Mikhail Tal

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Lore & Background

Botvinnik was born on August 17, 1911, in Kuokkala, Vyborg Governorate, Grand Duchy of Finland (now Repino, Saint Petersburg). His parents were Russian Jews; his father was a dental technician and his mother a dentist, which allowed the family to live outside the Pale of Settlement. He grew up in Saint Petersburg's Nevsky Prospect. His father forbade speaking Yiddish at home. Botvinnik later recounted, 'I am a Jew by blood, a Russian by culture, Soviet by upbringing.' He called himself an atheist. In 1920, his father left the family. At about the same time, Botvinnik started reading newspapers and became a committed communist. In autumn 1923, at age twelve, he was taught chess by a school friend of his older brother and instantly fell in love with the game. In winter 1924, he won his school's championship and exaggerated his age by three years to join the Petrograd Chess Assembly. On a rest day during the Moscow 1925 chess tournament, world champion José Raúl Capablanca gave a simultaneous exhibition in Leningrad; Botvinnik was selected as an opponent and won his game. In 1935, Botvinnik married Gayane Davidovna Ananova, of Armenian descent, a student at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet and later a ballerina in the Bolshoi Theatre. They had one daughter, Olga, born in 1942.

Reader's Guide

Botvinnik was the first world-class player to develop within the Soviet Union. He played a major role in the organization of chess, making a significant contribution to the design of the World Chess Championship system after World War II and becoming a leading member of the coaching system that enabled the Soviet Union to dominate top-class chess. His pupils include World Champions Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, and Vladimir Kramnik. In 1931, at age 20, Botvinnik won his first Soviet Championship in Moscow, scoring 13½ out of 17. He repeated as Soviet Champion in 1933 in Leningrad with 14/19. In his first tournament outside the USSR, the Hastings 1934–35, he achieved only a tie for 5th–6th places with 5/9. He placed first equal with Salo Flohr in Moscow's second International Tournament in 1935. In the Moscow 1936 double round-robin, he finished second, one point behind Capablanca and 2½ ahead of Flohr. Botvinnik also worked as an electrical engineer and computer scientist and was a pioneer in computer chess, for which he was awarded an honorary mathematics degree.

Did You Know?

• Botvinnik was awarded an honorary mathematics degree for his pioneering work in computer chess.
• At age twelve, Botvinnik concluded it was better to think out 'concrete concepts' and then derive general principles, rather than the reverse.
• He exaggerated his age by three years at age twelve to join the Petrograd Chess Assembly.
• Botvinnik's pupils include three future World Champions: Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, and Vladimir Kramnik.
• He maintained a daily exercise routine for most of his life after his mother worried about his poor physique as a teenager.

A Child in Kuokkala Meets the Board

Botvinnik was born on August 17, 1911, in Kuokkala, Vyborg Governorate, Grand Duchy of Finland (now Repino, Saint Petersburg). His parents were Russian Jews; his father, Moisei Botvinnik (1878–1931), was a dental technician and his mother, Shifra (Serafima) Rabinovich (1876–1952), a dentist, which allowed the family to live outside the Pale of Settlement. As a result, Botvinnik grew up in Saint Petersburg's Nevsky Prospect. His father forbade speaking Yiddish at home. Botvinnik later recounted, 'I am a Jew by blood, a Russian by culture, Soviet by upbringing.' He called himself an atheist. In autumn 1923, at age twelve, Botvinnik was taught chess by a school friend of his older brother, using a home-made set, and instantly fell in love with the game. He finished in mid-table in the school championship, sought advice from another of his brother's friends, and concluded that for him it was better to think out 'concrete concepts' and then derive general principles from these – and went on to beat his brother's friend quite easily. In winter 1924, Botvinnik won his school's championship and exaggerated his age by three years to become a member of the Petrograd Chess Assembly. On a rest day during the Moscow 1925 chess tournament, world champion José Raúl Capablanca gave a simultaneous exhibition in Leningrad; Botvinnik was selected as one of his opponents and won his game.

Architect of a Chess Superpower

Botvinnik was the first world-class player to develop within the Soviet Union. He played a major role in the organization of chess, making a significant contribution to the design of the World Chess Championship system after World War II and becoming a leading member of the coaching system that enabled the Soviet Union to dominate top-class chess during that time. His pupils include World Champions Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, and Vladimir Kramnik. He is often described as the patriarch of the Soviet chess school and is revered for his analytical approach to chess. In 1931, at age 20, Botvinnik won his first Soviet Championship in Moscow, scoring 13½ out of 17. He commented that the field was not very strong, as some of the pre-Revolution masters were absent. In 1933, Botvinnik repeated his Soviet Championship win in Leningrad with 14/19, describing the results as evidence that Krylenko's plan to develop a new generation of Soviet masters had borne fruit. He and other young masters successfully requested the support of a senior Leningrad Communist Party official in arranging contests involving both Soviet and foreign players. Botvinnik used what he regarded as the first version of his method of preparing for a contest in a match against Salo Flohr, which was drawn. In his first tournament outside the USSR, the Hastings 1934–35, Botvinnik achieved only a tie for 5th–6th places with 5/9. He placed first equal with Flohr in Moscow's second International Tournament in 1935. In the Moscow 1936 double round-robin, he finished second, one point behind Capablanca and 2½ ahead of Flohr.

Engineer, Scientist, and the Machine

Botvinnik worked as an electrical engineer and computer scientist and was a pioneer in computer chess, for which he was awarded an honorary mathematics degree. In late summer 1931, he graduated with a degree in electrical engineering after completing a practical assignment on temporary transmission lines at the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station. He stayed on at the Leningrad Polytechnical Institute to study for a Candidate of Sciences degree. He had wanted to study Electrical Technology at the Leningrad Polytechnical Institute and passed the entrance examination; however, there was a persistent excess of applications and the Proletstud had a policy of admitting only children of engineers and industrial workers. After an appeal by a local chess official, he was admitted in 1928 to Leningrad University's Mathematics Department. In January 1929, the team manager, who was also deputy chairman of the Proletstud, secured Botvinnik a transfer to the Polytechnic's Electromechanical Department. As a twelve-year-old he had already concluded that it was better to think out 'concrete concepts' and then derive general principles from these. That inductive thinking ran through his entire career, whether he was annotating a game for publication, coaching a future champion, or programming a machine to evaluate positions.

Identity, Partnership, and Daily Discipline

Botvinnik's sense of self was layered. He later recounted, 'I am a Jew by blood, a Russian by culture, Soviet by upbringing.' He called himself an atheist. His father forbade speaking Yiddish at home. In 1920, his mother became ill and his father left the family, but maintained contact with the children. At about the same time, Botvinnik started reading newspapers and became a committed communist. In 1935, Botvinnik married Gayane Davidovna Ananova, of Armenian descent, who was the daughter of his algebra and geometry teacher. She was a student at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in Leningrad and, later, a ballerina in the Bolshoi Theatre. They had one daughter, named Olga, who was born in 1942. Around the time he was a teenager, his mother became concerned about his poor physique, and as a result he started a programme of daily exercise, which he maintained for most of his life.