Sixty years on

by Jonathan Speelman
4/16/2023 – Amid the riveting World Championship match in Astana, Jon Speelman looks back on the 1963 match for the world title between Mikhail Botvinnik and Tigran Petrosian. “The reason I’m returning to it is not just nostalgia, but because of the parallels between how the World Championship debutants Tigran Petrosian and Ding Liren performed at the start. Both were rather terrified”. | Photo: TASS Agency (1963)

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.

Parallels between debutants

[Note that Jon Speelman also looks at the content of the article in video format, here embedded at the end of the article.]

Bob Wade, Tigran Petrosian, Mikhail BotvinnikWhen I was playing Candidates matches half a lifetime ago, one of my greatest assets was the ability to reconcile myself to my own stupidity.

Of course, losing or failing to win a “winning position” hurt — they still do, and I might be angry or even incandescent with myself. But when I did (do) make horrible blunders, I was never overly surprised since I am a carbon-based great ape (the silicon-based chess “players” hardly figured at that time). And it’s in our nature to mess up at times.

I’m writing on Thursday after Ding Liren equalized in Astana, and by the time you read this they will have played one or probably two more games, so you have the advantage over me. But I can say — and this is without hindsight — that if I were a betting man, I would definitely have put money on Ding after he lost game 2; and that in a close-fought match the ability to deal with reverses quickly may well prove crucial. 

Last time, I approached the match through memories of a past one in which I was a second: Kasparov v Anand in 1995. And this time I’m going even further back to the first match I ever really took an interest in: Botvinnik v Petrosian in 1963. 

Bob Wade’s book on it is the first really serious chess book I ever owned. And since the match ran from the end of March to the beginning of May and my birthday is in October, my mum must have bought it for me when I was either six or just seven. Obviously, I wouldn’t have understood much then, but I’ve dipped into it many times since, and just retrieved it from my bookshelf now.

The reason I’m returning to it is not just nostalgia, but because of the parallels between how the World Championship debutants Tigran Petrosian and Ding Liren performed at the start. Both were clearly rather terrified and Petrosian played horribly in game 1 — so badly that he later described his play as being at “first-category strength, not even Candidate Master”.  Ding was tense in game 1, and his Petrosian moment came in game 2, which was pretty horrible

Recovery from such a shock can only be achieved in real time at the board and, rather than panicking, both players simply carried on playing sensibly and bathing themselves in the balm of properly played draws. For Petrosian, it took three before he equalized in game 5; Ding needed just one before playing powerfully in game 4 on Thursday.

Ian Nepomniachtchi, Ding Liren

Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren during game 4 of the Astana World Championship match | Photo: FIDE / Anna Shtourman

In a very interesting interview, Daniil Dubov, who of course has played both of them, said that he believes that Ding’s A game is better than Nepo’s, but Nepo’s B game is much better than Ding’s. 

Petrosian went on to beat Botvinnik convincingly, making +5-2=15 to finish he 24-game match two games early. Time will tell whether Ding can access his A game sufficiently often to emulate Petrosian. (Incidentally, by the time I did the audio, Nepo had won game 5).

The current match has already been analysed all over the place, so what I’m going to do is to look at the first five games in Moscow 1963, and see how Petrosian recovered his mojo. I have given games 1 and 5 here before but have slightly rewritten the notes. 

 
New ...
Open...
Share...
Layout...
Flip Board
Settings
MoveNResultEloPlayers
Replay and check the LiveBook here
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bxf6 7.Bh4 c5∞ 7...Qxf6 8.a3 Bxc3+ 8...Ba5?! 9.b4 Bb6 10.e3± 9.Qxc3 c6 10.e3 0-0
11.Ne2 Perfectly playable but he intended to put it in on f4, and Botvinnik now thwarted him. 11.Nf3 Bf5 12.Be2 or indeed 12.Bd3 were absolutely fine for White of course. 11...Re8! I imagine that after this the very nervous Petrosian was already seriously upset. 11...Bf5 In a game Reshevsky v Geller from the famous Zurich Candidates of 1953, Geller replied Bf6 and Reshevsky later came very close to winning: 12.Nf4 Nd7 13.Be2 Rfe8 14.0-0 Nf8 15.b4 Ne6 16.Nh5 Qg6 17.Ng3 Rac8 18.Rac1 Ng5 19.b5 Ne4 20.Qa5 c5 21.Nxf5 Qxf5 22.dxc5 b6 23.Qxa7 bxc5 24.Bd3 c4 25.Bxe4 Qxe4 26.Rfd1 c3 27.Qd4 Rc4 28.Qxd5 c2 29.Rd2 Qxd5 30.Rxd5 Ra8 31.b6 Rb8 32.Rd6 Ra4 33.Rxc2 Rxa3 34.h3 Rb3 35.Rcc6 Rb2 36.e4 h5 37.e5 h4 38.Rd4 R2xb6 39.Rxb6 Rxb6 40.Rxh4 Rb1+ 41.Kh2 Re1 42.f4 Re3 43.Rg4 Kh7 44.Rg3 Re2 45.h4 Re4 46.Rf3 f6 47.exf6 gxf6 48.Kg3 Kg6 49.Ra3 f5 50.Ra6+ Kh5 51.Rf6 Re3+ 52.Kf2 Ra3 53.g3 Rf3+ 54.Ke2 Rxg3 55.Rxf5+ Kxh4 56.Kf2 Ra3 57.Rg5 Rb3 58.Rg1 Kh5 59.Ke2 Ra3 60.f5 Ra5 1/2-1/2 (60) Reshevsky,S-Geller,E Zuerich 1953 12.Ng3!? Black can now advance the h-pawn, but White can take avoiding action. 12.Nf4?? Qxf4 12.Nc1 /\ Nd3-c5 12...g6! /\ 13... h4-h5 13.f3?! Weakening e3 after which Black already has a slight edge. 13.Bd3!? h5 14.Ne2 15.b4, a4 14.0-0 h4 15.Ne2 h3 16.f4 Rxe3 17.Qd2 hxg2 18.Rf2 Qe7 19.Ng3 14...h4 13...h5 14.Be2 Nd7 15.Kf2 15.0-0 h4 16.Nh1 Qg5 17.e4 17.Kf2 Nf6 17...dxe4 18.fxe4 Rxe4 19.Bc4 Nf6 15...h4 16.Nf1 Nf8 17.Nd2 Re7 18.Rhe1 Bf5
19.h3?! The opening has been a disaster for White who is already clearly worse, but this significantly weakens the dark squares and is surely not a move that the wonderful defender Petrosian would normally have contemplated. 19.Nf1!? 19.b4!? 19.Bd3 19...Rae8 20.Nf1 Ne6 21.Qd2
21.Bd3?! c5! 22.Bxf5 cxd4 23.exd4 Qxf5 24.Re5 Qf4 25.Rae1 Rc7!-+ (26.Qe3 Rc2 27.Re2 Rxe2+ 28.Kxe2 Nxd4+ -+) 21...Ng7 >= Apparently 21...Ng5! is better, teeing up to sacrifice on h3, but it would not have been a sensible choice by Botvinnik in the circumstances. The sacrifice is obviously messy, requiring an exact follow-up and it would surely have jolted Petrosian into a more normal state of mind. Instead it was much better just to play good moves and to let his discombobulated opponent find more mistakes for himself. 22.Kg1 Bxh3! 23.gxh3 Nxh3+ 24.Kh1 24.Kh2 Rxe3! 25.Nxe3 Qf4+ 26.Kh1 Nf2+ 27.Kg1 Qg3+ 28.Kf1 Nh3 29.Bd1 Qg1+ 30.Ke2 Nf4# # 24...Qg5! 25.Kh2 Qg1+ 26.Kxh3 Rxe3 27.Kxh4 R8e4+ 28.fxe4 28.Kh3 g5-+ 28...g5+-+ 21...Ng5! 22.Qd1 Bxh3! 23.gxh3 Ne4+! 24.Kg2 Qg5+ 25.Kh2 Nf2 26.Qd2 Rxe3 27.Bd1 Qf4+ 28.Kg2 Nxd1 29.Raxd1 Qxf3+ 30.Kg1 Re2 31.Rxe2 Rxe2 32.Qg5 Qf2+ 33.Kh1 Rxb2-+ 22.Rad1 Nh5 23.Rc1 Qd6 24.Rc3 Ng3 25.Kg1 25.Nxg3 hxg3+ 25...Nh5 Retracting his previous move and impressing on Petrosian how helpless he already is. 25...Nxf1 26.Bxf1 26.Bd1 Re6 27.Qf2 Qe7 28.Bb3 28.f4!? /\ Nf1-h3-f3(g4)-e5 28...g5 29.Bd1?! 29.e4!? Nf4 30.Qd2 29...Bg6
30.g4? A horrible decision which shatters his kingside and encourages the knight back to f4 where it now also eyes h3. 30.Bc2!? 30...hxg3 31.Nxg3 Nf4! 32.Qh2 32.Qf1 c5 33.dxc5 d4 34.Rb3 dxe3-+ 32...c5 32...Nd3!-+ 33.Re2 Rxe3 33.Qd2 33.dxc5 d4 33.Rxc5 Rxe3 33...c4 34.Ba4 b5! 35.Bc2 35.Bxb5!? Rb8 36.Ba4 Nd3-+ 37.b4 Nxe1 38.Qxe1 a5 Petrosian was of course famous for his exchange sacrifices, but this isn't one that's going to work. 35...Nxh3+ 36.Kf1 Qf6 37.Kg2 Nf4+ 38.exf4 Rxe1 39.fxg5 Qe6 40.f4
40...Re2+! What a way to start a match! But Petrosian remained calm - or at least relatively calm - and didn't make any foolish effort to restablish equilibrium in a hurry.
0–1
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Petrosian,T-Botvinnik,M-0–11963E35World Championship 25th1
Botvinnik,M-Petrosian,T-½–½1963D27World Championship 25th2
Petrosian,T-Botvinnik,M-½–½1963E18World Championship 25th3
Botvinnik,M-Petrosian,T-½–½1963A35World Championship 25th4
Petrosian,T-Botvinnik,M-1–01963D94World Championship 25th5
 

Select an entry from the list to switch between games



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


Links


Jonathan Speelman, born in 1956, studied mathematics but became a professional chess player in 1977. He was a member of the English Olympic team from 1980–2006 and three times British Champion. He played twice in Candidates Tournaments, reaching the semi-final in 1989. He twice seconded a World Championship challenger: Nigel Short and then Viswanathan Anand against Garry Kasparov in London 1993 and New York 1995.

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.