Botvinnik Part 5:
The Champion in Decline

1963  |  SOVIET TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
We closed the last article on a somber note: Botvinnik had just lost the World Championship title to Petrosian. From here on he was not to contend for the highest title for the rest of his career.

His next event was the 1963 Soviet Team Championship. I have not been able to find too much information on this tournament, but I do know that Botvinnik played for the Moscow team (of course). He had a very good result, winning the second board prize (behind Petrosian, the new World Champion), and beating such strong players as Mark Taimanov and Ratmir Kholmov.  His game against Taimanov is below.

Final team standings:

1964  |  SOVIET TEAM CUP
Botvinnik’s next chance to play (aside from a few training games and a clock simul game he drew against future World Champion Anatoly Karpov) was at the 1964 Soviet Team Cup. He did like his team events, didn’t he? Botvinnik’s team ended up gaining the first prize. Once again Botivnnik got the prize for his board, this time board 1 (tied with Tal). It seems to me that after losing the World Championship title Botvinnik experienced a surge in his play (perhaps due to less pressure to perform). 

In this tournament undoubtedly the most gratifying moment for Botvinnik was his win against Petrosian that ended up securing the match win for his team. That game is given below. 

And here are the final team standings (Botvinnik represented “Trud”):

1964  |  CHESS OLYMPIAD, TEL AVIV
Botvinnik’s next venture over-the-board was yet another team event (!), this time the 1964 Olympiad in Tel Aviv. Botvinnik had a decent performance with four wins in the qualifying rounds and a +2 result in the finals. Due to an unfortunate loss to Gligoric it was only good enough for the 3rd prize for the second board, though of course the Soviet team triumphed in the final standings.

Overall Botvinnik did not have any special wins and did not have the kind of performance we have come to expect from him in team events. While Petrosian did not do so well, with the same +6 score as Botvinnik, the lower boards were the saving grace for the Soviet team.

Final team standings below.

1965  |  NOTEBOOM MEMORIAL, THE NETHERLANDS
Excluding various training games, Botvinnik’s next tournament was the 1965 Noteboom Memorial. This tournament was much lower than Botvinnik’s usual standards, with only two other truly strong players (Flohr and rising Dane Bent Larsen). He won quite triumphantly with 6/7, only drawing against Flohr and fellow GM Mikhail Bobotsov. 

Final standings:

1965  |  EUROPEAN TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS
Next up was the prestigious 1965 European Team Championship, where Botvinnik had a truly disappointing performance. After a decent start with 3.5/5 Botvinnik simply fell apart, losing three games in a row to decent Grandmasters; players who normally would never be able to compete with such a giant as Botvinnik. After that he did not play any further games. A vexing result that made it clear without a doubt that Botvinnik’s career was winding down. 

Final team standings:

1966  |  MOSCOW – LENINGRAD TEAM MATCH  |  MOSCOW TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
Following this inexplicable performance, Botvinnik participated in a Moscow-Leningrad team match and crushed Tolush 2-0. But his next real event was the 1966 Moscow Team Championship. I was only able to find three games (draws against Petrosian and Smyslov and the win below), and no final result.

One observation about Botvinnik’s later career: he tended to play much sharper openings. In the game below he played the Pirc (or “Rat”) defense, something he never would have hazarded in a Candidates match. But nevertheless he won a good game against IM Mikhail Yudovich.

1966  |  IBM INTERNATIONAL CHESS TOURNAMENT, AMSTERDAM
Next up was Botvinnik’s first individual tournament in quite a long time: the 1966 IBM International Chess Tournament in Amsterdam. Most of the participants were not quite as strong as Botvinnik’s usual competition (excluding perhaps Laszlo Szabo and Flohr). Unsurprisingly Botvinnik won his first 6 games, but suffered a surprising loss in the seventh round to a mostly unknown Dutch IM.

Luckily the great Russian had separated himself from the field enough that it didn’t make a difference, winning with an eventual 7.5/9 score: 2 points ahead of second place Arturo Pomar. In the game below Botvinnik completely humiliated a strong contender and fellow Grandmaster. Once again showcasing aggressive play it only took 23 moves (as black!) before the win was his.

Also of note: just before this tournament Petrosian defended his World Championship title against Spassky, proving that the win against Botvinnik was no fluke.

1966  |  USSR TEAM CHESS CUP
Next up was the 1966 USSR Team Chess Cup. Botvinnik had an incredible start, with a 5-0 spurt and wins against Smyslov, Keres, and recent World Championship challenger Spassky! Unfortunately, after two further draws, he stumbled at the end with losses against Tal and Petrosian.

Despite the unfortunate finish, Botvinnik won the first prize for the top board and led his team (Trud) to a second place finish (only half a game point behind the winners!). Also, Botvinnik clearly showed that when provoked he could still bite!

Here is his spectacular win against Keres:

And here are the final team standings:

1966/7  |  HASTINGS CHRISTMAS CONGRESS
Next up was the (again somewhat inferior) Hastings 1966/67 tournament. He won by a crisp full point, though I feel he could have achieved better than 6.5/9. Botvinnik had a disappointing 1.5/3 start (capped off by a loss to 19 year old whippersnapper Raymond Keene), but finished strongly with 5/6.

I couldn’t help but finish with this game against then World Junior Champion Bojan Kurajica. Botvinnik’s essaying of the Saemisch brings back memories of his “immortal” game against Capablanca (see the final game of part 1).