Winter writes with authority about famous games, because he was personally present when many of them were played. Winter met all but one of the players he writes about in this book (he never met Schlechter because Schlechter died at an early age).
Winter was just strong enough to beat the best players in the world occasionally, but he was never strong enough to be one of them. Winter often played in top level grandmaster tournaments, but usually finished near the bottom, although he generally managed to take a scalp.
Winter reaches some surprising conclusions. He states that the best played match for the World Chess Championship was the 1910 Match between Lasker and Schlechter. This is not the match that would first come to mind. The most famous game of that match was the last game, when Schlechter only had to achieve a draw to win the match to become World Chess Champion. Schlechter had a way to force a draw. Instead, he tried a risky and daring plan to win and he lost as a result.
This game between Lasker and Schlechter continues to be debated and analyzed to this day.
William Winter was born September 11, 1898 and died December 18, 1955. He should not be confused with the reclusive and possibly non-existent chess historian Edward Winter, who lives in Switzerland.
One odd in curious fact about the great Indian Player, Sultan Khan, is that although Sultan Khan was ranked as the 6th or 7th strongest chess player in the world and he even defeated Capablanca when Capablanca was regarded as unbeatable, is that Sultan Khan always lost to Winter even though Winter always finished near the bottom and Sultan Khan finished near the top of every tournament in which they both played.
Winter was himself involved in one of the most controversial chess games ever played. Nottingham 1936 was the first tournament where the Soviet Union under Stalin allowed one of their players to play outside the country. The Soviet Union sent Botvinnik to play in Nottingham 1936.
In the last round with Botvinnik in contention for first prize, he was pared against Winter, who was in dead last position.
The game went as follows:
[Event “Nottingham”]
[Date “1936”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Mikhail Botvinnik”]
[Black “William Winter”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “A15”]
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 d5 4.e3 g6 5.d4 Bg7 6.Qb3 O-O 7.Bd2 b6 8.cxd5 cxd5 9.Ne5 Bb7 10.Bb5 a6 11.Be2 Nbd7 12.Nxd7 Nxd7 13.f4 e6 14.O-O f5 15.Bf3 Rb8 16.Rac1 b5 17.Ne2 Re8 18.Qa3 Bf8 19.Bb4 Bxb4 20.Qxb4 Qb6 21.Rc2 Kf7 22.Nc1 Rbc8 23.Rff2 Rc4 24.Qe1 Rec8 25.Bd1 Rxc2 26.Bxc2 a5 27.Nd3 Ba6 28.b4 axb4 29.Nxb4 Qa5 30.Bb3 Nf6 31.Rf1 Ne4 32.Nxa6 Qxa6 33.Qb4 Rc3 34.Re1 Qc6 35.h3 Rc1 36.Kh2 Qc3 37.Qxc3 Rxc3 38.Re2 1/2-1/2
XABCDEFGHY
8-±±±+(
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6-±+p+p+&
5+p+p+p±%
4-±zPnzP-+$
3+Ltr-zP-+P#
2P±+R+PmK"
1±±±±!
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Now in this position it is plainly obvious that White, Botvinnik, is lost. White simply has no moves. Black can win easily by bringing his king around starting with Ke7 and then slowly marching over to the queen side.
Winter was a strong enough player and he must have seen this. Winter must have seen that he was winning easily. Instead, here Winter offered Botvinnik a draw.
Winter was a Communist who spent time in prison for his political activities. It is widely believed that Winter offered Botvinnik a draw to advance the cause of World Communism. Winter himself suggested this possibility in his notes to this game. Also, Alekhine wrote about the above position:
“Black agreed to call the game a draw; but it was a very premature decision, to say the least. A simple plan was to bring his king over to b4 threatening to sacrifice the exchange. To prevent this white would be obliged to create new weaknesses in his position; e.g., after 38…Ke7 39 Bc2 followed by Bxe4 the rook ending would be quite hopeless for White. It is a pity a game of such importance should have remained practically a torso.”
Every book of the history of chess during this period mentions the great achievement of Botvinnik in tying for first with the Great Capablanca in Nottingham 1936 and how this great achievement by Botvinnik led the Soviet authorities to allow other Soviet players to travel outside of the Soviet Union to participate in other grandmaster chess tournaments.
The books that write about this great achievement of Botvinnik invariably fail to mention that this achievement was made possible because Winter, being an avowed Communist, sacrificed his own career by offering Botvinnik a draw in a position where Botvinnik was clearly lost.
Think about how chess history would been different if Winter had won this game: Winter would have become known in chess history as the Man Who Beat Botvinnik. Instead, Winter is known as the man who always finished last. Botvinnik became known as “The Invincible”.
This is not to suggest that Winter had been ordered by Moscow to give a draw to Botvinnik. In 1936, it was not yet thought that Moscow would do things like that. Also, if Moscow had been giving such orders, it would have ordered Winter to lose to Botvinnik, which would have given Botvinnik undisputed first place at Nottingham 1936, instead of a mere tie for first.
The game where many thought and some still think that a player actually had been ordered to lose a game is in Winter’s book. This incident became so notorious that it is the subject of the opening scene in the James Bond book and movie “From Russia with Love” where the protagonist, “Kronstein”, an obvious play on the name of David Bronstein, receives an order from the Kremlin to resign a game. The actual game where this is said to have occurred was Botvinnik vs. Bronstein, World Championship 1951, where the following position was reached:
[Event “match”]
[Site “Ch World , Moscow (Russia)”]
[Date “1951.01.24”]
[Round “23”]
[White “Mikhail Botvinnik”]
[Black “David Bronstein”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “E60”]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 c6 4.Bg2 d5 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.Nh3 Bxh3 8.Bxh3 Nc6 9.Bg2 e6 10.e3 O-O 11.Bd2 Rc8 12.O-O Nd7 13.Ne2 Qb6 14.Bc3 Rfd8 15.Nf4 Nf6 16.Qb3 Ne4 17.Qxb6 axb6 18.Be1 Na5 19.Nd3 Bf8 20.f3 Nd6 21.Bf2 Bh6 22.Rac1 Nac4 23.Rfe1 Na5 24.Kf1 Bg7 25.g4 Nc6 26.b3 Nb5 27.Ke2 Bf8 28.a4 Nc7 29.Bg3 Na6 30.Bf1 f6 31.Red1 Na5 32.Rxc8 Rxc8 33.Rc1 Rxc1 34.Nxc1 Ba3 35.Kd1 Bxc1 36.Kxc1 Nxb3+ 37.Kc2 Na5 38.Kc3 Kf7 39.e4 f5 40.gxf5 gxf5 41.Bd3 Kg6 42.Bd6 Nc6 43.Bb1 Kf6 44.Bg3 fxe4 45.fxe4 h6 46.Bf4 h5 47.exd5 exd5 48.h4 Nab8 49.Bg5+ Kf7 50.Bf5 Na7 51.Bf4 Nbc6 52.Bd3 Nc8 53.Be2 Kg6 54.Bd3+ Kf6 55.Be2 Kg6 56.Bf3 N6e7 57.Bg5 1-0
XABCDEFGHY
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2-±±±+"
1±±±±!
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In this position, which is also in the last game in Winter’s book,
Black, in spite of being a pawn ahead, resigned the game and thereby the World Chess Championship.
This is the stuff of which legends are made. Ever since, it has been wondered whether Bronstein had been ordered by the Kremlin or by his KGB Handler to resign.
I am now going to suggest a theory which has never previously been advanced by anybody as to why Bronstein resigned in this position. Hold your breath while I tell you what NOBODY, Nobody at all, has ever suggested was the real reason for Black’s strange resignation in this position.
The reason is that Bronstein simply did not see that he has a defense.
Bronstein is in a Zugzwang. None of his pieces can move. His pawns cannot move. He definitely cannot move his king because then he drops his vital h-pawn. So, one of his knights must move, but which ever knight moves Black drops material.
It looks hopeless and therefore I believe that Bronstein simply did not see that he has a defense and that after 57. …. Nf6 58. Bxd5 Nd6 Black has a playable, although of course very difficult, game.
Obviously, Bronstein was never going to admit that he simply missed the best move, and therefore the legend grew that he was ordered by the KGB to lose. They even made an action movie thriller movie based on this, where the Bronstein / Kronstein character is sent on a mission to do battle with James Bond, as punishment for disobeying the order to lose the game.
Sam Sloan
New York
December 25, 2009