Play Chess Against Mikhail Botvinnik

Mikhail Botvinnik (1911-1995), the patriarch of Soviet chess and world champion three separate times, sits across the board. Set the strength, clock, color and starting position, then press Start game.

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Portrait of Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik — Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, 1911-1995.

Black · Mikhail Botvinnik10:00

Choose the settings, then press Start game.

White · You10:00

Mikhail Botvinnikhistorical player

Preparing the board.

Set the game on the right. Start unlocks the board and starts the side-to-move clock.

Set up your game against Mikhail Botvinnik

Mikhail Botvinnik stays selected. Choose the playing strength, clock, color and starting position.

OpponentMikhail BotvinnikStrength1500Clock10+5You playWhite

Opponent

Mikhail Botvinnik remains selected while you choose the settings for this game.

Mikhail Botvinnik1911-1995

Playing strength

Legend playing strength100-point steps

1500

1500Botvinnik, 1500 Elo target2600

Time control

The first number is the starting time in minutes. The second is the increment after each completed legal move.

Your color

Starting position optional

All chess legends

Start game locks these settings and begins the selected clock. Change setup unlocks them for a new game.

About Mikhail Botvinnik

Mikhail Botvinnik at the 1948 World Championship tournament

Mikhail Botvinnik (1911-1995) was the sixth world champion and the patriarch of the Soviet chess school. An electrical engineer by training, he brought scientific discipline to preparation, training and self-analysis, and his methods became the template for every Soviet champion after him. He won the world title in 1948, lost it twice and regained it in rematches both times, a feat no one else has matched. His school counted Karpov, Kasparov and Kramnik among its pupils, three future champions shaped by one teacher.

Three-time world championWon the crown in 1948 and regained it in the 1958 and 1961 rematches

6x USSR championSix Soviet titles from 1931 to 1952, the first at age twenty

School of championsHis pupils included future world champions Karpov, Kasparov and Kramnik

Nottingham 1936 co-winnerShared first with Capablanca in one of the strongest prewar tournaments

1911
Born in Kuokkala
Mikhail Botvinnik was born on 17 August 1911 in Kuokkala, near St Petersburg, and raised in the city that became Leningrad.
1931
First Soviet title
Won the USSR championship at twenty, the first of six Soviet crowns.
1935
Moscow co-winner
Shared first at the Moscow international with Salo Flohr, ahead of former champions Lasker and Capablanca.
1936
Nottingham co-winner
Tied for first with Capablanca at Nottingham, one of the strongest tournaments of the prewar era.
1948
World champion
Won the championship match-tournament in The Hague and Moscow, finishing three points clear of Smyslov, Keres, Reshevsky and Euwe.
1958
Champion again
Lost the title to Vasily Smyslov in 1957, then won the rematch a year later. He also survived drawn matches against Bronstein and Smyslov earlier in the decade.
1961
One more comeback
After losing to Mikhail Tal in 1960 he out-prepared him in the rematch and took the crown back at fifty.
1963
Final match
Lost the title to Tigran Petrosian, with no rematch clause left to save him. His school would go on to shape Karpov, Kasparov and Kramnik.
1995
Death in Moscow
Died on 5 May 1995 in Moscow. Every Soviet and Russian champion after him studied his methods.