Botvinnik Toppled

MIKHAIL Botvinnik, in his book One Hundred Selected Games, includes four games from his 1940 match against long-time training partner Viacheslav Ragozin.

The latter did not win a game in that match, but the following year, when they played five more games, Ragozin managed to win one, and I thought it would be interesting to look at how that happened.

Botvinnik - Ragozin

Queen's Gambit Declined

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Nf3 h6 6.Bxf6!?

More popular in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database is 6.Bh4, but Stockfish17 and Dragon1 marginally prefer the text at first, although they come to fluctuate between the two moves.

6...Bxf6 7.Qd3!?

This continuation has found few followers, although Jan Timman played it in a 1998 rapid game.

7...0-0 8.e4

White is not being subtle

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8...dxe4
Ivan Ivanišević (2611) - Stelios Halkias (2588), Serbian Team Championship 2010, went 8...dxc4!? 9.Qxc4 c6 10.e5 Be7 11.Bd3 b6 12.Be4!? Bb7 13.Rd1!? Nd7 14.h4!? b5 15.Qb3 Qb6 16.0-0, with equal chances, according to the engines (½–½, 28 moves).

9.Qxe4!?

By transposition the game has reached a position occurring 28 times in Mega25.

9...c5 10.0-0-0!?

This is the move Botvinnik has apparently been leading up to. It is not liked by the engines.

10...cxd4 11.Nxd4 Qb6 12.Bd3 Rd8?!

Probably better is 12...g6, which was seen in two subsequent games.

13.Nb3!? Nd7?!

The engines prefer other moves, including, again, ...g6.

14.Qh7+ Kf8 15.Rhe1 Ne5 16.c5!? Qc7

There is no time to snap off the white bishop as 16...Nxd3+? 17.Rxd3 Qc7 can be met by 18.Rxd8+ Qxd8 19.Rd1, eg 19...Qc7 20.Rd6 Bxc3 21.bxc3 a5 22.Nd4!? with what seems a winning attack.

17.Bc2 Bd7?!

Even here the engines suggest 17...g6!?, or first exchanging a pair of rooks and then ...g6, even though White has Qxh6+.

How should White proceed?

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18.Rd6?

The engines reckon both 18.Ne4 and 18.f4 win, whereas after the text they give Black the upper hand.

18...Be8?

This is much inferior to 18...Bc6, according to the engines.

19.Nd5!? exd5 20.Rxf6! gxf6 21.Qxh6+ Ke7 22.f4 d4 23.fxe5 fxe5

White is the exchange down, but has a winning move, according to the engines

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24.Be4?

The engines reckon 24.Qh4+! wins, eg 24...f6 25.Rf1 Qc6 26.Na5 Qa6 27.Bd3! b5 28.a4!? Rac8 29.b4 Qe6 30.axb5 with a continuing attack. They also prefer other moves to the text, including 24.Rf1 and 24.Bd3.

24...a5!? 25.g4 Ra6 26.Qh4+ f6 27.g5 a4!? 28.Qh7+ Bf7 29.g6 Rf8

This difficult game has reached a completely equal position, according to the engines, but it is White to play and lose

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30.gxf7?

Now the black king is safe (better was 30,Nxd4! Qxc5+ 31.Nc2), but after ...

30...axb3

... the white king is open to attack.

Botvinnik resigned as there is nothing better than 31.a3, when 31...Qxc5+ is good enough, but even better is first 31...Rxf7 as ...Qxc5+ cannot be stopped.

Opening Knowledge

A FRIEND complained this week I had not written much recently about openings.

Well here is a game that features instructive notes by a future world champion in action against a future world correspondence champion.

Notes in italics are algebraicised from Mikhail Botvinnik's 100 Selected Games.

Opening theory has moved on since the book was first published in the Soviet Union in 1949, but Botvinnik's general observations are still pertinent.

Mikhail Botvinnik -Viacheslav Ragozin

Match (Leningrad) 1940

Slav Defence

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3!? Nf6

Since the eighth game of the Keres-Euwe match (1940), 3...dxc4 is rarely played - the variation 4.e4 e5 5.Nf3 exd4 6.Qxd4 is obviously in White's favour.

Today 3...dxc4!? is more respectable, the idea usually being to meet 4.e4 with 4...b5!?, eg 5.a4 b4 6.Na2 Nf6 7.e5 Nd5 8.Bxc4 e6, with equality, according to Stockfish17 and Dragon1.

4.e3!?

The main move is 4.Nf3, while also popular is 4.cxd5. Garry Kasparov has tried all three.

4...g6

With the order of moves White has chosen (3.Nc3, and not 3.Nf3), 4...Bf5 is bad because of 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Qb3. But if Black does not wish to play 4...e6 either - it may lead to the Meran Variation - he cannot do better than play the Schlechter Variation (4...g6).

Stockfish17 disagrees, reckoning 4...Bf5 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Qb3 can be met by 6...Nc6!?, a move that first appears in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database in 1998. After 7.Qxb7 Bd7 8.Qb3 Rb8 9.Qd1!? e5 the engines judge Black's compensation for a pawn to be just about sufficient.

5.Nf3 Bg7

This position occurs 12,343 times in Mega25, going back to at least Pillsbury - Gunsberg, Hastings 1895 (1-0, 40 moves)

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6.Bd3 0-0 7.0-0 Bg4!?

A dubious system of development in use 25 years ago [ie the mid-1920s]. True, Black has solved the problem of development of the QB, but he leaves White the advantage of the pair of bishops.

The text is the engines' top choice.

8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 dxc4?!

A positional error. White's two bishops may be powerful if the game is opened, so Black should not have exchanged in the centre. 9...e6 is more logical.

Ragozin apparently agreed as in later games he played 9...e6 and, once, 9...e5?

10.Bxc4 Nbd7 11.Rd1 e5

Bogoljubow, against Marshall (Baden-Baden 1925), played 11...Ne8, but did not equalise the game. The text move also is no novelty; it occurred in a Bogoljubow-Rabinovich game, played in the USSR Fourth Championship (Leningrad 1925).

Now, of course, it is not in White's interest to play 12.dxe5 Nxe5, but he can operate on the d file with d5. This has the advantage that Black's bishop remains blocked.

12.d5 c5?

Rabinovich played 12...Qc7 and was left with an inferior game.

The text seems even worse. The correct treatment of the position was introduced by Lidia Semenova (2225) in her 1983 women candidates' quarter-final match, ie 12...e4! 13.Nxe4 Nxe4 14.Qxe4 Nb6, eg 15.Bb3 cxd5 16.Bxd5 Re8!? 17.Qf3 Nxd5 18.Rxd5, when 18...Qc7 leaves Black with good compensation for a pawn (Stcokfish17) or at most slightly worse (Dragon1).

13.d6!

This move should be made before e4 as White, in attacking the b7 pawn with his queen, gains a tempo.

13...Rb8 14.e4 Ne8

Black makes an attempt to capture the d pawn, but nothing comes of it. Moreover, even if he were to succeed, White would still have the better position as he would control files for his pieces. White's sole danger would arise if Black could transfer a knight to d4, but he cannot.

15.Be3 a6 16.a4 Rc8

Of course, neither now nor earlier could Black play ...Qb6, because of Nd5, and if ...Qxb2 then Bg5, leading to capture of the queen.

The point is that after 16...Qb6?! 17.Nd5 Qxb2? the move 18.Bg5!? (there are also other strong continuations) more-or-less obliges Black to play 18...Nxd6, when 19.Ra2 wins (18.Ra2 is even more straightforward).

17.Rd2 h6

The attempt to win the pawn could still be refuted by various means. The simplest would be 17...Rc6 18.Rad1 Nb6 19.Bd5 Nxd5 20.Rxd5, and White breaks through Black's front. Nor is the manoeuvre ...Nb8-c6-d4 possible.

Black is preparing 18...Nef6, which if played at once would be dubious because of 18.Bg5. In addition his aim is to transfer his e8 knight through f6/h7/g5/e6 to d4.

18.Rad1 Nef6 19.Nd5

White prevents the above-mentioned knight manoeuvre, and every exchange increases the strength of the d pawn.

19...Nxd5

19...Nh7?? 20.Ne7+ etc.

20.Bxd5 Rb8 21.Qe2 Kh7 22.Rc2 Qf6?!

This is a serious error. The c pawn needs protection, so Black should have played 22...Qa5, and although after 23.b3 all Back's pieces occupy passive positions, there is no obvious immediate threat to them. Even so, because of the pawn on d6, White's win is only a matter of time.

23.Ba2 Rbc8

Otherwise 24.Bxc5.

The engines suggest 23...b5!?, albeit agreeing White is winning.

24.b4

Black has no way of defending the c pawn, so he is forced to let the white rook penetrate to the seventh rank.

24...cxb4 25.Rc7 Rxc7

This of course speeds the denouement, but it is obvious that against White's two powerful bishops, the pawn on d6, a rook on the seventh rank, and equality in material, the 'struggle' would not be very interesting.

26.dxc7 Nb6

26...Qc6 could be met by 27.Qc4.

27.Bxb6 Qxb6 28.Qc4 Rc8 29.Rd7 Qc6 30.Qxc6 bxc6 31.Rxf7 c5 32.Be6 1-0