World Chess Championship 1961

The World Chess Championship 1961 was a rematch between the reigning world chess champion Mikhail Botvinnik Mikhail Tal and his predecessors. Botvinnik won and took the title back, he had lost the world title fight in 1960 in the valley.

Prehistory

The right to a rematch was a privilege of the reigning world champions, because a challenger had thus defeat the world champion twice, during the defense of the title, a victory (and even a draw ) in a match was sufficient. This had Botvinnik in 1958 allows back his title he had lost at the World Championships in 1957, Vasily Smyslov.

Organization and rules

The competition was held in the hall of Estraden Theatre in Moscow. The race was scheduled for 24 games, which would retain his title in a tie valley.

Course

The match began on March 15. On May 12, Botvinnik was determined as the winner and was the third time world champion. Botvinnik's clear 10:5 victory against an often passive active valley is among other things also attributed to the kidney disease that had broken out at the time of the battle in the valley.

In the 17th game of the valley reached an endgame with two bishops for a knight, in which he was not taking a position regarded as draw fortress of Josef Kling and Bernhard Horwitz 1851 Botvinnik and so easy won. The apparent fortress has not been established eleven years later by John Roycroft as to keep, but the king of the defender over the board and go in the opposite corner can take a seemingly equivalent position. Only computer later found the victory for the stronger side. Jarl Henning Ulrichsen was founded in 2009 on the assumption that the valley had played in achieving the critical position to profit. If Tal would have found the opportunity to pick up the apparent fortress and if he had found the to a win, he would have been so may 1961 bring about a change in the final theory.

Follow

After the fight, FIDE abolished the rematch right. In the following World Cup in 1963 Botvinnik lost his world title at final Petrosian. Valley succeeded in consequence no longer to qualify for a world title fight.