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David Bronstein vs Mikhail Botvinnik
USSR Championship (1952), Moscow URS, rd 7, Dec-08
King's Gambit: Accepted. Abbazia Defense (C36)  ·  0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
Jun-04-04
Premium Chessgames Member
  Gypsy: Bronstein sets a trap: 13...fxg3? 14.Ng5! gxh2+ 15.Kh1 g6 16.Rxf7, but Botvinnik knows better and plays 13...Nc6! instead. After that, Bronstein belives he should have settled for: 13...Nc6 14.Bxf4 Bxf4 15.gxf4 Nxc4 16.Qxc4 Qd5 17.Qxd5 cxd5 18.Ne5 Bf5, but he was interested only in a win. Positionally, the key to White fall is his Bb3: in the position after, say, 18...Qh5, this bishop has no scope, no moves.
Jan-21-06  who: 24.Kg2? is the real losing move.
Sep-22-06  aw1988: You have to admit, though, by that stage it's hard to find the right move if there is any...
Jun-24-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: The so-called "25th game" of the 1951 world championship...between this and Bronstein vs Lilienthal, 1952, the King's Gambit did not serve Bronstein well in this tournament.
Aug-22-09  zdigyigy: the black knight on e4 is huge.
Sep-12-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  maxi: 12.g3! is an imaginative, powerful move. The reason Bronstein loses is because of his antipositional 15.c4?, two moves later. Botvinnik himself gives 15.♗xf4 ♗xf4 16.gxf4 ♗xf3 17.♖xf3 ♕c7 but neglects to mention that after 18.dxc5 ♕xc5+ 19.♕d4, White is substantially better.
Feb-13-11  Everett: Botvinnik prepared heavily against the King's Gambit, and this is the best he gets: if white continued 15.Bxf4 Bronstein has a typical opening advantage for white in all lines.

Another try for black after <15.Bxf4 Bxf4 16.gxf4> is <...17.Qc8 Ne5 18.Bf5 Qb5> with advantage to white.

Feb-28-12  drukenknight: in regards to what else on move 24,perhaps 24 Bc6? just an idea.

I agree with gypsy's comments on 6.4.04 re; that Bb3. I have a new theory about doubled pawns (hope its better than the last one) and that is: If tempo is sort of like money that converts into: attack, material etc. then doubled pawns are sort of like a bank loan...

That is to say: doubled pawns can turn into almost anything, they might attack, they might queen, they might form positional stuff...They are extremely versatile but they must be used as soon as possible. Just like a bank loan for a business, you need to get that business going, buy the equipement, rent the store, etc.

So I am looking at 22 Qd2 really to form a q/b battery (black just did one), but if he brings the Rd8, then the Bf4 will block the d file and then perhaps we can move that c pawn. What do you think?

Feb-08-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: <keypusher: The so-called "25th game" of the 1951 world championship>

Wrong. See below.

Bronstein vs Botvinnik, 1951

Sep-29-13  Ulhumbrus: Instead of 6..bxc6, 6...Nxc6 gets the queen's knight out.
Dec-23-19  gambitfan: 6 ... bxc6 ?

6 ... Nxc6 !

1) -0.20 (30 ply) 6...♘xc6 7.♘c3 ♗e6 8.d4 ♗d6 9.♘e5 ♗xe5 10.dxe5 ♘d5 11.♘xd5 ♗xd5 12.♗xc6+ bxc6 13.♗xf4 ♕b6 14.♕d3 ♕b4+ 15.♗d2 ♕xb2 16.O-O O-O 17.♗c3 ♕a3 18.♗d4 ♕xd3 19.cxd3 ♖fe8 20.♖fe1 h6 21.♗c5 ♖ad8 22.d4 a6 23.h3

2) +0.07 (30 ply) 6...♕e7+ 7.♕e2 ♕xe2+ 8.♔xe2 ♘xc6 9.d4 g5 10.h4 g4 11.♘e5 ♗d6 12.♘xc6 a6 13.♘c3 O-O 14.♖f1 axb5 15.♘xb5 bxc6 16.♘xd6 ♗a6+ 17.c4 ♘e8 18.♗xf4 ♘xd6 19.♗xd6 ♗xc4+ 20.♔f2 ♖fe8 21.♖fe1 ♖xe1 22.♔xe1 ♖xa2 23.♖xa2 ♗xa2 24.♗e7 ♔g7 25.♔f2 ♔g6 26.♔g3

3) +0.30 (30 ply) 6...bxc6 7.♗c4 ♕e7+ 8.♕e2 ♕xe2+ 9.♗xe2 ♗d6 10.b3 O-O 11.♗b2 ♘bd7 12.♘c3 ♖e8 13.O-O-O h6 14.♗d3 ♗b7 15.♖he1 g6 16.♔b1 ♖ad8 17.♗c4 ♘b6 18.♘a4 ♘e4 19.♘xb6 axb6 20.d3 ♘f2 21.♖d2 ♘g4 22.h3 ♖xe1+ 23.♘xe1

May-02-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: When Botvinnik got home that evening, his wfe was gratified to see he was in a good mood. Or at least not frowning as heavily as usual.

"So what happened, Mike?"

"Not much. He gave away a pawn on move 2, and the rest was a matter of technique."

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