3.1 PLANTEAMIENTO DE LA MEJORA
3.1.2 IMPLEMENTACIÓN DE METODO DE TRABAJO
I 2 3 4 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 IS 16 17 I Botvinnik • 1 1 1 y. 1 0 1 1 y, 1 1 y, 1 0 1 1 12% 2 Smyslov 0 • 0 y, 1 1 1 1 0 y, 1 1 1 Y2 y, y, 1 10% 3 Boleslavsky 0 I • yl y, y, I y. I 0 I I y, 1 y, yl y, 10 4 Flohr 0 y. y, • y. y, 1 y. y, y. y. 1 0 1 1 y, 1 9% S Makogonov Y2 0 y, y. • y, 0 0 0 1 y. 1 I 1 y, 1 1 9 6 Mikenas 0 0 yl y. y. • 1 y. 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 9 7 Tolush 1 0 0 0 1 0 • 1 y, 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 8% 8 Veresov 0 0 y. y, 1 y. 0 • Y2 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 y. 7% 9 Lilienthal 0 1 0 Y2 1 1 Y2 y, • y, 0 y, 0 1 0 y, y. 7% 10 Sokolsky y, Y2 1 y, 0 0 0 0 y, • y. 1 0 1 1 1 0 7% 11 Kotov 0 0 0 y, y, 0 0 1 1 y. • y. 1 0 1 1 0 7 12 Lisitsyn 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 y. 0 y. • yl 0 y, 1 1 7 13 Ragozin y. 0 yl 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 y. • 1 0 y, 1 7 14 Khavin 0 Y2 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 • 1 1 y, 7 IS Bronstein 1 y. y, 0 Y2 0 1 0 1 0 0 y. 1 0 • 0 y. 6% 16 Alatortsev 0 y, y, y, 0 1 0 0 y, 0 0 0 y, 0 1 • 1 S% 17 Ravinsky 0 0 Y2 0 0 0 0 y, y, 1 1 0 0 y, y, 0 • 4%
THE
saw Botvinnik resume his dominance, despite a loss to the young Bronstein. Keres had been NEXT CONTEST, the 1 3th, in 1944, as the Red Army was winning the war in the East, involved in tournaments in Nazi-occupied Europe and Franco's Spain and so was absent; indeed his future was in doubt. Botvinnik was in excellent form after his 1941 evacuation from Leningrad to the Urals, where six people had to live in one room. Now he had a Moscow flat with two rooms for himself, his wife Gayane (an Armenian ballet dancer) and his daughter Olga. So, it was farewell to his native Leningrad. The tournament, in the prestigious House of Unions where the Botvinnik-Flohr match of 1933 had been contested, was preceded by three semi-fmals, at Omsk, Baku and Moscow. Many in the audience were in military uniform, and Tolush and Veresov actually played in uniform. Flohr made his debut, having taken Soviet citizenship in 1940, and a certain young man, David Bronstein, also appeared in the final for the first time and took the scalp of Botvinnik. As Bronstein recalls in his recent autobiography, they met in the fourth round and Botvinnik resigned after 64 moves, while Bronstein was away from the board getting a cup of tea, which seems a breach of etiquette. Only Botvinnik and Smyslov were exempt from qualification and the younger man led after seven rounds when he had to meet Botvinnik, an experience he was to repeat many times in the next two decades.Vasily Smyslov-Mikhail Botvinnik
French Defence C 19 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 e4 d4 ltlc3 e5 a3 bxc3 a4 e6 d5 .ib4 c5 .ixc3+ ltle7 ltlbc6 8 9 ltlf3 .id2 'i'a5 c4
An opening duel, since Smyslov had stated that he thought Black's opening variation inferior. Removing the tension in the centre, Botvinnik sets up separate spheres of influence. Black presses on the queenside where White has pawn weaknesses. The kingside, due to the advanced e-pawn, is clearly in White's power. In such double-edged positions, the player who
realizes his trumps first decides the game in his favour. Note, however, that the modem treatment is the more elastic 9 ... .ltd7 followed by ... 0-0-0 and an eventual undermining of the centre by ... f6.
10 ltlg5
A temperamental reaction. Smyslov goes for immediate activation of his forces. The more restrained I 0 g3 .l\.d7 I I .ltg2 0--0--0 1 2 0--0 is also possible.
10 h6
Although in principle one should not move pawns in the area where the opponent has the initiative, it was risky to leave the knight near to the king.
1 1 ltlh3 ltlg6
An important move to take the sting out of White's planned ltlh3-f4-h5.
12 'it'f3
Logical, but probably too straightforward. It would be more cunning to play 12 .lte2 .i.d7 1 3 .lth5 and if 1 3 ... ltlce7, then 14 'ii'hl con trolling much of the board.
12 13 14 15 16 ltlf4 Wxf4 h4 h5 .i.d7 ltlxf4 ltle7 .ltxa4
The tension initiated by White's 12th move reaches its zenith. Black has won a weak pawn, but White has his chances too with a concrete initiative on the kingside.
16 'ii'b5!
A strong move. The threat of 1 7 ... .ltxc2 distracts White from his planned kingside operations and lets Black gain the time for a useful regrouping of his forces.
17 �d1 l:.c8 18 .ltc1 l:.c6 19 .lte2
While White's previous move fits in with his plans, since the move .lta3 may prove strong, the text-move is not so logical. 1 9 g4! is preferable, fitting in as it does with his attack, and then if 19 ... l:.a6 the answer 20 l:.a2 would involve no concessions.
19 l:.a6!
20 �d2 (D) 0--0?!
Botvinnik, perhaps lulled into a false sense of security by the last few moves, loses his sense of danger. He felt it was time to open up
the game and begin decisive operations. Yet moving the king towards the weakly defended flank from the centre where there was no particular danger is shown to be wrong. As Botvinnik himself observed, it was right for him to play for simplification by 20 ... 'ii'd7, followed by 2 l ...ib5, or by 20 ... 'ii'b6 and then 2 l ...id7.
21 g4 f6
Forced, as otherwise comes 22 g5, but now White's main attacking piece, the queen, gains its freedom.
22
23 exf6 Wc7 l:.xf6
There is the Russian saying 'One man in the field is not a warrior', but the queen on her own unexpectedly exploits the split looseness of Black's forces, thus seizing the initiative.
23 .:tf7
Of course, it was possible to nip White's activity in the bud by 23 ... 'ii'd7, but then 24 'ii'xd7 .ltxd7 25 .:r.xa6 bxa6 26 coPe3 would leave no trace of advantage for Black and such an outcome does not suit Botvinnik for the moment.
24 'ii'd8+ �h7 25 f4!
Suddenly White's fast-growing initiative takes concrete form with the threat 26 g5, while the f4-pawn cannot be taken.
25 'ii'aS
Playing with fire. As Botvinnik admitted, he realized that 25 ... 'ii'd7 with a transposition to an equal ending was objectively correct, but the lust for battle dictated another choice.
26 'ii'b8 ltlc6 27 'ii'e8
54 The Soviet Championships
White manoeuvres cleverly, all the time threatening g4-g5.
27 l:e7
The tempting 27 ... :xf4 fails to 28 g5 hxg5 (28 ... l:xd4+ 29 .i.d3+!) 29 'i'g6+ �g8 30
l:txa4! 'i'xa4 3 1 h6.
28 'i'g6+?
How can one desist from this check?! You drive the king and gain time for the attack, yet the move changes the flow of the game ... and in Black's favour. The queen turns out to lose all mobility, whereas the continued play along the 8th rank by 28 'i'f8! would force Black into 28 ... 'i'd8 when 29 'i'xd8 �d8 30 g5 ! would give White the better of it despite being a pawn down, as Black's pieces are badly placed.
28 �g8
29 .i.a3 (D)
Botvinnik considered that the only move to free the queen was 29 g5, but then how does White meet 29 ... ltJxd4? If 30 gxh6 then
30 ... �e2 is a simple reply, or 30 l:r.xa4 'i'xa4 3 1 cxd4 'i'b4+ is very unpleasant for White. In short, White is in a bad way.
29 eS?!
This looks very strong, but is a mistake. In decisive games one often fmds not only keen play, but also nervous, impulsive decisions. Just as Smyslov went wrong with 28 'i'g6+, so too Botvinnik cannot control his desire to bring his a6-rook into the attack on the enemy queen, and could have lost all his advantage. In a calmer situation he would surely have found 29 ... 'i'c7! 30 l:[hfl (what else?) and now
30 ... ltJb4!, leaving White no defence against ... .i.e8.
30 fxeS?!
An 'exchange of courtesies', after which Botvinnik's calculations are justified. He had to play 30 dxe5, after which the line similar to the game (30 . .. ltJd4 3 1 .i.b4, etc.) would leave
White with a pawn at f4, which would greatly change the situation.
30 31 32 33 .i.b4 'i'xa6 cxd4 ltJxd4 'i'd8 bxa6 l:b7!
This move and the next are strong because of the absence of the pawn at f4.
34 l:xa4 'ii'gS+ 35 �d1 aS 36 .i.f3 l:xb4 37 .i.xd5+ �f8 38 l:fl+ �e8 39 .i.c6+ �e7 40 l:xb4 'ifxg4+ 41 �e1 0-1
White's 41st move was sealed, but he re signed without resumption. A truly fluctuating encounter.
A fine finish came in another 'French' game, Lilienthal versus Ragozin.
Andrei Lilienthal-Vyacheslav Ragozin
Black's position looks to give cause for concern, but there is a clever way for him to seize the initiative.
23 ... ltJcS! 24 dxcS
To allow the knight to e4 was a
grim
prospect, but 24 l:t2 ltJe4 25 l:e2 was probably the lesser evil, for now Black's pieces gain destructive force .
24 ... d4+ 25 l:f3 f6! 26 e6 'ifeS! 27 .Jlg4 fS 28 .i.h3 'i'e2 29 .i.f4+ �a8 30 l:afl l:g4! 0--1
Botvinnik recalls that the prizes were announced as money prizes, but when he reached the podium at the closing ceremony he saw a table clock which was to be the 'new' first prize. He regarded this as an insult to the players, and warned officials not to offer it to him, as in that case he would refuse it publicly, causing a scandal. In fact, he received his prize money some six months later, after leaving hospital where he had his appendix removed.