Chess: How does White win?

THIS year is the centennial of Mikhail Botvinnik's birth, and the governing body of world chess, Fide, have declared 2011 to be a celebration of his life and career, culminating in a memorial tournament to be held in September, in Moscow.

The three-day festival will include rapid and blitz events, featuring the big four of Anand, Carlsen, Aronian and Kramnik. I imagine Botvinnik, in Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery, turning in his grave at the thought of speed games commemorating his life.

Botvinnik (1911-95) was world champion 1948-57, 1958-60 and 1961-3. He's arguably the most important figure in 20th-century chess, as his results in the late 1930s and 1940s formed the framework of the Soviet Union's domination of the game. Botvinnik was the academic, card-carrying Stalin loyalist who was the first player to adopt a truly scientific approach to the game; he prepared in meticulous detail for every opponent, worked to a daily exercise routine, and even had his training partner blow cigarette smoke in his eyes to counter tobacco-addicted opponents, such as Mikhail Tal.

Later in life, the methodical training methods of Botvinnik, "The Patriarch", were credited with turning talented kids (Kasparov being the most famous) into world-beating grandmasters. Among his dos and don'ts: study more than you play; don't play more than 50 serious games a year; dnalyse your own own games in print; read the classics of chess literature; and, not forgetting his cardinal sin, never play speed chess.

M Botvinnik - M Tal

World Championship, 1961

King's Indian Defence

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 f3 Nbd7 6 Be3 e5 7 Nge2 0–0 8 d5 Nh5 9 Qd2 f5 10 0–0–0 a6 11 Kb1 Ndf6 12 exf5 gxf5 13 Ng3 Qe8 14 Bd3 Nxg3 15 hxg3 c5 16 Bh6 Qg6 17 g4 b5 18 Bxg7 Kxg7 19 Rh4 bxc4 20 Bc2 h6 21 Rdh1 Qg5 22 Qxg5+ hxg5 23 Rh6 fxg4 24 fxg4 Bxg4 25 Rg6+ Kf7 26 Rf1 Ke7 27 Rg7+ Ke8 28 Ne4! Nd7 29 Nxd6+ Kd8 30 Rxf8+ Nxf8 31 Nxc4 Bd7 32 Rf7 Kc7 33 d6+ 1–0