Looks like Paul Keres is getting the vote. He is my choice.
He did beat 9 world champions.
Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Petrosian, Tal, Spassky
& Fischer. (also two draws with Karpov in the early 70's.).
Cannot off the top of my head think of any non-WC that has that record.
Bronstein has a good shout because he drew a world title match.
You cannot get any closer than that without winning it.
Korchnoi played his way into two world championship matches.
Three counting the candidates final v Karpov in 1974 if he had won
that (he lost 3-2) then FIDE would have awarded him the title.
Originally posted by greenpawn34Then shout outs should also go to Carl Schlechter, who drew a title match with Lasker (5-5) in 1910 and Peter Leko, who drew a title match with Kramnik (7-7) in 2004
Looks like Paul Keres is getting the vote. He is my choice.
He did beat 9 world champions.
Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Petrosian, Tal, Spassky
& Fischer. (also two draws with Karpov in the early 70's.).
Cannot off the top of my head think of any non-WC that has that record.
Bronstein has a good shout because he drew a world ...[text shortened]... v Karpov in 1974 if he had won
that (he lost 3-2) then FIDE would have awarded him the title.
It would have been hard for Rubinstein to beat nine world champions since Lasker was the only champion pretty much his whole career and mental illness and WW1 shortened it.
Hi Woody.
Still a debate about the Lasker - Schlechter match, was it for the title
and did Schlechter have to win by two clear points hence him turning down
rock solid perpetuals in the final game when he leading 1-0.
I'm not up for counting WC matches before 1936.
Then you could buy your way to a shot at the title as long as you put up the money.
You never see Efim Bogoljubov mentined in these lists but he had two
WC matches v Alekhine because he could raise the $10,000.
You could say Bogoljubov was the unluckiest player not to win the World Championship.
You could even say any good player (except Bogoljubov) was unlucky because
they could not raise the $10,000 because Alekhine was there for the taking.
In that 1934 match Alekhine drunk on his own imortality played some sloppy
chess (by his standards) and to use Fischer's term some games resemble
'Coffee House ' Chess.
The fourth game which was noted up very honestly by Alekhine in his best games
set the scene for the whole match.
Alekhine playing legal moves got into awkward or even lost positions and Bogoljubov
as Alekhine states in his notes "....does not prove to be equal to the situation
either strategically or tactically."
In game 4 Alekhine was reduced to total passivity, Bogoljubov dithered about and
then you get this Alekhine note to one of Bogoljubov's moves.
"The beginning of a dangerous plot against his own position."
Alekhine then pulls off a tactical stroke. (most likely the only series of
really exact moves in the whole game. Why Alekhine included it is beyond me.
He could have just shown the final combo.)
That was that. Bogoljubov had loads of chances to take wins or avoid losses
throughout the match but he was under the Alekhine spell and Alekhine was
pushing the boat out as far as it could go and when it looked like sinking
Bogoljubov pulled it back again.
Euwe gave Alekhine the wake call one year later and sunk Alekhine's boat.
The final combination from the 4th game of the 1934 match.
Alekhine (White) to play.
Reuben Fine (October 11, 1914 – March 26, 1993) was one of the strongest chess players in the world from the early 1930s through the 1940s, an International Grandmaster, psychologist, university professor, and author of many books on both chess and psychology.
Fine won five medals (four gold) in three chess Olympiads. Fine won the U.S. Open Chess Championship all seven times he entered (1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1939, 1940, 1941); this is a record for that event.
Although Fine was regarded as a serious contender for the World Chess Championship, he declined his invitation to participate in the six-player 1948 tournament, which was organized to determine the World Champion after the 1946 death of reigning champion Alexander Alekhine, and he virtually retired from serious competition around that time.
By the end of 1937, Fine had won a string of strong European international tournaments, and was one of the most successful players in the world. Fine won at Oslo 1936 with 6.5/7, half a point ahead of Flohr. Fine captured Zandvoort 1936 with 8.5/11, ahead of World Champion Max Euwe, Savielly Tartakower, and Paul Keres. Fine shared 3rd-5th places at the elite Nottingham 1936 event with 9.5/14, half a point behind winners José Raúl Capablanca and Mikhail Botvinnik. Fine shared 1st-2nd places at Amsterdam 1936 on 5/7 with Euwe, half a point ahead of Alekhine. Fine placed 2nd at Hastings 1936-37 with 7.5/9, as Alekhine won.
The year 1937 would be Fine's most successful. He won at Leningrad 1937 with 4/5, ahead of Grigory Levenfish, who would share first in that year's Soviet Championship. Fine won at Moscow 1937 with 5/7. Those two victories make Fine one of a very select group of foreigners to win on Russian soil. Fine shared 1st-2nd places at Margate 1937 with Paul Keres on 7.5/9, 1.5 points ahead of Alekhine. Fine shared 1st-3rd places at Ostend 1937 with Paul Keres and Henry Grob on 6/9. At Stockholm 1937, Fine won with 8/9, 1.5 points ahead of Gideon Stahlberg. Fine then defeated Stahlberg by 5-3 in a match held at Gothenburg 1937. Fine placed 2nd at the elite Semmering/Baden 1937 tournament with 8/14, behind Paul Keres.
In 1938, Fine tied for first place with Paul Keres in the prestigious AVRO tournament in the Netherlands, on 8.5/14, with Keres placed first on tiebreak. This was one of the most famous tournaments of the 20th century, and some believe to this day that it is the strongest tournament ever staged, since it had the world's eight strongest players.
As the World War ended in early September 1945, Fine was just 30 years of age, and working on his doctorate in psychology. After World Champion Alekhine died in March 1946, FIDE (the World Chess Federation) organized a World Chess Championship tournament to determine the new champion. Publicly, Fine stated that he could not interrupt work on his doctoral dissertation in psychology. However, it has also been suggested that Fine declined to play because he suspected there would be collaboration among the three Soviet participants to ensure that one of them won the championship and he did not want to waste three months of his time.
Fine had a relatively short career in top-level chess, but scored very impressively against top players. He faced five World Champions: Emanuel Lasker (+1 =0 -0); José Raúl Capablanca (+0 =5 -0, excluding simultaneous games); Alexander Alekhine (+3 =4 -2); Max Euwe (+2 =3 -2); and Mikhail Botvinnik (+1 =2 -0).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuben_Fine
Fine defintely deserves my vote. That is 1 for Reuben Fine.
Originally posted by greenpawn34This is slightly off topic, but seeing as we're looking at Alekhine being a tad sloppy from time to time, i thought i'd post this game. Alekhine actually gets quadrupled pawns! It's the only example i've ever seen... 🙂
Hi Woody.
Still a debate about the Lasker - Schlechter match, was it for the title
and did Schlechter have to win by two clear points hence him turning down
rock solid perpetuals in the final game when he leading 1-0.
I'm not up for counting WC matches before 1936.
Then you could buy your way to a shot at the title as long as you put up the mon ...[text shortened]... e Bishop?} 9... Rg7 10. Qc5+ {Now Bc6 meets Qe5+ and Qxg7} 10... Kd8 11. Qf8+ [/pgn]
Rueben Fine turned down his chance whilst any other player
would have siezed the opportunity.
He left Resheveky out on a limb all alone to face the three collaborating Russians.
Collaboration?
Smyslov was not yet Smylov and Keres had been told he must not be
responsible for Botvinnik not winning.
(Keres lost his first 4 games v Botvinnik and when Botvinnik was assurred of first
place he beat him!)
Botvinnik found out about the Keres Instruction and was quite livid.
There was talk of Nadjorf taking Fine's place but in a previous tournament
Najdorf said he would 'pluck Botvinnik like a chicken', and he did.
The Russian's objected to any replacement, especially Najdorf.
Botvinnik won the world title in 1948.
Botvinnik (USSR) 14 pts
Smyslov (USSR) 11 pts
Paul Keres (USSR) 10½ pts
Samuel Reshevsky (USA) 10½ pts
Max Euwe (NED) 4 pts
Who knows what would have happened had Fine taken part.
Botvinnik never succeeded in defending his title with a winning margin.
He drew with Bronstein in 1951, drew with Smyslov in 1954.
Lost it to Smylov in 1957 and won it back.
Lost it to Tal in 1960 and won it back.
Lost it to Petrosian in 1963.
