* Mikhail Botvinnik ( also three-time World Chess Champion )

Botvinnik was the first world-class player to develop within the Soviet Union ( Alekhine was a top player before the Russian Revolution ), putting him under political pressure but also giving him considerable influence within Soviet chess.

Smyslov later said his health suffered during the return match, as he came down with pneumonia, but he also acknowledged that Botvinnik had prepared very thoroughly.

Black also cannot force a Grünfeld with 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5, since White can deviate with 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. g3, a line played several times by Mikhail Botvinnik in 1958, in his final match for the world championship with Vasily Smyslov.

Botvinnik himself was also involved in chess program development.

In the past, a number of famous over-the-board players have also been International Judges, including Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, David Bronstein, Paul Keres, Yuri Averbakh and Wolfgang Unzicker, though in modern times the title is generally held by individuals largely unknown outside the world of problems.

Mikhail Botvinnik also warned against it.

The main modern preference is the retreat 7. Bb3, so that 7 ... b5 can be met with 8. a4, while 7. a4, stopping ... b5 at the cost of weakening the b4-square, is also popular, and was played by Mikhail Botvinnik in his 1963 match with Tigran Petrosian.

Simlarly, Siegbert Tarrasch played at Hastings and also played Mikhail Botvinnik in the 1930s but Botvinnik never faced Anand, as he had retired by the time Anand began playing.

This strategy seemed to catch Botvinnik by surprise ; the champion had not played competitively for three years since winning the title in 1948.

After winning the Candidates Tournament in Zürich 1953, with 18 / 28, two points ahead of Keres, Bronstein, and Samuel Reshevsky, Smyslov played a match with Botvinnik for the title the following year.

Keres played in his first Soviet Championship at Moscow 1940 ( URS-ch12 ), placing fourth (+ 9 = 6 − 4 ) in an exceptionally strong field, placing him ahead of the defending champion Mikhail Botvinnik, among others.

World champions Mikhail Botvinnik, Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrosian, Boris Spassky, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov have all played this variation.

Perhaps its high-water mark occurred in 1951, when both world champion Mikhail Botvinnik and his challenger, David Bronstein, played it in their World Championship match in 1951.

A future world champion played in that manner in Rauzer – Botvinnik, USSR Championship 1933.

Two moves before the position at right arose, Botvinnik had played 13 ... Rfd8, X-raying the white queen through the pawn on d6.

After his good performance in York, he was invited to participate in the prestigious Hastings tournament and played his famous game against Mikhail Botvinnik, the World Champion at the time.

The biggest and strongest tournament Menchik played in was the Moscow tournament of 1935, which featured World Champions Botvinnik, Capablanca, and Lasker, as well as a host of elite players and future GMs like Flohr, Ragozin, Spielmann, Levenfish, Lilenthal, etc.

The famous three-time world chess champion Mikhail Botvinnik played a game with Sargon in 1983 at Hamburg.

In 1945 he played on board one in the USA vs USSR radio match, losing both games to Mikhail Botvinnik, and in 1946 travelled to Moscow for the return match, losing both games against Vasily Smyslov.

Also in 1946, he played at the very strong Groningen tournament, scoring 9½ out of 19 and securing draws against Botvinnik and Smyslov.

Gligorić had the following record against the world champions he played against: Max Euwe + 2-0 = 5, Mikhail Botvinnik + 2 − 2 = 6, Vasily Smyslov + 6 − 8 = 28, Tigran Petrosian + 8 − 11 = 19, Mikhail Tal + 2 − 10 = 22, Boris Spassky + 0 − 6 = 16, Bobby Fischer + 4 − 7 = 8, Anatoly Karpov + 0 − 4 = 6 and Garry Kasparov + 0 − 3

In his long career, he played against ten male and female world champions, beating Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Max Euwe, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, and Vera Menchik.

He played in the celebrated 1970 " USSR versus Rest of the World " match on eighth board against Botvinnik, losing one game and drawing the other three.

The winner was Tal, who then played Botvinnik a match for the championship in 1960.

At twelve, he was accepted into Mikhail Botvinnik's prestigious chess school, though Botvinnik made the following remark about the young Karpov: " The boy does not have a clue about chess, and there's no future at all for him in this profession.

" Karpov acknowledged that his understanding of chess theory was very confused at that time, and wrote later that the homework which Botvinnik assigned greatly helped him, since it required that he consult chess books and work diligently.

Much like music, chess would remain a passion, and he became acquainted with world chess champions José Raúl Capablanca, whom he beat in a simultaneous exhibition match in 1914, and Mikhail Botvinnik.

** Mikhail Botvinnik, Russian chess player ( d. 1995 )

One of the few chess grandmasters to devote himself seriously to computer chess was former World Chess Champion Mikhail Botvinnik, who wrote several works on the subject.

In 1965 Botvinnik was a consultant to the ITEP team in a US-Soviet computer chess match ( see Kotok-McCarthy ).

As a child, Vladimir Kramnik studied in the chess school established by Mikhail Botvinnik.

With the tide turning towards an eventual Soviet war victory over the Nazi invaders, Bronstein was able to once again play some competitive chess, and he defeated Soviet champion Mikhail Botvinnik at the 1944 USSR Championship, which was his own first appearance at the Soviet top-standard event.

In 1938 he tied with Fine for first, with 8. 5 / 14, in the all-star AVRO tournament, held in various cities in the Netherlands, ahead of chess legends Mikhail Botvinnik, Max Euwe, Reshevsky, Alekhine, Capablanca and Flohr.

Chess historian Taylor Kingston investigated all the available evidence and arguments, and concluded that: Soviet chess officials gave Keres strong hints that he should not hinder Botvinnik's attempt to win the World Championship ; Botvinnik only discovered this about half-way though the tournament and protested so strongly that he angered Soviet officials ; Keres probably did not deliberately lose games to Botvinnik or anyone else in the tournament.

He was one of the five chess grandmasters to compete in the World Championship match tournament in The Hague / Moscow 1948 and finished in joint third place with Paul Keres, behind Mikhail Botvinnik and Vasily Smyslov.

Mikhail Botvinnik noted that Tylor was using a tactile chess board that he incessantly fingered, as well as a device for counting the number of moves made.

Gromov's mother, military physician Liya Rabinovich, was a first-degree cousin of the chess world champion Mikhail Botvinnik.

Mikhail Botvinnik considered Greco to be the first professional chess player.

* The world chess championship: 1951 ; Botvinnik v. Bronstein.

He won a quadrangular event at Leiden 1970 with 7 / 12, a point ahead of Jan Hein Donner, who was followed by Larsen and Botvinnik, the latter of whom was making what would be his final appearance in serious play.