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Chessville
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Being probably the first truly modern world champion, Botvinnik's method of training and preparation were both mysterious and the matter of much speculation. I grew up in the age of the Informants, and scurrying around to find newspaper columns with games or any scrap of international news was as much a part of chess as carrying a set. In those days we all reveled at the work of the Soviets, with Botvinnik being the greatest example of preparation of them all. We had access to his games, of course, but as to the work he did behind the scenes we had only rumor. Generations have come and gone with that speculation. Now, as if one of the gods from Olympus has descended, a book appears with much information about Botvinnik's preparation. CENSORED! Botvinnik's Secret Games contains the scores of 97 of Botvinnik's training games. The author states that three of the games had been previously published, but otherwise these are all new to the chess playing world. Trying to compare this to the discovery of lost artifacts in other fields is very difficult because of the nature of the games and the time span they carry. The first games were played in 1936 for a Soviet Championship and the final games for the 1970 USSR vs. the World match. Spanning three generations, these games represent an entire change in the approach to chess by professionals, perhaps even determining the necessary efforts to be a professional chess player.
The intriguing thing in all of this is the nature of the scores. Timman makes reference in the book to games that Botvinnik believes were communicated to his adversaries. Since it was likely one of the conditions of playing that the score remain a secret it becomes a question of where the scores had been kept? Perhaps Botvinnik's personal records contained them as he was not a man to release information lightly. Or perhaps there was some Soviet archive? The three games previously published were against Averbakh, a highly placed official in the Soviet system who would hardly fear any backlash from Botvinnik. In any case, after nearly 40 years we have access to the scores and the rumors that had been such a part of the chess drama have been proven correct. The games themselves are of an uneven quality. Some of the games were adjourned and never finished. Commentaries by Averbakh explain that Botvinnik wanted to play in "tournament like" conditions and would have the radio on in the background for the entire game, simulating spectator noise. A fair number of the games are annotated by Timman, whose notes are always worthy of attention. The really fascinating part is the commentary about the situations that games were played in. We see Botvinnik playing 1.e4 and the Black side of the Benoni and Kings Indian in preparation for Tal, spawning novelties in the Slav for a return match with Smyslov, and games in that defense most associated with Botvinnik's name, the French. This is truly an amazing bit of chess history that has come to light. I suspect that the largest percentage of today's chessplayers know Botvinnik only in name and do not fathom the enormity of the effect that Botvinnik has had on the chess world. To players later in age we know many names and many tales, but none carries the importance of Botvinnik. Perhaps in 60 years we will be treated to some mysterious lost archive of Kasparov's work.
From the Publisher's Website:
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