<<keypusher>, why the hostility/apathy for Bronstein?>

I think he got bitter and wrote a lot of crap in his old age. You can do a search for discussions of Soltis' Treachery in Zurich to see what I have to say about that.

<To corroborate this, on another page here someone posted an analysis by Botvinnik, of a Bronstein game, in which Botvinnik referred to Bronstein only as "Br".>

Did he? Wouldn't it have meant abandoning his family back in Estonia?

There's also the question of whether <Keres> considered following the example of others at the <Buenos Aires Olympiad> by remaining in Argentina after the outbreak of WW2. Although <Estonia> wouldn't be occupied by the Soviets until June 1940, the threat was already apparent by September 1939:

<Estonia had pursued a policy of neutrality, but it was of no consequence after the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on August 23, 1939. In the agreement, the two great powers agreed to divide up the countries situated between them (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland) with Estonia falling in the Soviet "sphere of influence". After the invasion of Poland, the Orzel; incident took place when Polish submarine ORP Orzel; looked for shelter in Tallinn but escaped after the Soviet Union attacked Poland on September 17. Estonian's lack of will and/or inability to disarm and intern the crew caused the Soviet Union to accuse Estonia of "helping them escape" and claim that Estonia was not neutral. On September 24, 1939, the Soviet Union threatened Estonia with war unless provided with military bases in the country –- an ultimatum with which the Estonian government complied.>

Here are updated links to <Taylor Kingston's> research on the topic "Was Keres forced to take a dive in 1948, and if so, how much did Botvinnik know about it."

<The Keres-Botvinnik Case: a survey of the evidence>

Part one:
http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kb1.pdf

Part two:
http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kb2.pdf

<The Keres-Botvinnik Case revisited: a further survey of the evidence>

I was told you were.

The reason I posted the links here today is that I noticed that the first two links were dead on the current <Mikhail Botvinnik> Wikipedia page.

So I searched on Google and found those updated links.

There's more from <Taylor Kingston> on this topic as well-

An interview with <Yuri Averbakh>:

Part one:
http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skitt...

Part two:
http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skitt...

<FSR> that's magic man, thanks on behalf of all readers of Chess Wikipedia.

There are tons of dead links on Wiki chess biographies at the moment. I read chess wiki entries every single day, so I'll start a log of dead links that I notice.

If you trust me with your email, I could periodically send you log updates?

It's up to you. I promise not to sell your email address to a Korean toothpaste company.

I'm going to put my current email at the top of my Profile for easy access.

Live film footage of <Flohr> vs. <Botvinnik>:

Live film footage- part of a training game with coach/sparring partner <Viacheslav Ragozin>:

Live film footage of the World Championship Match:

Correct pronunciation of his name-

World Championship Match
Moscow 1963

Live film footage:

...And speaking of Botvinnik`s intrigues , he surely knew how to use his political ties much earlier than 50s. There is detailed story (on Russian thou http://www.chesspro.ru/_events/2007...) explaining how he used his ˝protectors˝ to simply `improvise` another USSR championship (!) only few months after he finished only 6th (!) in the 12th USSR championship 1940.(http://www.chesspro.ru/_events/2007... , table is on the bottom , and there is few interesting photos meantime if you dont know Russian ). Needles to say , his fragile dreams of match with Alekhine crumbled to dust in such situation.

The artificial USSR championship , called ˝The absolute˝ (as you might recall from the history books) to justify and distinguish it from the ˝normal˝ one in which Bondarevsky ( later on the Spassky`s second, man without whom Boris might never become the WC) and Lilienthal shared USSR champ title only few months prior to that. Just for the flavor , I will try to translate first few lines of this mammoth text :

<˝Operation Absolute Championship˝

After 12th championship Botvinnik lived in shock for 2 months , and he had good reason : all his hopes for Match against Alekhine suddenly vanished! OFC , he could try to return the title in a year on the next championship , but he couldn`t wait that long. and who guaranteed that he will succeed ? His position seemed hopeless , when he came up with desperate idea :˝In december I sent a letter to Snegirev (Chess Sportcommittee) , ironising the fact that the champion of the state , ie leader of USSR chess , will become the winner of the Bondarevsky-Liliental match (both of them are very talented players , but without signifucant chess achievements) , while Keres and me had such , and international BTW , achievements.

Snegirov knew himself , that such match has no value concerning the Alekhine`s challenger; He understood my sign , and started working - as always , silently but with great energy. How he persuaded the higher authorities , I have no clue , he didn`t talk too much about that , but in 2 months it was declared that 6 winners of the 1940. championship ...> Why exactly 6? Remember , Botvinnik was, accidentally, 6th...just an innocent remark ;) < ...will play for the title of ˝absolute˝ champion . The meaning of the word ˝absolute˝ was clear: the ˝absolute˝ USSR champ would play the match against Alekhine.˝...>

Keyword was ˝silent˝ , players had no idea what is happening until it was too late, and what is most important, nobody mentioned Botvinnik`s name in the process. He was diligently preparing , while : <... Lilienthal remembers that he , relaxed by the promises ( by Snegirov? ) that he and Bondarevsky will be , without any match , declared the USSR champions , went traveling to Syberia: ˝Suddenly i recieved a letter from the president of Sportcommittee , Snegov , to immediatelly return to Moscow , to take part in so called absolute championship. I was shocked. I was very angry : I simply did not expect anything like that. Needless to say , i went totally unprepared ˝...> Keywords shocked , suddenly + unprepared =) <...Young Bondarevsky told angrily to Keres one year later : ˝I was simply inexperienced...I should simply decline , and that`s it!˝...> BTW , decline in 1941 USSR ? keyword: inexperienced =) <...Keres , accepting the participation , had no idea how high the stakes were. Neither previous nor this championship did he consider connected in any way with the world championship , and he payed dearly for being so naive. If up to that moment Keres was seen as the Alekhine`s challenger (he was placed above Botvinnik twice in important tournaments)...> key one being AVRO , considered ac the ˝candidates˝ by many <... after the ˝Absolute˝ Botvinik had every right to say ˝It is clear now who should challenge Alekhine˝...> And it was only the first of the cruel games that destiny played with Paul...keywords, cruel games + naive =(

PS You can compare the scoretables in first and second tournament to compare how successful ˝Operation Absolute˝ was for Botvinnik =)