Was there a play-off rule in the 1948 world championship?

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Catherine Glynn
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Was there a play-off rule in the 1948 world championship?

Post by Catherine Glynn » Mon Aug 16, 2021 1:49 pm

If Botvinnik had tied rather than won, would there have been a play-off? Excuse my ignorance but was this rule already around?

Ronnie Burton
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Re: Was there a play-off rule in the 1948 world championship?

Post by Ronnie Burton » Mon Aug 16, 2021 8:15 pm

Hi Catherine

No details on 1948 world championship but play rule was used in 1951

1951 Botvinnik - Bronstein (+5-5=14): Ten players competed in the first Candidates Tournament, a double round robin held at Budapest 1950. Bronstein and Boleslavsky tied for first with 12.0 points. After the first 12 regulation games were tied +2-2=8 in a Moscow playoff match, Bronstein won the tiebreak in the second game. The Botvinnik - Bronstein title match started at Moscow in March 1951. Down one game with two to go, Botvinnik won the 23rd game and drew the 24th to keep the title on a tied match.

Tim Harding
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Re: Was there a play-off rule in the 1948 world championship?

Post by Tim Harding » Mon Aug 16, 2021 10:04 pm

That is an interesting question. My guess is that there would have been a short play-off match in the event of a tie between two players.
Since there was no defending champion in 1948 some method of deciding a winner would have been required.

I have looked in Euwe's book of the 1948 World Championship, which is in Dutch; it does not appear to include the official rules of the contest.

Botvinnik's account of the contest (a chapter in his book "Achieving The AIm") does not say either.

Perhaps one of the periodicals of 1948 (BCM, Chess, Deutsche Schachzeitung or Chess Life for example) might include the full text but these are not in my collection and libraries such as the KB which would hold the answer are inaccessible at present.

Maybe some other Forumite can help?
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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: Was there a play-off rule in the 1948 world championship?

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Mon Aug 16, 2021 10:23 pm

Of course if a "short" play off match was planned in the event of a tie in 1948, the possibility of that being drawn would have to be considered.
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Ronnie Burton
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Re: Was there a play-off rule in the 1948 world championship?

Post by Ronnie Burton » Mon Aug 16, 2021 10:39 pm

No it was not in 1948

Tim Harding
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Re: Was there a play-off rule in the 1948 world championship?

Post by Tim Harding » Tue Aug 17, 2021 10:20 am

Ronnie Burton wrote:
Mon Aug 16, 2021 10:39 pm
No it was not in 1948
Sorry but that comment is:
a) unclear in meaning;
b) unsupported by any kind of evidence.

What we want here in the Chess History section of the Forum is documentary proof (if available), or suggestions where it might be found, not opinion.
Tim Harding
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Author of 'Steinitz in London,' British Chess Literature to 1914', 'Joseph Henry Blackburne: A Chess Biography', and 'Eminent Victorian Chess Players'
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David Williams
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Re: Was there a play-off rule in the 1948 world championship?

Post by David Williams » Tue Aug 17, 2021 10:36 am

The 1938 Avro tournament was won by Keres on tie-break. Doesn't prove anything about 1948, of course.

PS That's Wikipedia. Keres, in The Early Games of Paul Keres, says it was Sonneborn-Berger. Either way, there was no play-off.

J T Melsom
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Re: Was there a play-off rule in the 1948 world championship?

Post by J T Melsom » Tue Aug 17, 2021 10:55 am

What we want here in the Chess History section of the Forum is documentary proof (if available), or suggestions where it might be found, not opinion.

Tim, that is a worthy aim, but always worth remembering that unless it is your own personal forum which you pay to host and moderate, the internet is generally a bit more chaotic than that. Your previous post offered a 'guess' which seems similar to 'opinion', and although not a chess thread you also repeated an incorrect story about Jeremy Thorpe. :)

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John Upham
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Re: Was there a play-off rule in the 1948 world championship?

Post by John Upham » Tue Aug 17, 2021 10:59 am

I've consulted Harry Golombek's excellent book on the 1948 event and there is no discussion of a tie-decider mechanism.

If someone else has this book it would be worth checking in case I missed any relevant text.
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Re: Was there a play-off rule in the 1948 world championship?

Post by John Upham » Tue Aug 17, 2021 11:23 am

I've read the coverage of the match in the 1948 BCM and can find no reference to a mechanism for deciding a tie. Possibly it is deeply hidden in the analysis of the games but I would be surprised.

Would there be a FIDE yearbook for 1947 or 1948?
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David McAlister
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Re: Was there a play-off rule in the 1948 world championship?

Post by David McAlister » Tue Aug 17, 2021 11:49 am

Paragraph 1 of the signed Agreement between Botvinnik, Euwe, Fine, Keres, Reshevsky and Smyslov, concluded in Moscow on September 18, 1946 and ratified with some amendments at the FIDE meeting in The Hague, 30 July- 2 August 1947 states:
A tournament is to be held, the winner of which will receive the title of World Chess Champion. In the event of a tie for first place, a new contest will be held within six months between the participants who tied for first place. The arrangements for such new contest are to be agreed upon between the winners within one month after the end of the main tournament.
{Source: Chess, Volume 12, September 1947, page 344}

David McAlister
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Re: Was there a play-off rule in the 1948 world championship?

Post by David McAlister » Tue Aug 17, 2021 12:01 pm

Euwe also signed for Fine "through Power of Attorney. Reshevsky signed "on the understanding that his honorarium is to be U.S.A. Dollars 2,000." There is a photograph (on page 343) of the delegates to the 1947 meeting that includes B.H. Wood, who, of course, was editor of Chess magazine.

David McAlister
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Re: Was there a play-off rule in the 1948 world championship?

Post by David McAlister » Tue Aug 17, 2021 12:08 pm

On a quick look through the books by Euwe (English translation) and Golombek I also saw no reference to the tie-break rules, but the tournament book by Keres does refer to the tie-break rule. {Source: Page 10 of the 2016 English translation by Verendel Publishing}

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Re: Was there a play-off rule in the 1948 world championship?

Post by Geoff Chandler » Tue Aug 17, 2021 12:43 pm

Looks like David has answered the OP's question. A good spot.

The minor places, Reshevsky and Keres tied on 10½ pts, seems to have been decided by their mini-match.
Reshevsky won it 3-2. Harry's book and chessgames.com place Reshevsky above Keres and not in alphabetical order.

My first port of call, as always, was Edward Winter. I found this prophetic typo by BCM.

"t was not until early the following year [1948] that Reuben Fine’s refusal to participate in the match-tournament
was announced (although, by coincidence, the BCM had listed only Botvinnik, Euwe, Keres, Reshevsky and Smyslov
in its brief mention of the Congress on page 300 of its September 1947 issue)"

[url]https://www.chesshistory.com/winte ... egnum.html[/url]

Someone mentioned Jeremy Thorpe. In 2019 I picked up Private Eyes coverage of the affair
(and a Vincent van Gogh) at an open air festival. Both hit E-Bay, I've still got the van Gogh.
(note chess badge above left hand pocket so it's on topic.)

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Catherine Glynn
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Re: Was there a play-off rule in the 1948 world championship?

Post by Catherine Glynn » Tue Aug 17, 2021 1:01 pm

Thanks for the replies and many thanks David for the answer.

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