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The Last Encounter Before The World Chess Championships(1946-1969)
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The Last Encounter Before The World Chess Championships(1946-1969)

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1. World Chess Championship Tournament 1948 

After Alekhine's death, the World Chess Championship crown was vacant. In search of ways to determine a champion various suggestions were considered. The 1938 AVRO tournament which (which had brought the strongest players of that time together) was used as the basis for the 1948 World  Chess Championship Tournament. So the top 8 players of the time were brought together to determine the new World Chess Champion. Capablanca and Alekhine had both died so the number of the participants were reduced to six. Further Reuben Fine elected not to play which reduced the players to five. 


 Euwe, Smyslov, Keres, Botvinnik, and Reshevsky | Wikipedia

Botvinnik emerged as winner and thus became  the sixth World Chess Champion.

           
Botvinnik | Wikipedia
Crosstable

2. World Chess Championship 1951
Played between Mikhail Botvinnik and David Bronstein, The 1951 World Chess Championship was  in Moscow from March 15 to May 11, 1951. For the first time a World Chess Championship was played under the supervision of FIDE  ;and the first one to use a qualifying system of an Interzonal and Candidates Tournament to choose a World Chess Championship Challenger(Previously Champion could choose his Challenger).

Their last encounter was way back in 1945 which ended in a draw. In a close match Botvinnik won the match when both players scored 12-12 points after 24 games to retain the title. There is book about this match that you might be interested in. You can further read about this match from this article.

                                     

Botvinnik Vs Bronstein 1951 | Chessgames.com
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3. World Chess Championship 1954,1957 & 1958

Before writing about their last encounter and the match, Zurich International Chess Tournament,1953(book) by David Bronstein is one of the most famous and invaluable contribution to chess literature. It is full of interaction and knowledge that a chess player must go through once in their chess career. Smyslov won the Candidates Match 1953  to challenge Botvinnik for the title.

                                                 

   
Smyslov Vs Botvinnik | Chessgames.com

After 24 games ,the score was 12-12 and there were 14 decisive results in 24 games which meant Botvinnik retained the title. Smyslov won the title in 1957 but failed to retain it in 1958.

Their last encounters before the three world championships are shown below.

4. World Chess Championship 1960 & 1961

The topic itself is one of the most interesting chess book written by Magician form Riga, Mikhail Tal.

                               

A new challenger awaited Botvinnik after he regained his title. Mikhail Tal won the 1958 interzonal tournament , then helped the Soviet Union to retain the Chess Olympiad; before going on to win the 1959 Candidates Tournament with 20 out of 28 points.

                       
Tal-Botvinnik 1960 | Chessgames.com

The contracting styles of play of both players made it an interesting tile match in history .Interestingly they never faced before the match. but there last encounter before the rematch(1961) was the last game of the World Chess Championship 1960. Tal won the first match with (12.5 to 8.5) and Botvinnik won the next match to win the title back with the score of  13 to 8.
                                               

5. World Chess Championship 1963
At the World Chess Championship 1963, Tigran Petrosian narrowly qualified(Candidates Tournament 1962) to challenge Mikhail Botvinnik for the World Chess Championship, and then won the match with score (12.5 to 9.5) to become the ninth World Chess Champion. The championship rules had been changed so that, unlike in 1957 and 1960, the defending champion was not entitled to a rematch. As the loser of championship match, Botvinnik was still an automatic seed in the following Candidates Tournament. However, Botvinnik chose not to exercise this right and retired from championship play(although not from competitive chess altogether).

Petrosian-Botvinnik | Chessgames.com

Their last encounter before the match was back in 1955.

6. World Chess Championship 1966  & 1669

Played between Tigran Petrosian and Boris Spassky The 1966 World Chess Championship was held in Moscow. Spassky won the 1965 Candidates matches to get the title match. Petrosian won the match with the score 12.5-11.5. The match was played as best of 24 games (the first one 12 points will be the  winner, in the event of a 12–12 tie with the champion (Petrosian) retaining the title) . While Petrosian retained the title with a 12–10 lead after Game 22, but both players decided to play the final two games anyway. Spassky won the next match in 1969 (12.5 to 10.5) to become the 10th World Chess Champion.

Petrosian Vs Spassky 1969 | Chessgames.com

Here is the book written about it by Mikhail Tal.

Their last encounters were in 1961 and 1968.

The Match of the Century and the battles of Karpov and Korchnoi will be discussed in the next blog.

 
 Hope you enjoyed the blog.

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