[Event "World Championship 19th"] [Site "Moscow"] [Date "1951.04.08"] [Round "11"] [White "Botvinnik, Mikhail"] [Black "Bronstein, David I"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E17"] [Annotator "Llewellyn, Alan"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "1951.03.16"] [EventType "match"] [EventRounds "24"] [EventCountry "URS"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1999.07.01"] {Mikhail Botvinnik was the patriach of Soviet Chess, for many years he helped make it the Soviet national sport/art and he dominated the game from 1948 til 1963 as he was World Champion all those years bar a few loses in World Championships which he quickly reversed due to Stalins/communist influence on chess in those days, and due to his trully rugged play. All the serious challengers to the title were Soviet and its true to say had this continued I may never have picked up a pawn, in combat, myself. One of those challengers was David Bronstein whoes writing and play was up there with the best of all time. Here David trully outplays the Master but he didnt win the war drawing the title 12½-12½ and because of the stipulation that the challenger must win to become champion, Mikhail remained champion.} 1. d4 e6 {an unusual reply to 1 d4, which both players employed in the match, it being Mikhails original idea which David copied.} 2. Nf3 {to 2 e4 came the French Defence with 2...d5, while to 2 c4 came the Dutch Defence with 2...f5, in the match these lines were played exclusively by both players. I am certain David wasn't doing so to out psych his opponent but out of a true respect and fear for Mikhails preperation and skills, often this has happened in chess, where the challenger has a great respect for the encumbant, most notebly with Alekhine against Capablanca in 1927 and Eure against Alekhine in 1934.} Nf6 3. c4 b6 {so the Queens Indian Defence it is.} 4. g3 Bb7 (4... Ba6 {this Nimzowitsch idea, fell out of favour, at the time, due to 5.Qa4 then came back into fashion when the same David Bronstein, as here, found 5...c6 and 6...b5 in reply to 5.Qa4, eventually a refutation of that line was found and 5...c5 is the current theory.}) 5. Bg2 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. b3 d5 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Bb2 {this move is slow and unecessary and in modern chess the whole idea of 7.b3 and 9.Bb2 is considered rather old fashioned.} Nbd7 10. Nc3 Re8 11. Ne5 $1 {this ove though good is not threatening much due to the misplaced Bishop which means their is no back up to the attack so Black can ignore the Knight if he so wishes.} Bf8 12. Rc1 $1 {offering a pawn to get his rather sanguid game going.} Nxe5 13. dxe5 Rxe5 14. Nb5 Re7 15. Bxf6 gxf6 {Now taking stock David is a pawn up but Mikhail has weakened the King position as compensation, but its hard to say Mikhail has full compensation for the pawn.} 16. e4 $6 {its true the say The Master of chess strategy was having an off day in this game.} dxe4 17. Qg4+ Bg7 $1 {this move is best if only to give a good flight square for the Queen after the Rook attacks the Queen next move. Thinking ahead is a key skill to the good chess player and one must try and think not only 'where are good squares for my pieces?' but also if my opponent attacks those pieces 'where are there good squares to fall back on?'} 18. Rfd1 Qf8 19. Nd4 Bc8 20. Qh4 f5 21. Nc6 Re8 22. Bh3 $6 (22. Rc2) 22... Bh6 $1 {the start of a clever counter attack which makes an advantage by creation of a weakened Mikhail King position. ie this just shows how especially in the Queens Indian Defence, the a8-h1 diagonal is a key weakness for White.} 23. Rc2 e3 24. fxe3 Bxe3+ 25. Kh1 Be6 $3 {cleverly repositioning the Bishop to get on the key diagonal ie a8-h1 from the d5 square where it is not hampered by the Knight on c6.} 26. Bg2 {desperate defence.} a5 {the Knight on c6 is looking decidedly dodgy.} 27. Bf3 Kh8 28. Nd4 Rad8 29. Rxc7 {now only 1 pawn down can Mikhail save the day...} Bd5 $3 30. Re1 $4 (30. Rf1 Qd6 31. Bxd5 Qxd5+ 32. Nf3 $17) 30... Qd6 $1 {a move i think Mikhail hadn't fully seen, i don't fully understand the complexities of this position in truth myself it is so complex in scope.} 31. Rc2 Re4 $3 32. Bxe4 Bxe4+ 33. Qxe4 $1 (33. Rg2 $4 Qxd4 34. Qe7 Qd2 35. Qf6+ Kg8 36. Reg1 Qxg2+ $3 37. Rxg2 Rd1#) 33... fxe4 34. Nf5 Qb4 35. Rxe3 Rd1+ 36. Kg2 Rd2+ 37. Rxd2 Qxd2+ 38. Kh3 Qf2 39. Kg4 ({even with the best defence the position is hopeless.} 39. g4 Qf4 40. Rg3 h5 41. Ne3 hxg4+ 42. Nxg4 f5 43. Ne3 Qf2 44. Ng2 f4 45. Rc3 Qd2 46. Rc8+ Kg7 47. Rc7+ Kf6 48. Rb7 f3 49. Rxb6+ Ke5 50. Nh4 f2 51. Ng6+ Kd5 52. Ne7+ Kc5 53. Rc6+ Kb5 54. a4+ Kb4 55. Rf6 e3 56. Nc6+ Kc5 57. Rf5+ Kxc6 58. Rf6+ Kd5 59. Kg4 Qd4+ 60. Kg5 Qxf6+ 61. Kxf6 f1=Q+ $19) 39... f6 {after the coming h5+ by David their is no hope for Mikhail and so Mikhail gave up there. Excemplory play by David, it must rank amongst his best games.} 0-1