Botvinnik's Complete Games (1943-1956) and Selected Essays (Part 2) (1943-1956)

Mikhail Botvinnik (from Russian translated by Ken Neat)

hardcover

Description:
Mikhail Botvinnik's 'Analiticheskie i kriticheskie raboty'(Analytical and critical works) was originally published in four volumes in the years 1984 and 1987. The first three volumes covered his best games, and these have been pleasantly published by Moravian Chess (Botvinnik's Best Games Volumes 1, 2 and 3). As Ken Neat writes in his Translator’s
Foreword: The fourth volume contained the author's collected writings, and for the present English publication this material has been divided among three books, of which this are the first and second. These books will also include all Botvinnik's known games (apart from the 381 already published in the Best Games series), with annotations by Botvinnik where available. The resulting six-volume series will therefore present a complete collection of Botvinnik's own game annotations and the best of his chess writings. Botvinnik's own foreword to the fourth Russian volume can be found in the previous book in this series Botvinnik’s Complete Games 1924-1941 and Selected Writings Part 1.
Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, born August 17, 1911, died May 1, 1995) was a brilliant Soviet and Russian International Grandmaster and three-time World Chess Champion, is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time.
Botvinnik’s annotations to the games belong to the absolute top as we can see after move 2 in his game against David Bronstein, World Championship Match game1 Moscow 1951: “1.d4 e6 2.c4 f5: So,the Dutch Defence. And this is no accident. In this match my opponent normally employed those openings that I had usually chosen earlier. He apparently thought that he would force me to fight against my own system. Such a method seems to be rather naive, if it was not forced. It was probably all based on the fact that Bronstein did not have anything significant prepared, and in the given instance this variation is not bad. The results, however, could not be good-I was forced to play openings which I knew quite well; of course, this made things easier for me, if it is taken into account that for three years I have been cut off from chess.”
Botvinnik describes in his writings his first match with Smyslov, but my favourite read was the Alekhine – Euwe return match from 1937. Botvinnik writes: “The Alekhine – Euwe return match was the most significant chess event of 1937. Both of these outstanding players were in excellent form, apart from Euwe’s poor play at the finish. Their games provide rewarding material for study. The Alekhine – Euwe return match was more interesting than their first match in 1935. Whereas in the first match Alekhine’s play in a number of games was risky, to put it crudely, in this match he played in his real style, roughly the style he displayed in his 1927 match with Capablanca. True, in this match too he sometimes unjustifiably went in for complications (for example, the 14th game), it seems to me that this is explained by chance factors-however strong player, he may assess a position incorrectly.”
Botvinnik analyses the 22th game of the 1937 match with over 4 pages of text and ends with words: “A tense and difficult game, conducted by Alekhine with exceptional mastery.
Conclusion: One of those must have chess books! (from the review of john Elburg)
Total of 342 games, almost did not published in English chess sources, many of them annotated by Botvinnik, index of opponents and openings, 368 pages.