Mikhail Botvinnik: biography, achievements, photo

Mikhail Botvinnik (1911 - 1995) - modest, but a hard man, very goal-oriented, had a nature of the character of the champion, who perfected throughout his life. The chess school of Russia, which he created, is his main victory. In this article, we will try to tell you what a versatile person was Mikhail Botvinnik. His biography is not limited only to chess.

Childhood

Being in Israel in 1964, M. Botvinnik himself told about his childhood years about the following. My father was from a village near Minsk and was engaged in agriculture. He was a man of immense physical strength. Freely grabbed the bull by the horns and felled him to the ground. Botvinnik Mikhail Moiseyevich himself assumed that everything was inherited from his father - both character and physical becoming. My father went to Petersburg to study for a dental technician. There he met Serafima Samoylovna Rabinovich, a dentist. They were married, because they were not only professionally close, but spiritually - both participated in the 1905 revolution. The technician of the future champion's father was magnificent. And soon the young family, in which the first son Isaac was born, moved to a huge sunny seven-room apartment on Nevsky. There was a cook in the family, a bonny, a maid. And then came the 17th year, when it was necessary to hide from unexpected guests. The father left the family in the year 20 and married again. In that marriage, he had two daughters, and my mother raised the children herself. But their father helped them financially.

Introduction to chess

A friend of his brother, who lived in a neighboring yard, at the age of 12 showed Misha how they played chess. By this time Mikhail Botvinnik had already studied at school and read all the classical literature: Lermontov, Gogol, Turgenev. He especially loved War and Peace and Pushkin. Later he became acquainted with the works of M. Zoshchenko and fell in love with them. He later recognized the author, who believed in him not only as a chess player, but also as a man who will achieve a lot in life. But this was already in 1933. In the meantime, Misha learned everything himself in chess. Lasker's notes were recorded in the notebooks and commented on them. This is what Mikhail Botvinnik chose as a sport - chess.

Attitudes of parents

Misha went to the chess club. But when he told his father about this, he was sharply negative towards his son's enthusiasm. He simply believed that this is a gamble like cards. And the mother did not approve of his son's enthusiasm. When in 1926 an invitation came to her son from Stockholm, she got nervous and ran to school with a request not to let a teenager go abroad. But at school her concerns were treated with irony and Misha was released to Sweden. Mother and father reconciled with chess only one thing: that this is not a profession, but, hobby. And not to play Mikhail Botvinnik simply could not. And he did not have a coach. I did everything myself. I read books on chess, analyzed. Until the end of his days, he believed that the chess player should do everything himself: analyze, and analyze again. This is the main thing, and information in our days is not difficult to obtain.

Studies, work and chess

Mikhail Botvinnik early, when he was not yet 16 years old, finished school, and from the spot into the quarries gets to the national championship. The results are magnificent: nine wins, seven draws and four defeats. He was the youngest member. And only a year later he could apply and enter the Polytechnic Institute. Chess is somewhat pushed aside. But while studying at the institute, and later in graduate school, Michael participates in sports tournaments. In 1933, at the national championship, having gathered all the forces, he gets a victory. In the same year at the match with S. Flore an honorable draw. But the whole West believed in this champion of Czechoslovakia. For this victory, Botvinnik was awarded a car and the title of grandmaster of the USSR.

Marriage

In the year 34, an acquaintance took place at a friend's table with a neighbor on the table. It was a young, graceful, black-haired, beautiful ballerina. He accompanied her home in the pouring rain. A year later, the wedding took place. The happy marriage lasted fifty-two years. Wise Gayane Davydovna, if she could not go to the tournament with her husband, she always recommended not paying attention to anything. She advised her husband to protect the nervous system. And she cited the example of Galina Ulanova, who came to the play two hours before the beginning and did not talk to anyone, was preparing.

International victories

In 1936, the leading chess players of the world - Euwe, Lasker, Capablanca, Alyokhin - gathered at the match in England. Botvinnik and Capablanca shared 1 and 2 places. In 1938 Botvinnik-Capablanca's party won the prize "For Beauty", and in the same place Mikhail Moiseyevich beat Alekhin.

He won 3rd place. These victories enabled the chess player to believe in his strength. At the World Championships, Michael agreed to compete with Alyokhin, but the war began. All the years of the war the grandmaster worked as an electrical engineer in Perm and at all the championships of the USSR consistently ranked first. The meeting with Alekhine was postponed to 1946, but the world champion died suddenly. In 1948 he immediately took the lead in the World Cup and lost only two games to him Mikhail Botvinnik. The world champion was the first time a Soviet man. Since 1948, having won the title of world champion, Botvinnik ceased to speak, and the break lasted three years. He seriously studied science. In 1951 he defended his doctorate in electrical engineering. This could not but affect the quality of his game in this year.

World Championships

• In 1951, at the match with David Bronshtein was a draw, but the title of champion was left for Mikhail Moiseyevich.

• In 1954, at the tournament with V. Smyslov also was a draw.
• In 1957, he did not outstrip Vasily Vasilievich Smyslov, but in 1958 Botvinnik won the rematch.
• In 1960, he lost to Mikhail Tal, but in 1961 - again a victory, and very convincing.
• And only in 1963 he was ahead of Tigran Petrosyan.

That is, 15 years it was the undisputed world champion. Mikhail Botvinnik continued to win other international competitions after that.

Relationships in Championships

The first, with whom all relations were terminated, was D. Bronshtein, since he behaved unethically. In the hall opposite the scene in the box sat his fans, and if he won a pawn, then at once applause was heard. And Bronstein, after making a move, quickly ran behind the stage, and then returned. This meltdown prevented Botvinnik from concentrating. In addition, Bronstein, a KGB worker, was against playing Alekhin-Botvinnik. He recommended the chess player to declare Alekhine as a man who cooperates with the Nazis, and deprive him of the title of world champion without fighting.

T. Petrosyan also behaved, if to say gently, incorrectly. During one of the matches, he was incredibly capricious: he refused to sign an unimportant paragraph in the rules of the match, then agreed, then refused again. This meant only one thing - he wanted to pat his nerves Botvinnik. Well, when the match began, Petrosyan's fans began to pour earth brought from Armenia before entering the stairs. How did Botvinnik react to this? As a disgrace. He suggested that if the holy land from Jerusalem were poured before him, he would suggest that these "initiators" simply sweep the floor.

Distinctive traits of character

Persistence and persistence, the ability to set a goal and, without being distracted, to follow it. The spirit of the matches was usually militant. The grandmaster worked hard on this , as well as on physical training. After all, in intense tournament battles much energy was spent. The chess player himself believed that if he added weight during the tournament, then, it means that he did not give it in the game. And in order to better maintain the physical form, during responsible games, he always backed himself with chocolate.

At home

The family lived in a usual two-room apartment. It consisted of five people, including a nanny for the daughter. The table in the house was one. The child was doing his homework on it, and Mikhail Moiseyevich was laying out a chessboard. And in 1951 during a match with Bronstein at night, not to interfere with the home, sat and thought through the party in the bathroom, and the board was on the basket with linens.

Being a great specialist in engineering (doctor of sciences, professor), he took all the man's homework. Own hands, for example, repaired plumbing. Once in the country, all dirty, he was doing something in the well. A neighboring neighbor, Brezhnev's assistant, passed by, and seeing a dirty mess, he casually dropped: "And then come to me." Misunderstanding was resolved when they met.

The house on the site, allotted in 1949, according to his own calculations and drawings, Mikhail Moiseyevich himself built himself.

In his life he was completely unpretentious. He liked delicious food, but he could only be satisfied with buckwheat porridge.

In the scientific laboratory

In the laboratory he did not have a table. It was not accidental. Mikhail Moiseyevich believed that the seat discourages and prevents thinking. He devoted himself, for about thirty years, to the creation of the chess program "Pioneer". And she won the victory in Canada over a similar foreign.

The scientist also responded to the tragedy in Chernobyl. He believed that nuclear power plants should be built only where people do not live, in the Far North, for example. But the "tops" answered this proposal with complete silence.

The creation of the Soviet Chess School

Mikhail Botvinnik created a new method of preparing for competitions, developed theoretical questions of the chess game. His debut developments are original, when Black plays with the interception of the initiative. With a new look, the grandmaster looked at a number of typical positions. Mikhail Botvinnik re-analyzed the theory and practice of the endgame.

Mikhail Moiseevich played for his life 1,202 games and participated in 59 tournaments. Two of his students became world champions - Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov.

Details about the hero of our article can be found in the book written by Linder, Mikhail Botvinnik: Life and the Game, the reader who will open it, learns not only about his personal and sport life, but he will also be able to look at the chess games.