On 22 November 1938,

Mikhail Botvinnik Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, ( – May 5, 1995) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster. The sixth World Chess Champion, he also worked as an electrical engineer and computer scientist and was a pioneer in computer chess. Botvinnik ...

(playing

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

) defeated

José Raúl Capablanca José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (19 November 1888 – 8 March 1942) was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. A chess prodigy, he is widely renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play. Capablanc ...

(playing black) in one of the most famous games in

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

history. The game was played in round 11 of the

AVRO tournament The AVRO tournament was a famous chess tournament held in the Netherlands in 1938, sponsored by the Dutch broadcasting company AVRO. The event was a double round-robin tournament between the eight strongest players in the world. Paul Keres and ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

. Capablanca was a former

World Chess Champion The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has held the title since 2013. The first event recognized as a world championship was the 1886 match ...

(1921-27), while Botvinnik would later become World Champion himself (1948-57). The game was widely praised, including by

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born 13 April 1963) is a Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist and commentator. His peak rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by ...

who said:

..Botvinnik played what was altogether the "game of his life" against Capablanca. It was not just that it was judged the most brilliant in the tournament and to be worth two first prizes, but it was even suggested that, by analogy with the "
immortal Immortality is the ability to live forever, or eternal life. Immortal or Immortality may also refer to: Film * ''The Immortals'' (1995 film), an American crime film * ''Immortality'', an alternate title for the 1998 British film '' The Wisdom of ...
" and "
evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...
" games, it should be called "peerless" or "classical"!

This was the last game between the two before Capablanca's death in 1942; he was suffering poor health during the tournament. Botvinnik and Capablanca had previously played seven other games of competitive tournament chess, including another game with the opposite colours at the same tournament a few days prior, which was drawn. In 1925, Botvinnik (then aged 14) had beaten Capablanca in an exhibition

simultaneous game In game theory, a simultaneous game or static game is a game where each player chooses their action without knowledge of the actions chosen by other players. Simultaneous games contrast with sequential games, which are played by the players takin ...

The game

White: Mikhail Botvinnik Black: José Capablanca Tournament: AVRO, Netherlands 1938

Opening Opening may refer to: * Al-Fatiha, "The Opening", the first chapter of the Qur'an * The Opening (album), live album by Mal Waldron * Backgammon opening * Chess opening * A title sequence or opening credits * , a term from contract bridge * , ...

Nimzo-Indian Defense The Nimzo-Indian Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. d4 Nf6 :2. c4 e6 :3. Nc3 Bb4 Other move orders, such as 1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.d4 Bb4, are also feasible. In the ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'', the Nimzo-Indian ...

('' ECO'' E49) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 :White gets

doubled pawns In chess, doubled pawns are two pawn (chess), pawns of the same color residing on the same Chess terminology#File, file. Pawns can become doubled only when one pawn captures onto a file on which another friendly pawn resides. In the diagram, the w ...

but they quickly get undoubled. 6... c5 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bd3 0-0 9. Ne2 b6 10. 0-0 Ba6 11. Bxa6 Nxa6 12. Bb2 Qd7 13. a4 Rfe8 14. Qd3 c4 :After the game, Botvinnik suggested 14...Qb7 as an alternative here. 15. Qc2 Nb8 16. Rae1 Nc6 17. Ng3 Na5 18. f3 :White prepares to make use of his central in order to gain , and, later on, to attack Black's king. Black's knight moves to an outpost on the b3-square, but it proves unable to defend against White's advances. 18... Nb3 19. e4 Qxa4 20. e5 Nd7 21. Qf2 g6 22. f4 f5 23. exf6 e.p. Nxf6 24. f5 Rxe1 25. Rxe1 Re8? 26. Re6 Rxe6 27. fxe6 Kg7 28. Qf4 Qe8 29. Qe5? Qe7? (see diagram) :According to

Graham Burgess Graham K. Burgess (born 24 February 1968 in Liverpool, England) is an English FIDE Master of chess and a noted writer and trainer. He became a FIDE Master at the age of twenty. He attended Birkdale High School in Southport, Merseyside. In 198 ...

,Burgess, Nunn, & Emms, 2004, pp. 167-68 Black's best try was 29...h6 30.h4! (30.Ne2 might

draw Draw, drawing, draws, or drawn may refer to: Common uses * Draw (terrain), a terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges or spurs with low ground in between them * Drawing (manufacturing), a process where metal, glass, or plastic or anything ...

) 30...Na5! 31.Bc1! Qe7 32.Bg5! with winning chances for White; however, the move played leads to a tactical

combination In mathematics, a combination is a selection of items from a set that has distinct members, such that the order of selection does not matter (unlike permutations). For example, given three fruits, say an apple, an orange and a pear, there are th ...

that wins instantly. 30. Ba3 :White draws Black's queen away from blockading the

passed pawn In chess, a passed pawn is a pawn with no opposing pawns to prevent it from advancing to the eighth ; i.e. there are no opposing pawns in front of it on either the same or adjacent files. A passed pawn is sometimes colloquially called a ''pass ...

. 30... Qxa3 :Black has no choice because otherwise White's passed pawn advances (31.e7). 31. Nh5+! :This

sacrifice Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exi ...

of the knight must be accepted because of the

fork In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from la, furca 'pitchfork') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tines with which one can spear foods ei ...

of Black's knight and king. Black's knight cannot take White's, however, due to the

pin A pin is a device used for fastening objects or material together. Pin or PIN may also refer to: Computers and technology * Personal identification number (PIN), to access a secured system ** PIN pad, a PIN entry device * PIN, a former Dutch de ...

on it by White's queen. White regains the knight by a queen fork next move. 31... gxh5 32. Qg5+ Kf8 33. Qxf6+ Kg8 34. e7 Qc1+ 35. Kf2 Qc2+ 36. Kg3 Qd3+ 37. Kh4 Qe4+ 38. Kxh5 Qe2+ 39. Kh4 Qe4+ 40. g4 Qe1+ 41. Kh5 :Black is out of useful

checks Check or cheque, may refer to: Places * Check, Virginia Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Check'' (film), a 2021 Indian Telugu-language film * ''The Checks'' (episode), a 1996 TV episode of ''Seinfeld'' Games and sports * Check (chess), a thr ...

and is faced with the threat of

mate Mate may refer to: Science * Mate, one of a pair of animals involved in: ** Mate choice, intersexual selection ** Mating * Multi-antimicrobial extrusion protein, or MATE, an efflux transporter family of proteins Person or title * Friendship ...

with Qf8. If 41...h6, then White promotes the pawn after 42.Qg6+ Kh8 43.e8=Q+, mating after 43...Qxe8 44.Qxe8+ Kg7 45.Qe7+ followed by 46.Kxh6 and 47.Qg7#. :Black

resigned Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...

Notes

References

* *{{Citation , last=Kasparov, first=Garry, authorlink=Garry Kasparov , year=2003 , title=

My Great Predecessors ''My Great Predecessors'' is a series of chess books written by former World Chess Champion, World Champion Garry Kasparov et al. The five volumes in the ''My Great Predecessors'' series are about the players who preceded Kasparov in being offici ...

, part II , publisher =

Everyman Chess Everyman Chess, formerly known as Cadogan Chess, is a major publisher of books and CDs about chess. "Everyman" is a registered trademark of Random House and the company headquarters is in London. Former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov is the ...

, isbn= 1-85744-342-X

External links

Game score with annotations
at

Chessgames.com Chessgames.com is an Internet chess community with over 224,000 members. The site maintains a large database of chess games, where each game has its own discussion page for comments and analysis. Limited primarily to games where at least one pla ...

Analysis of the game
(

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

) Chess games 1938 in chess November 1938 sports events

The game

See also

Notes

References

External links