The historical puzzle: Botvinnik vs Bronstein 1951

The photo above was taken by William Winter and R.G. Wade during game 22. That's what a World Championship looked like in 1951 – the giant hall was packed, every seat taken.

Mikhail Botvinnik had not played a public game since he won the World Championship in 1948. The challenger was a former Ukrainian Champion (at age 15) who had shared first place in the USSR Championship in 1948 and 1949. He had won the right to play the World Champion in the Budapest Candidates 1950.

The time control was 40 moves in 2½ hours, and 16 moves an hour after that, with an adjournment to the following day after five hours of play. The winner got $5,000 and the loser $3,000, though it is rumoured that the players got considerably less.

By game 22, Bronstein was leading 11½-10½ in the 24 game match. So he needed one point from the last two games to defeat Botvinnik. Botvinnik won the critical game 23 in what he considered one of his best games of the match. He wrote about the final move, 57. Bg5: "Zugzwang! Bronstein needed forty minutes to convince himself of the inevitability of defeat." The final game was drawn (in 22 moves) and Botvinnik retained his title.

Botvinnik's book on his match against Bronstein is still available on Amazon.com – eight new copies at $43.30, ten used at $25.86. This book is 5,313,276th on the Amazon Best Seller list.

According to Garry Kasparov in On my Great Predessors II, Salo Flohr, Botvinnik's second, said he had looked at the adjourned position, and that 42.Bb1 wins. Botvinnik nodded, and they went to his room to look at some variations. Then Botvinnik said he would continue alone and asked Flohr to do the same.

Shortly before the resumption Botvinnik said to Flohr as he entered the game room: "You know, Salomonchik, I have sealed a different move." Flohr could not restrain himnself and he burst into tears... Botvinnik's suspicion went very far indeed (did he suspect possible betrayal?). In the end, however, he won.

You probably know that in our replay boards there are a large number of functions you can use to really appreciate the games. Recently we published a comprehensive tutorial which tells you about all the powerful features and buttons that make the ChessBase's replay one of the best watching experiences around.

One big advantage is that you can start an engine (fan icon) that 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.

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...I will evaluate your submissions and discuss them with you.

Links

• How sound was the endgame Spielmann-Rubinstein?
• Riddle solved: Spielmann could have drawn!
• Could Petrosian have held against Fischer?
• Petrosian could have held!
• The old riddle of Fischer vs Taimanov
• Riddle solved: Fischer was winning
• The old riddle of Botvinnik vs Fischer
• Riddle solved: Fischer could have won
• Historical riddle: could Kramnik have defeated the computer?
• Kramnik could have defeated Fritz