Alexander Kotov
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Alexander Alexandrovich Kotov (Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Ко́тов; – 8 January 1981) was a Soviet
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 ...
grandmaster and author. He was a Soviet chess champion, a two-time world title
Candidate A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example: * to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs. * t ...
, and a prolific writer on the subject of chess. Kotov served in high posts in the Soviet Chess Federation, and wrote most of his books during the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
. The importance and breadth of Kotov's work rank him among the all-time greats in this field.


Early life

Kotov was born in Tula, which was part of the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
, to a large
working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colo ...
family. He moved to
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
in 1939 to study
engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
, and during this time studied chess a great deal.


Chess career

While best remembered today as an author, Kotov also had a number of good results as a player. One of his best early results was his second-place finish in the 1939 USSR Championship, in which he just missed out to
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 ...
in the final round. This result won him the Soviet Grandmaster title, the third Soviet player to hold the title after Botvinnik and
Grigory Levenfish Grigory Yakovlevich Levenfish (russian: Григо́рий Я́ковлевич Левенфи́ш;  – 9 February 1961) was a Soviet chess player who scored his peak competitive results in the 1920s and 1930s. He was twice USSR Chess Champ ...
. Kotov was Moscow champion in 1941. He won the Soviet title jointly with
David Bronstein David Ionovich Bronstein (russian: Дави́д Ио́нович Бронште́йн; February 19, 1924 – December 5, 2006) was a Soviet and Ukrainian chess player. Awarded the title of International Grandmaster by FIDE in 1950, he narro ...
in 1948, and won at Venice in 1950, ahead of
Vasily Smyslov Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov ( rus, Васи́лий Васи́льевич Смысло́в, Vasíliy Vasíl'yevich Smyslóv; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, who was World Chess Champion from 1957 to ...
. The first ever Candidates Tournament of 1950—which determined who would challenge the World Champion (then, Botvinnik)—was held in Budapest. Kotov scored 8.5/18. He had qualified for the event by finishing fourth in the 1948
Interzonal Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by the World Chess Federation FIDE from the 1950s to the 1990s. They were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle and were held after the Zonal tournaments, and before the C ...
Tournament in Stockholm, scoring 11.5/19. He was granted the title of International Grandmaster in 1950 (inauguration year) by the World Chess Federation, and held posts in the Soviet Chess Federation at the time. What was perhaps Kotov's best result came at the 1952
Saltsjöbaden Saltsjöbaden is a locality in Nacka Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 9,491 inhabitants in 2010. It is on the Baltic Sea coast, deep in the Stockholm Archipelago. History Saltsjöbaden () was developed as a resort by Knut Agathon W ...
Interzonal, which he won with a score of 16.5/20, three clear points ahead of
Tigran Petrosian Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (, ; 17 June 1929 – 13 August 1984) was a Soviet-Armenian chess grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his almost-impenetrable defensive playing style, ...
and
Mark Taimanov Mark Evgenievich Taimanov (russian: Марк Евгеньевич Тайманов; 7 February 1926 – 28 November 2016) was one of the leading Soviet and Russian chess players, among the world's top 20 players from 1946 to 1971. A prolific ch ...
in second place, and without losing a game. In the next Candidates Tournament in Zürich, he scored 14/28, and was the only person to win a game against the tournament's winner, Smyslov. Kotov played for the USSR at the
Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and ...
s of 1952 and 1954, contributing to team gold medal victories. He was the second reserve board both times; at Helsinki 1952 he scored 2/3, while at Amsterdam 1954, he made 4/6. After 1960, all the tournaments in which he competed took place outside the USSR. They included a shared first place with
Svetozar Gligorić Svetozar Gligorić (Serbian Cyrillic: Светозар Глигорић, 2 February 1923 – 14 August 2012) was a Serbian and Yugoslav chess grandmaster and musician. He won the championship of Yugoslavia a record twelve times, and is consider ...
at
Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...
in 1962, half a point ahead of Smyslov. Kotov played in very few tournaments in his later years.


Writings

Kotov frequently praised the Soviet system in his books. For example, the 1958 book ''The Soviet School of Chess'' (co-written with
Mikhail Yudovich Mikhail Mikhailovich Yudovich (8 June 1911 in Roslavl – 19 September 1987 in Moscow) was a Soviet 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 objec ...
) stated that "The rise of the Soviet school to the summit of world chess is a logical result of socialist cultural development." At the time, statements such as this were so controversial that Western publishers felt compelled to include disclaimers in translations of his books for English-speaking markets.
Dover Publications Dover Publications, also known as Dover Books, is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward and Blanche Cirker. It primarily reissues books that are out of print from their original publishers. These are often, but not always, books ...
' 1961 paperback version of ''The Soviet School of Chess'' was distributed primarily to Western countries, and included an introduction that read, in part:
Literature of this type, though helpful in our ultimate understanding of the game, is very often riddled with distortion. The publishers of this Dover edition are very much concerned that readers be aware of the
propaganda techniques A number of propaganda techniques based on social psychology, social psychological research are used to generate propaganda. Many of these same techniques can be classified as Informal fallacy, logical fallacies, since propagandists use arguments ...
employed, even in the history of chess, by the Soviet Union.
Kotov was even described as a
KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
agent by
Fedir Bohatyrchuk Fedir Parfenovych Bohatyrchuk (also ''Bogatirchuk'', ''Bohatirchuk'', ''Bogatyrtschuk'') ( uk, Федір Парфенович Богатирчук; , ''Fyodor Parfenyevich Bogatyrchuk''; 27 November 1892 – 4 September 1984) was a Ukrainian-Ca ...
, in his 1978 book ''My Way to General Vlasov''. Notwithstanding Kotov's forays into the political realm, his books were insightful and informative and were written in a congenial style. He often made his points by citing first-hand stories of incidents involving famous grandmasters, most of whom he knew personally. In addition, he did not hesitate to be self-deprecating if he could make a point more vividly. ''Think Like a Grandmaster'' illustrates several situations where his opponents got the better of him; in one case, his catastrophic blunder converted a certain win into an instant loss. Such entertaining and enlightening personal accounts helped to ensure that his books remained popular among chess players of widely varying nationalities and playing strengths. Kotov was a great admirer of World Champion
Alexander Alekhine Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhine, ''Aleksándr Aleksándrovich Alékhin''; (March 24, 1946) was a Russian and French chess player and the fourth World Chess Champion, a title he held for two reigns. By the age of 22, Alekhine was already a ...
, and wrote a comprehensive two-volume biographical series of books on his life and career titled ''Shakhmatnoe Nasledie A.A. Alekhina'', which were published between 1953 and 1958 and translated into Czech, German, Serbian and Spanish. The work significantly contributed to Alekhine's rehabilitation in the Soviet Union. His trilogy of books ''Think Like a Grandmaster'', ''Play Like a Grandmaster'', and ''Train Like a Grandmaster'' are his best known, with ''Think Like a Grandmaster'', which was translated from the Russian by
Bernard Cafferty Bernard Cafferty (born 27 June 1934 in Blackburn, Lancashire) is an English chess master, columnist, writer, magazine editor and translator. Chess career Cafferty was one of the leading English chess players of the late 1950s and 1960s, ranking a ...
and published by Batsford in 1971, being particularly famous. The book is not concerned with advising where pieces should be placed on the board, or tactical motifs, but rather with the method of thinking that should be employed during a game. Kotov's advice to identify candidate moves and methodically examine them to build up an " analysis tree" remains well known today. Kotov contributed to the Yugoslav series ''
Encyclopedia of Chess Openings The ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' () is a reference work describing the state of opening theory in chess, originally published in five volumes from 1974 to 1979 by the Serbian company Šahovski Informator ( Chess Informant). It is curren ...
'' (ECO), which began in 1974, and to the associated games book series ''
Chess Informant Chess Informant (Šahovski Informator) is a publishing company from Belgrade (Serbia, former Yugoslavia) that periodically (since 2012, four volumes per year) produces a book entitled ''Chess Informant'', as well as the ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Op ...
'' as an analyst.


Playing style

Kotov developed a sharp style, was definitely not afraid of complications on the chessboard, and willingly entered into them against even the greatest of opponents. He favoured the closed openings with White, and was very successful with the
Sicilian Defence The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the following moves: :1. b:Chess Opening Theory/1. e4, e4 b:Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...c5, c5 The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4. Ope ...
as Black.


"Kotov syndrome"

In Kotov's 1971 book ''Think Like a Grandmaster'', he described a situation when a player thinks very hard for a long time in a complicated position but does not find a clear path, then, running low on time, quickly makes a poor move, often a blunder.


Notable chess games


Alexander Kotov vs Alexander Tolush, Leningrad Championship 1938, Neo-Grunfeld Defence (D76), 1–0
Tolush was a dangerous attacker, but he is the one subdued here.
Alexander Kotov vs Tigran Petrosian, USSR Championship, Moscow 1949, Queen's Gambit, Exchange Variation (D36), 1–0
Petrosian, later World Champion, loses a game he would never forget, falling into an opening trap and resigning in only 13 moves.
Alexander Kotov vs Paul Keres, Budapest Candidates Tournament 1950, Nimzo-Indian Defence, Saemisch Variation (E24), 1–0
Kotov was near the peak of his form, and dealt Keres a costly loss.
Yuri Averbakh vs Alexander Kotov, Zurich Candidates Tournament 1953, Old Indian Defence (A55), 0–1
Kotov's most famous game is one of the all-time greats of sacrificial chess, as Black gives up his Queen for long-term pressure which eventually leads to a mating finish. This game won the 1st Brilliancy Prize (Russian: Beauty Prize, in Bronstein's book of the tournament) at Zurich, widely regarded as one of the very greatest chess tournaments ever held.


Bibliography

* ''Alexander Alekhine'' by Alexander Kotov, four volumes, Moscow, 1953–1958. * ''The Art of the Middle Game'', by Paul Keres and Alexander Kotov (translated from the Russian by Harry Golombek), London, Dover 1962, * ''Think Like a Grandmaster'', by Alexander Kotov (translated from the Russian by Bernard Cafferty), London, Batsford 1971, (Algebraic Edition 2003) * ''Play Like a Grandmaster'', by Alexander Kotov (translated from the Russian by Bernard Cafferty), London, Batsford 1973, * ''World Championship Interzonals: Leningrad—Petropolis 1973'', by R.G. Wade, L.S. Blackstock, and Alexander Kotov, New York, RHM Chess Publishing 1974, * ''Train Like a Grandmaster'', by Alexander Kotov (translated from the Russian by Bernard Cafferty), London, Batsford 1981, * ''Chess Tactics'', by Alexander Kotov (translated from the Russian and edited by John Littlewood), London, Batsford 1983, * ''Grandmaster at Work'', by Alexander Kotov (first English edition), Macon, American Chess Promotions 1990, * ''The Soviet School of Chess'', by Alexander Kotov and Mikhail Yudovich, Los Angeles, University Press of the Pacific 2001, * ''The Science of Strategy'', by Alexander Kotov, Quality Chess Europe, 2019,


References


Sources

* Bernard Cafferty, "Alexander Kotov" (article in the ''
British Chess Magazine ''British Chess Magazine'' is the world's oldest chess journal in continuous publication. First published in January 1881, it has appeared at monthly intervals ever since. It is frequently known in the chess world as ''BCM''. The founder an ...
'', September 1994)


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kotov, Alexander 1913 births 1981 deaths Chess grandmasters Russian chess players Soviet chess players Soviet chess writers Soviet male writers 20th-century Russian male writers Russian chess writers 20th-century chess players