood fight.... in the modern time i can think only KASPAROV could be considered so brave, not for nothing GAZZA was a MIKHAIL MOISEEVICH's pupile-disciple....

In other hands,We can see the caracterials difference between this two great players, considering the KERES reaction after this defeat... Novotelnov vs Keres, 1947
PAUL's play was very shy, the initiative was always in the NOVOTELNOV's hands...(a good, but not irrestible player...) and the last PAUL blunder (45...♕e8??) is sintomatic.

Thinking back to the (at that time) poor and depressed KERES, its understandable his terrific negative score vs. BOT. in those years....

BTW, To face a so implacable adversary OVER and OFF the board, wasnt so easy...

not only for PAUL PAVLOVIC!

<For first place in the Chigorin Memorial a draw was probably good enough for me, whereas Keres had to go for a win. This was a handy situation. I had to aim for a prolonged positional closed struggle in which I could slowly hope for slips by my opponent, slips that are inevitable when one has to look for a win when it isn't there. (…)

Spassky has quite often been critical of the Soviet system, some quotes from one single interview:

<I was the first to show how to fight against the Soviet bureaucrats and at the same time to continue professional life. Now everybody knows how to do it, but at that time I was the first, and, naturally, the Soviets could not forgive me>

<As for me, from the very start I took an independent stand and openly declared that I did not want anything from the Soviets>

<Bovinnik did a lot for chess. He won the World Championship, as he had promised, he gave a lot of good advice to chess players, especially mediocre players. But for me he has always remained a Bolshevik. Once I was reading his memoirs about the 1930s and I came across the following sentence: ‘Life was difficult, collective farms had not yet become strong…’. For many years after this I wanted to ask him, ‘Mikhail Moiseyevich, when did collective farms become strong? And how did they become strong?’>

<Keres was the Gulliver among the Lilliputians, he was a real giant. Botvinnik, I believe, was the leader of the Lilliputians>

<In 1965 I was giving a lecture in Novosibirsk and I was asked why Keres had not become World Champion. This is what I answered: ‘Just imagine a young man who is only 24, who is already a strong grandmaster and who loves his Estonia, his small country which within a short period of time changes hands – passing to Stalin, a bit later to Hitler and again to Stalin. What does he feel when all this is happening?’ After the lecture some comsomol leaders asked me why I was so anti-Soviet. ‘Did I tell you a lie?’ I reiterated>

<Fischer made short work of me. Tal was right when he said, ‘There was no Spassky in this match’. I had actually lost before the match. My nervous system was completely broken. The Soviets were bothering me>

<A descendent of Western culture? Creative, not destructive spirit?> Sounds like maybe Boris had been dipping into Alekhine's wartime articles about the Jews wrecking chess.