7/24/2020 – 1933, Moscow. Michael Botvinnik had just won the USSR Chess Championship. A match was arranged between him and one of the top players at the time, Czechoslovakian Champion Salomon Flohr. The 12-game match was drawn, after Flohr took an early lead. In one of his games he showed the chess world how to force a win in the 2B vs 2N endgame. But did he really, or did Botvinnik simply misplay it? Can you help endgame specialist GM Karsten Müller answer this question?
Chess Festival Prague 2025 with analyses by Aravindh, Giri, Gurel, Navara and others. ‘Special’: 27 highly entertaining miniatures. Opening videos by Werle, King and Ris. 10 opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more. ChessBase Magazine offers first-class training material for club players and professionals! World-class players analyse their brilliant games and explain the ideas behind the moves. Opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in tactics, strategy and endgames show you the tricks and techniques you need to be a successful tournament player! Available as a direct download (incl. booklet as pdf file) or booklet with download key by post. Included in delivery: ChessBase Magazine #225 as “ChessBase Book” for iPad, tablet, Mac etc.!
Winning starts with what you know The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nc6!?, Black takes the initiative, luring White into overextending their central pawns, only to dismantle them with precise counterplay. The Tango is not just an opening – it’s a weapon, designed for players who want to win as Black
€34.90
In 1933 Mikhail Botvinnik won the USSR Chess Championship. Soon after that, a match was organised between the new Soviet champion and one of the other top players at the time. Salomon Mikhailovich Flohr was born in a Jewish family in what is today Ukraine. His parents were killed in a massacre during World War I, and he and his brother fled to the newly formed nation of Czechoslovakia. Flohr took up chess, became champion of Czechoslovakia in 1933 and 1936, and was considered a leading challenger for the World Championship.
The match against Botvinnik was scheduled over twelve games, six to be played in Moscow and six in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg). Flohr was considered the favourite, and the first half of the match seemed to confirm this assessment. Flohr wrapped up the first half with a +2, but Botvinnik fought back in Leningrad, winning two games to leave the match tied 6:6.
If you want to see how a match like this was staged and how it drew crowds in the USSR, take a look at the following video:
Flohr won the first game with black, and outplayed Botvinnik in game six with the white pieces. In his book "How to Play Chess Endings", Eugène Znosko-Borovsky says that the game contained an extremely instructive ending, which well demonstrates the concentrated power of the two bishops, and the helplessness of the two knights against them — they move in various directions on the board, without any coordination. "The slow pressure exercised by the bishops against a closed position is demonstrated after 40...Ne8. The bishops have ample space, whilst the knights are confined to the first three ranks. Worse still, they can obtain no strong points in the centre, which is frequently the case against two bishops, which can dominate the whole board. The knight on d7 is particularly badly placed: as soon as it moves, the opposing bishop is played to c8, attacking the b-pawn, which in turn cannot move without weakening the a-pawn: we see how difficult the situation is for Black."
Our experts show, using the games of Botvinnik, how to employ specific openings successfully, which model strategies are present in specific structures, how to find tactical solutions and rules for how to bring endings to a successful conclusion
Mikhail Botvinnik and Salo Flohr during their match in Moscow, in 1933
This brings us to today’s riddle: In this famous endgame, considered singularly instructive in the way to play a bishop pair against two knights, did Flohr show the chess world how to convert the superiority of the bishops? Or did Botvinnik misplay the ending? One thing is clear: the ending is very deep.
The old riddle of Flohr vs Botvinnik One of the most instructive endings in the constellation bishop pair against two knights is the following famous classic. At first sight it seems that Flohr has won easily due to the superiority of his bishops. But closer inspection shows that matters are very deep:41...f642.Bf5g643.Bh3h644.Bc1Ng745.fxe5dxe546.Kf3h547.Be3Kd648.Bh6Ne849.g4hxg4+50.Bxg4Nc751.Be3Nb552.Ke2Nc753.Kd3f554.exf5gxf555.Bxf5Nxd556.Bd2N7f657.Kc4Kc658.Bg6b5+59.Kd3Ne760.Be4+Ned561.Bg5Nh562.Bf3Ng363.Bd2Kd664.Bg4Nf665.Bc8Kc666.Be1e4+67.Kd4Ngh568.Bf5Kd669.Bd2Your job is: was the ending winning from the beginning or did both sides commit several mistakes on the way ?1–0
Please send any analysis you come up with to me at the following email address: Karsten Müller. You may also like to use more powerful engines to assist you in your efforts. Fat Fritz, for instance, goes for some unconventional continuations and surprises. Dr. Müller will evaluate your submissions and discuss them with you.
In case you are not familiar with our replay board (above), please note that there are a large number of functions you can use to understand the game and the moves. Just an engine (fan icon) and it will help you to analyse. You can get multiple lines of analysis by clicking the + button to the right of the engine analysis window. The "!" key, incidentally, shows you the threat in any position, which is incredibly useful in the case of unclear moves.
There is one more thing you can do. It is a lot of fun, but also a serious challenge: Click on the rook icon below the notation window. This will allow you the play the above position against Fritz, at your level of playing strength (e.g. "Club Player"), right here on the news page. Note that your analysis, in which you can delete, move or promote lines, is stored in the notation as new variations. In the end you will find the game with your analysis in the cloud. So nothing is ever lost.
Frederic FriedelEditor-in-Chief emeritus of the ChessBase News page. Studied Philosophy and Linguistics at the University of Hamburg and Oxford, graduating with a thesis on speech act theory and moral language. He started a university career but switched to science journalism, producing documentaries for German TV. In 1986 he co-founded ChessBase.
Rossolimo-Moscow Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 10950 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 612 are annotated.
The greater part of the material on which the Rossolimo/Moscow Powerbook 2025 is based comes from the engine room of playchess.com: 263.000 games. This imposing amount is supplemented by some 50 000 games from Mega and from Correspondence Chess.
Focus on the Sicilian: Opening videos on the Najdorf Variation with 6.h3 e5 7.Nb3 (Luis Engel) and the Taimanov Variation with 7.Qf3 (Nico Zwirs). ‘Lucky bag’ with 38 analyses by Anish Giri, Surya Ganguly, Abhijeet Gupta, Yannick Pelletier and many more.
Throughout the video course, Sasikran shows various examples from his career to explain sacrifices for initiative, an attack, a better pawn structure and much more.
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
The Trompowsky is especially suited for faster time controls as you don‘t have to memorise endless lines of theory, and you push your opponent out of their comfort zone after your second move.
€49.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.