Mikhail Botvinnik
Botvinnik in 1962 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik August 17, 1911 Kuokkala, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire |
| Died | May 5, 1995 (aged 83) Moscow, Russia |
| Education | Leningrad Polytechnic Institute |
| Chess career | |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Title | Grandmaster (1950) |
| World Champion | 1948–1957 1958–1960 1961–1963 |
| Peak rating | 2630 (July 1971) |
| Peak ranking | No. 7 (July 1971) |
Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik (Russian: Михаи́л Моисе́евич Ботви́нник; IPA: [mʲɪxɐˈil məɪˈsʲejɪvʲɪdʑ‿bɐˈtvʲinʲːɪk]; August 17 [O.S. August 4] 1911 – 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 scientist and was a pioneer in computer chess, the last of which he was awarded an honorary mathematics degree for.
Botvinnik was the first world-class player to develop within the Soviet Union. He played a major role in the organization of chess, making a significant contribution to the design of the World Chess Championship system after World War II and becoming a leading member of the coaching system that enabled the Soviet Union to dominate top-class chess during that time. His pupils include World Champions Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, and Vladimir Kramnik. He is often described as the patriarch of the Soviet chess school and is revered for his analytical approach to chess.