Botvinnik Part 6:
Final Years

1967  |  SOVIET TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
We left off with Botvinnik’s triumphant win in Hastings 1966/67. Next up was the 1967 Soviet Team Championship. On board two in the qualifying stage, Botvinnik was cruising with 3-0 … up until a loss to Dzindzichashvili. Nevertheless the Moscow team won all matches in the preliminary stage, and eventually won the tournament, in part due to Botvinnik’s strong 3/4 finish in the finals (with wins against Polugaevsky and Taimanov and draws against Geller and Boleslavsky). 

Botvinnik also won the prize for best performer on board two. A great showing by the 56 year old veteran! Below is another win (see the first game of part 5) against Taimanov:

And here are the final team standings (with Botvinnik being in team Moscow):

1966-7  |  PALMA DE MALLORCA
December 1967 was to bring Botvinnik’s first individual tournament since Hastings 1966/67 in Palma de Mallorca. It was perhaps not the best field (with 10 GMs, 6 IMs and and two players internationally untitled), but such strong players as Larsen, Smyslov and Lajos Portisch were also taking place. 

Botvinnik put up a good fight but in the end Larsen finished just a bit ahead. Botvinnik won against the great Danish player three rounds before the finish, cutting the gap between the two to half a point. But meanwhile, Botvinnik coasted to the finish line with three draws. With Larsen’s surprising loss against IM Medina Garcia with one round to go it seemed that Botvinnik had done enough, but Larsen finished with a win to secure the win. 

Below is his important win against tournament winner Larsen:

And here are the final standings:

1968  |  MONTE CARLO
In April 1968 it was time for Botvinnik to head to Monte Carlo for yet another individual tournament. This was a similar field to Palma de Mallorca, with Larsen, Smyslov, and Portisch. Still, this time around there were other more esteemed GM’s also, including Pal Benko and Vlastimil Hort. 

The tournament had a similar beginning to Palma de Mallorca. Larsen quickly distanced himself from the field. He held against Botvinnik and entered the last round with a full point lead (over Botvinnik). With the victory seemingly secured he might have entered the last round a bit peaceably inclined. But alas, Robert Byrne mustered a great victory! 

Unfortunately Botvinnik did not take his chance to catch up to the leader. In the last round he took a quick draw. To me this seems like one of the reasons Botvinnik started declining: at the end of long tournaments he started running out of stamina… and in turn taking quick draws in crucial last rounds.

Having said that, he could still be very energetic in the early rounds. Here is his brilliant sacrificial win against Portisch:

And here are the final standings:

1969  |  HOOGOVENS INTERNATIONAL
Aside from a few games that I could find no attribution to, Botvinnik’s next tournament was the Hoogovens 1969 International Tournament … better known now as Wijk aan Zee. While again not a top notch field, a few former Candidates for the top title were playing (e.g. Geller, Benko and Keres). 

Botvinnik had a solid performance, drawing against the top 9 finishers (himself excluded) and winning against the bottom 6. Still, it is somewhat disappointing that he drew the last 6(!) games in a row. Luckily it was enough to tie for first with Geller (who also finished with a streak of 4 draws). 

Here is his early win against young GM William Lombardy:

And here are the final standings:

1969  |  BELGRADE
Next up was the 1969 Belgrade tournament, and here Botvinnik was simply unrecognizable. How often has Botvinnik contrived to lose two games in a row? While Botvinnik did pick up a few wins later he never contended for first prize and finished in a terrible seventh place (out of 16). 

Here is one of his crowning achievements of the tournament, a win against the first place finisher:

And here are the final standings:

1970  |  USSR VS REST OF THE WORLD  |  FINAL TOURNAMENT
Aside from a few training games (where his GM opponent played remarkably awful chess), Botvinnik’s next chess venture was the legendary 1970 USSR vs. Rest of the World match. It really shows what an incredible field this must have been for Botvinnik to be placed on board eight! 

Botvinnik got a rematch against Matulovic, with a decent 3 draws and one win performance. Eventually the USSR clinched the match win by the slimmest of margins (you can find more analysis of this match in my article about it). 

And now, the moment has finally come. We all knew it would arrive at some point. Botvinnik’s last tournament.

The Oegstgeest (don’t ask me how to pronounce that) match tournament was a worthy last hurrah for the former World champion. The format was that of a quadruple round robin. Each participant plays the others four times. And Botvinnik’s performance was not heartening. 

He drew all four games against the newly crowned World Champion Spassky along with Dutch GM Donner. If he had won his match against Larsen it might not have been so bad. But he lost against Larsen, with a solitary draw, one win, and two losses to finish tied with the Dane for last place.

FINAL YEARS AND LEGACY
After Oegstgeest, Botvinnik abruptly stopped playing and focused solely on teaching. Indeed, in 1963 he opened his own chess school for talented Soviet players and taught such a great of the game as Anatoly Karpov. He also played a role in the teaching of Vladimir Kramnik and Alexei Shirov.

But his favorite student was without a doubt Garry Kasparov. Botvinnik spent a lot of time on his favorite student. He is quoted as saying (of Kasparov): “The future of chess lies in the hands of this young man.” And for many years after they stayed in close contact, and Botvinnik must have been a big influence on the future World Champion.

Most likely he stopped playing in tournaments in part due to lack of motivation (if he could not play up to his own standards why bother?) and the fact that he was taking on more teaching obligations. He was also working very hard in the field of computers. Remember that in his main job he was an electrical engineer. Interstingly, he is also the very last World Champion to have a professional career other than chess itself.

Near the end of his life he completed an impressive project called the “PIONEER” computer program. This computer was later j’adoubed a bit, and acquired the ability to maintain power stations throughout the USSR. A big part of this final result was due to Botvinnik’s hard work.

At 83 years of age and suffering from pancreatic cancer, Botvinnik passed away on May 5, 1995. And so passed the Soviet Union’s first World Champion and one of chess’ greatest thinkers, to be remembered in the pantheons of history.

Mikhail Botvinnik, shortly before his death in 1995