Shattered illusions: "The Rise and Fall of David Bronstein"

by Johannes Fischer
10/25/2017 – David Bronstein is a chess legend. In his critical memoir, The Rise and Fall of David Bronstein, Genna Sosonko shares memories of the life and the career of the grandmaster who has inspired the chess world with his ideas and his games, and who in 1951 almost became World Champion. | Photo (right): Anne Fürstenberg

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Genna Sosonko's
The Rise and Fall of David Bronstein

Review

Half a point — a single draw — and David Bronstein would have been World Champion. In 1951 he played against reigning World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik for the title and after 22 of 24 games Bronstein led 11½-10½. To seize the title Bronstein needed only one point from the last two games — in case of 12-12 tie Botvinnik would remain champion. But in the crucial 23rd game Bronstein, who was playing with black, lost his nerve and lost a drawn endgame.

 
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1.e41,162,86954%2421---
1.d4944,72655%2434---
1.Nf3280,65156%2441---
1.c4181,58656%2442---
1.g319,66356%2427---
1.b314,17554%2427---
1.f45,87148%2376---
1.Nc33,76751%2384---
1.b41,73748%2378---
1.a31,19354%2403---
1.e31,06448%2408---
1.d394550%2378---
1.g465846%2359---
1.h444453%2373---
1.c342251%2422---
1.h327856%2416---
1.a410860%2468---
1.Nh38866%2510---
1.f38745%2429---
1.Na34063%2477---
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 c6 4.Bg2 d5 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.Nh3 Bxh3 8.Bxh3 Nc6 9.Bg2 e6 10.e3 0-0 11.Bd2 Rc8 12.0-0 Nd7 13.Ne2 Qb6 14.Bc3 Rfd8 15.Nf4 Nf6 16.Qb3 Ne4 17.Qxb6 axb6 18.Be1 Na5 19.Nd3 Bf8 20.f3 Nd6 21.Bf2 Bh6 22.Rac1 Nac4 23.Rfe1 Na5 24.Kf1 Bg7 25.g4 Nc6 26.b3 Nb5 27.Ke2 Bf8 28.a4 Nc7 29.Bg3 Na6 30.Bf1 f6 31.Red1 Na5 32.Rxc8 Rxc8 33.Rc1 Rxc1 34.Nxc1 Ba3 35.Kd1 Bxc1 36.Kxc1 Nxb3+ 37.Kc2 Na5 38.Kc3 Kf7 39.e4 f5 40.gxf5 gxf5 41.Bd3 Kg6 Botvinnik." Here I had to seal the move. The plan is obvious. One bishop should be placed on d6, after White has to play Bb1, exchange the pawns on d5 and win pawn d5. For twenty minutes I was thinking which was stronger: 42.Bd6 or 42.Bb1. Finally, I decided to choose 42. Bd6. 42.Bd6 I found that after 42.Bb1 (the move I did not seal) Nc6 If Black chose 42...fxe4 the game opens up after 43.fxe4 dxe4 44.Bxe4+ Kg7 and White's bishops obviously prevail. An interesting variation was found by Flohr: 45.Bxb7 Nxb7 followed by followed by Kc3-c4-b5-a6-b6 and the 'a'-pawn eventually queens. 43.exd5 exd5 44.Ba2 Nab4 or 44...Ne7 45.Bh4 45.Bb3 Black loses a pawn. 42...Nc6 43.Bb1 Kf6 The previous two moves had been found the best and they were made immediately upon the resumption. However, Black's last move was not the only solution. All night I was trying to find the way to continue the game. Only at 8 o'clock in the morning I was lucky to find a remarkable idea which I employed during the adjournment. If Bronstein had suspected about the surprise move, he would have found the line 43...Na7 honestly I did not find this move during my analysis. 44.exd5 exd5 45.Ba2 b5 46.a5 b4+! 47.Kd3 Nb5 48.Be5 Nac7 49.Kc2 Kf7 50.Kb3 Na6 thus drawing the game and, most likely, becoming the 7th World Champion. However, after the natural 43.Kf6 an unplesant surprise lay in store for him: 44.Bg3‼ Zugzwang! 44.exd5 exd5 45.Ba2 Ke6 and White cannot make headway 44...fxe4 Now 44...Nab4 is met by 45.Be5+! and Black's King is pushed to g6, after which White wins by In passing I would note that 45.Bc7 would only lead to a draw after dxe4 46.fxe4 fxe4 47.Bxe4 Nd5+= 45...Kg6 46.Bd6 Na6 47.exd5 exd5 48.Ba2 45.fxe4 h6 46.Bf4 h5 47.exd5 exd5 48.h4 Nab8 49.Bg5+ Kf7 50.Bf5 Na7 More resistant was 50...Ne7 but White had a good choice anyway: 51.Bxe7 Kxe7 52.Bg6 Nc6 53.Bxh5 Na7 54.Kb4 Nc6+ 55.Kb5 Nxd4+ 56.Kxb6 51.Bf4 Nbc6 52.Bd3 Nc8 53.Be2 Kg6 54.Bd3+ Kf6 55.Be2 Kg6 56.Bf3 N6e7 or 56...N8e7 57.Bg5 Nf5 58.Bxd5 Nfxd4 59.Be4+ Kf7 60.Kc4 57.Bg5 Here Bronstein resigned. Although Black still has an extra pawn, he loses because of the zugzwang, the second zugzwang in this game. The continuation could be 57.Bg5 Nc6 58.Bxd5 Nd6 59.Bf3 Kf5 60.Bc1 b5 61.Bxc6 bxc6 62.a5 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Botvinnik,M-Bronstein,D-1–01951D71World-ch18 Botvinnik-Bronstein +5-5=1423

In the 24th and last game Bronstein had White but after 22 moves he found himself in a position with a pawn down and no compensation and agreed to a draw. The match ended in a 12-12 tie and Botvinnik defended his title.

Later Bronstein came up with endless explanations why he did not win the match. In his book The Rise and Fall of David Bronstein, which deals with the life and career of Bronstein, Genna Sosonko lists some of these explanations:

Disregarding the fundamental truth that several different excuses always sound less convincing than one, Bronstein found a number of scapegoats and reasons for his loss: his hatred-filled opponent, the atmosphere of that time, fear for his father, his seconds who neglected their duties, walks with a girlfriend who didn't care about his career, and the hardships he endured. ...

Book title cover image

"That monstrous blunder that I made in game six, just one move. It was all very simple. Before the second session, during my morning walk, I happened to bump into my wife, Olga, whom I had divorced for all practical purposes. One thing led to another, we started to quarrel, and continued for nearly an hour. Yet, at the same time, my seconds were demanding that I play to win. So I went to the resumption of that ill-fated game feeling mentally drained."...

On another occasion [Bronstein explained]: "People would ask why I took part in FIDE's qualifying tournaments in the first place if I wasn't striving to become world champion? The answer is very simple. In those days, there were few international tournaments; you had to play in qualifying tournaments and prove that you belonged to the world's chess elite to get your own national federation to respect you, so that it would then send you to those tournaments."

Then he began to resort to a more radical explanation: "I had good reasons not to become world champion. In those days, that title meant that you had to become part of the official world of chess bureaucracy and take on all sorts of responsibilities, which was incompatible with my personality."

(Genna Sosonko, The Rise and Fall of David Bronstein, Elk and Ruby 2017, p. 72-73. The Russion original of the book was published in 2014.)

The missed chance to become World Champion became an obsession for Bronstein who is described by Sosonko as an egotistical person who in endless monologues knew only one topic: himself. To quote Sosonko: "I can't ever recall him asking how things were or what plans I had. It was always about him, himself, and his chess. His place in chess was the meaning and substance of his entire life." (p.99)

But in regard to "his place in chess" Bronstein had hardly any need to worry because his chess career and his contributions to chess are very impressive. Bronstein was born on February 19, 1924 in the small village of Bila Tserkva in Ukraine, at that time part of the Soviet Union. In 1937 Bronstein's father, a "rebel" according to Sosonko, was sentenced to seven years in a labour camp after publicly criticising the government.

Vassily Smyslov David-Bronstein Paul Keres and Mikhail Botvinnik at the Olympiad Amsterdam in1954

Due to his weak eyesight Bronstein was declared unfit for military service and did not have to fight in World War II but he had to flee from the German army, was homeless, and again and again suffered from cold and hunger. Yet after the war he quickly became of the world's best players. In 1948 he won the Interzonal Tournament in Saltjösbaden, and in 1948 and 1949 he twice finished shared first in the Soviet Championship. In the Candidates Tournament 1950 he shared first place with his friend and training partner, Isaak Boleslavsky, whose daughter, Tatiana, Bronstein later married. In the tie-break after the Candidates Bronstein defeated Boleslavsky, probably after an agreement between the two. This gave Bronstein the right to play against Botvinnik for the World Championship.

(Above) Vassily Smyslov David-Bronstein Paul Keres and Mikhail Botvinnik at the 11th Chess Olympiad in Amsterdam, 1954

A great role in Bronstein's career played his mentor and supporter Boris Vainshtein — a cultivated, intelligent, elegant and charming man who, however, was a highly ranked officer at the Soviet secret service, the NKVD, predecessor of the KGB, and in this role he actively supported a system of terror and suppression.

The Chess Struggle in Practice Lessons from the famous Zurich Candidates Tournament of 1953

Vainshtein was a passionate and strong chessplayer who saw the enormous talent of the young Bronstein and adopted him as his protégé. Vainshtein provided Bronstein with food, allowed him to live in his place and used his considerable political influence to support Bronstein's career and to let him play abroad. Vainshtein also had the idea to write a book about the Candidates Tournament 1953 in Zurich, in which Bronstein finished second behind Smyslov. A lot of players consider this book, of which Bronstein is the credited author, as one of the best chess books ever written. However, Bronstein only contributed analyses, Vainshtein wrote "the entire narrative part". (See The Rise and Fall, p. 139)

The Candidates Tournament in Zurich 1953 was the last time that Bronstein had good chances to play another match for the World Championship. After Zurich he achieved a number of successes in more or less important tournaments and occasionally played brilliant games but he was no longer part of the very top. Bronstein died on December 5, 2006, in Minsk, at the age of 82.

Bronstein's contribution to the development of chess is enormous. To quote Sosonko, who quotes Korchnoi:

I once asked Korchnoi, who traditionally wasn't one to hand out compliments, whether Bronstein was an outstanding player. He answered with a tirade: 'Was Bronstein an outstanding player? He was a genius, what a genius! A genius is somebody ahead of his time, and Bronstein was far ahead of his time. If Botvinnik said that Bronstein was very strong when the opening was making a transition into the middlegame then that was a very weak statement. In reality, at that point in the game, Bronstein demonstrated many ideas that were complete revelations. That's the sign of a genius. He understood the game better than anyone from 1945 through 1951. Had there been no Bronstein, there would have been no Tal.' (p.84)

Bronstein also had many ideas that enriched chess: he had the idea to arrange the pieces randomly on the first rank — which today is known as Fischer-Random or Chess960 — he proposed to play games with increment, and he advocated to let two players play against each other on more than one board, to name just a few of his ideas. But according to Sosonko Bronstein had a grim view about his chess career and his achievements:

In the old days, he would find enemies in the sports committee, then in the Soviet Chess Federation, then in the government. After the Soviet Union collapsed, he complained that he had been deprived, cheated out of his fair share, forgotten, and betrayed. Bronstein listed his complaints in his last books, articles, and interviews. Everything that he wrote and said at the time could have been published under the same title: Grievances. (p.172)

Sosonko's memories of Bronstein are well and passionately written but Sosonko does not draw a friendly picture of the grandmaster. Instead, he draws a picture of an egomanic, who failed to become world champion and therefore liked to cast himself in the role of chess improviser and as a player for whom beauty was more important than competitive success.

Grave of Bronstein

Still, the question arises why it is necessary to extensively describe and detail the character failings of someone who is first of all remembered as a chessplayer and chess thinker. Sosonko might have shared these doubts because at the very end of his book he writes:

[A] powerful thought pierced my mind: 'Why did I write all that stuff about this great chess player who suffered so much at the end of his life? Why? What was the point of all that philosophizing and those attempted explanations Who was all that for?' You see, I knew deep down that I shouldn't have tried to recall anything. I should have left the departed alone in their graves and should have allowed the living to keep their illusions. (p.269)

Photo (above): Gruszecki (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 3.0]

However, when you read these sentences the illusions you might have had about Bronstein are already shattered. But shattering illusions can be healthy and helpful, and Sosonko's book does not only give insight into the life and times of a legendary chessplayer but also gives answers to hotly debated questions of chess history: Thus it seems as if the match between Botvinnik and Bronstein in 1951 was not manipulated - despite all conspiracy theories and in contrast to the match between Boleslavsky and Bronstein one year before that made Bronstein challenger of Botvinnik. Moreover, it is hard to see Bronstein who was protected by the powerful and influential Boris Vainshtein as a victim of the political situation in the Soviet Union. However, the time and the circumstances in which Bronstein lived certainly contributed to make Bronstein a bitter man who could not see and cherish his many achievement and successes.

David Bronstein in 1968 | Photo: Erich Koch, Wikipedia)

But maybe it's best to remember the person and the chess artist David Bronstein with his games. Here are three of his many brilliancies:

 
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1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4 5.Ne5 h5 6.Bc4 Rh7 7.d4 Bh6 8.Nc3 Nc6N A new move in an old variation. A typical previous game continued 8...c6 9.Nd3 Qf6 10.e5 Qf5 11.Nc5 Qg6 12.Bd3 Qg7 13.Bxh7 Qxh7 14.N3e4 b6 15.Nd6+ Kd8 16.Nd3 f6 17.Bxf4 Ba6 18.Qd2 Bf8 19.Rf1 Bxd6 20.exd6 Qe4+ 21.Qe3 f5 22.Qxe4 fxe4 23.Bg5+ Ke8 24.0-0-0 1-0 (24) Suhle,B-NN Manchester 1859 9.Nxf7 Played in the style of the romantics: White sacrifices material to expose (and mate) the enemy king. Rxf7 10.Bxf7+ Kxf7 11.Bxf4! Bxf4 12.0-0 Qxh4 13.Rxf4+ Kg7 14.Qd2 Black has two pieces for a rook but his position is difficult to play. Black's queenside is not developed yet and the black king is exposed. The engines think that White is better. d6 15.Raf1 Nd8 16.Nd5 Bd7 After 16...Be6 White continues with 17.Nxc7 attacking the rook on a8 and threatening the devastating 18.Ne8+. And after 16...Ne6 17.Rf7+ Kh8 18.Nf6! White has a winning attack, e.g. Ng5 or 18...Nxf6 19.Qh6+ Kg8 20.R7xf6 and White mates. 19.Qxg5! Qxg5 20.Rh7# 17.e5 dxe5 18.dxe5 Bc6 19.e6! White opens the position and is winning. Bxd5 20.Rf7+ Nxf7 21.Rxf7+ Kh8 21...Kg6 22.Qd3+ Kh6 22...Kg5 23.Qf5+ Kh6 24.Rh7# 23.Qh7+ Kg5 24.Rf5# 22.Qc3+ Nf6 23.Rxf6 Qxf6 Black gives the queen to avoid being mated immediately. But he is still lost. 23...Qg5 24.Rh6+ Kg8 25.Rh8# 24.Qxf6+ Kh7 25.Qf5+ Kh6 26.Qxd5 Kg6 27.Qd7 1–0
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Bronstein,D-Dubinin,P-1–01947C39URS-ch1510

King's Gambit Vol.1

This DVD concentrates on the King's Gambit accepted with 3.Bc4. Williams has included a lot of novelties and interesting attacking variations that should wet the lips of any attacking player, looking for an interesting way of meeting 1...e5!


 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 c5 5.Bd3 b6 6.Nge2 Bb7 7.0-0 cxd4 8.exd4 0-0 9.d5 h6 10.Bc2 Na6 11.Nb5!? Initiating a creative attack and the sacrifice of two pawns. After the knight move White threatens to win the bishop on b4 with 12.a3 and emphatically asks Black to take the white pawn on d5. exd5 12.a3 Be7 13.Ng3 dxc4
14.Bxh6!? This surprising sacrifice is the point of the eleventh move. Black has to defend precisely. gxh6 15.Qd2 Nh7? Later analyses showed that 15...Nc5 was better, e.g. 16.Qxh6 Be4 17.Nxe4 Nfxe4 18.Qh5 d5 19.f3 Ng5 20.h4 Qd7 21.hxg5 Nd3 with a confusing position in which the engines like better for White. 16.Qxh6 f5 17.Nxf5 Rxf5 18.Bxf5 Nf8 19.Rad1 Black has two pieces for rook and pawn but White still has a strong attack. The engines consider this position as won for White. Bg5 20.Qh5 Qf6 21.Nd6 Bc6 22.Qg4 Kh8 23.Be4 White eliminates the strong bishop to avoid possible counterplay by Black. Bh6 24.Bxc6 dxc6 25.Qxc4 Nc5 26.b4 Nce6 27.Qxc6 Now White has three pawns and a rook for two minor pieces - a clear material advantage. Rb8 28.Ne4 Qg6 29.Rd6 Bg7 30.f4 Qg4 31.h3 Qe2 32.Ng3 Qe3+ 33.Kh2 Nd4 34.Qd5 Re8 35.Nh5 Ne2 36.Nxg7 Qg3+ 37.Kh1 Nxf4 38.Qf3 Ne2 39.Rh6+
1–0
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Bronstein,D-Keres,P-1–01955E47Gothenburg Interzonal7

Paul Keres | Photo: Erich Koch, Wikipedia)

 
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A lot of top players annotated this game, one of them was Paul Keres. In his book "Power Chess: Great Grandmaster Battles from Russia" he writes: "If I were asked to name the most prolific modern grandmaster in terms of innovative ideas, I would name neither Fischer, Spassky, Larsen or Petrosian, but... Bronstein! I speak of new ideas and variations not only on the chessboard but in many other aspects of the game as well. ... But Bronstein's most interesting and valuable ideas are still produced on the chessboard. I had the pleasure of watching him play at the Interzonal tournament in Petropolis, where among his many magnificent battles his brilliant game against Ljubojevic deserves special mention. Bronstein's rook sacrifice on move sixteen was a tremendous surprise, and during the game it took me quite a while to find the point of it." 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 c5 7.d5 e6 8.Nc3 exd5 9.cxd5 c4 10.Nf3 Bg4 11.Qd4 Bxf3 12.gxf3 Bb4 13.Bxc4 0-0 14.Rg1 g6!? This move is a novelty. Ljubojevic had played this position before - with White against Honfi, in Cacak 1971. White won that game with a swift and brutal mating attack: 14...Qc7 15.e6 f6 16.Bh6 Qxc4 17.Rxg7+ Kh8 18.Rg8+ and Black is mated. 15.Bg5 Qc7
And now? Black attacks the bishop on c4 and threatens 16...Bc5, winning a rook. 16.Bb3! Weiß gibt einen ganzen Turm, um auf Angriff zu spielen. Bc5 17.Qf4 Bxg1 18.d6 Qc8 19.Ke2?! This king move is perhaps a bit too creative. Later analyses showed that 19.0-0-0 is better. After e.g. N8d7 20.Rxg1 Nc5 21.Rd1 Nxb3+ 22.axb3 Qe6 the engines claim a slight plus for White. 19...Bc5? Better was 19...Qc5 z.B. 20.e6 N8d7 21.exf7+ Kg7 22.Ne4 Qb5+ 23.Ke1 Nd5 24.Qd2 N5f6 25.Bh6+ Kh8 26.Nxf6 Nxf6 27.Qc3 Qf5 28.Rd1 and in this confusing position Black should be able to hold and keep an advantage. But as Keres writes: "The character of the position makes exhaustive analysis extremely difficult. ... A position like this is to be played to the end, not analyzed to death!" 20.Ne4 N8d7 21.Rc1 A quiet move that prepares another sacrifice. Qc6 22.Rxc5! Nxc5 23.Nf6+ Kh8 24.Qh4 White is a rook and an exchange down and his king is exposed but he is winning because Black cannot parry White's attack. Qb5+ 25.Ke3 h5 26.Nxh5 Qxb3+ A desparate sacrifice. 27.axb3 Nd5+ 28.Kd4 Ne6+ 29.Kxd5 Nxg5 30.Nf6+ Kg7 31.Qxg5 Rfd8 32.e6 fxe6+ 33.Kxe6 Rf8 34.d7 a5 35.Ng4 Ra6+ 36.Ke5 Rf5+ 37.Qxf5 gxf5 38.d8Q fxg4 39.Qd7+ Kh6 40.Qxb7 Rg6 41.f4
1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Bronstein,D2585Ljubojevic,L25701–01973B03Petropolis Interzonal11

The ABC of Alekhine - 2nd Edition

The Alekhine is an often underrated defense that leads to strategically and tactically interesting positions in which the better player has good chances to win. Andrew Martin shows the basic ideas of this fascinating opening.



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Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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