< Prev Index Next >
Chess News, Views & Moves 03 Feb 1951, Sat The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) Newspapers.com
World Championship Match
Mikhail Botvinnik, world's chess champion, will defend his title in a match starting in March with David Bronstein, the official FIDE challenger. With the death of Dr. Alekhine in 1946 the International Chess Federation (FIDE) took over control of the championship and organized a tournament in 1948 to establish his successor. This was played in Holland and USSR and won by Botvinnik, with Smyslov, Reshevsky, Keres, and Euwe finishing in that order. Reuben Fine, of New York, was also invited but declined. Once a new champion was established the FIDE's next task was to set up a system of tournament play-downs that would encourage every other player in the world to try for the role of challenger to Botvinnik in a match. The system included zonals, interzonal and a final candidates tournament out of which emerged the twenty six-year-old David Bronstein. Canada's D. A. Yanofsky got as far as the interzonal. The cycle, including the match, covers four years of competition and, although there has been strong criticism of some aspects of its organization which appears to favor Russian players' chances, it is expected that these drawbacks will eventually be straightened out to the satisfaction of all and that the chess world will have a better set-up for the world title competition than it has ever had before.
