On 22 November 1938,

Mikhail Botvinnik Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik (; ; – May 5, 1995) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster who held five world titles in three different reigns. The sixth World Chess Champion, he also worked as an electrical engineer and computer sci ...

(as

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

) defeated

José Raúl Capablanca José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (19 November 1888 – 8 March 1942) was a Cuban chess player who was the third World Chess Championship, world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. A chess prodigy, he was widely renowned for his exceptional Chess ...

(as Black) in one of the most famous games in

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

history. The game was played in round 11 of the AVRO tournament in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

. 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 Gukesh Dommaraju, who defeated the previous champion Ding Liren in the World Chess Championship 2024, 2024 World Chess Championship. ...

(1921–1927), while Botvinnik would later become World Champion himself (1948–1957). The game was widely praised, including by

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born Garik Kimovich Weinstein on 13 April 1963) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion (1985–2000), political activist and writer. His peak FIDE chess Elo rating system, ra ...

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 Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...
" 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 taki ...

The game

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

Opening Opening may refer to: Types of openings * Hole * A title sequence or opening credits * Grand opening of a business or other institution * Inauguration * Keynote * Opening sentence * Opening sequence * Opening statement, a beginning statemen ...

Nimzo-Indian Defense The Nimzo-Indian Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. b:Chess Opening Theory/1. d4, d4 b:Chess Opening Theory/1. d4/1...Nf6, Nf6 :2. b:Chess Opening Theory/1. d4/1...Nf6/2. c4, c4 b:Chess Opening Theory/1. d4/1...Nf6/2. c4/2 ...

, Normal Line ('' ECO'' E40) 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 pawns of the same color residing on the same file. Pawns can become doubled only when one pawn captures onto a file on which another friendly pawn resides. In the diagram, the white pawns on the b-file and e-file ...

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 1 ...

,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 most commonly refer to: * Draw (terrain), a terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges or spurs with low ground in between them * Draw (tie), in a competition, where competitors achieve equal outcomes * Draw ...

) 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 ...

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 passe ...

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

sacrifice Sacrifice is an act or offering made to a deity. A sacrifice can serve as propitiation, or a sacrifice can be an offering of praise and thanksgiving. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Gree ...

of the knight must be accepted because of the

fork In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from '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 either to h ...

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

pin A pin is a device, typically pointed, used for fastening objects or fabrics together. Pins can have the following sorts of body: *a shaft of a rigid inflexible material meant to be inserted in a slot, groove, or hole (as with pivots, hinges, an ...

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 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 *** Mate choice in humans ** Mating * Multi-antimicrobial extrusion protein, or MATE, an efflux transporter family of proteins Pers ...

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 relinquishing or vacating 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 ...

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 Champion Garry Kasparov et al. The five volumes in the ''My Great Predecessors'' series are about the players who preceded Kasparov in being official World Champions. ...

, part II , publisher =

Everyman Chess Popular Chess, formerly known as Everyman Chess and 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 Ga ...

, isbn= 1-85744-342-X

External links

Game score with annotations
at Chessgames.com
Analysis of the game
(

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

) Chess games 1938 in chess November 1938 sports events in Europe

The game

See also

Notes

References

External links