David Bronstein

David Ionovich Bronstein was born on February 19, 1924 in Bila Tserkva near Kiev, Ukraine. He is described as a creative genius and master of tactics by pundits and plaudits all over the world. In 1948, he achieved his first international tournament success at the Saltsjobaden Interzonal. This qualified him for the Candidates Tournament of 1950 in Budapest. He eventually won over Isaac Boleslavsky in a Moscow play-off.

Bronstein is considered to be one of the greatest players not to have won the World Championship. In 1951, he came extremely close to his goal when he played Mikhail Botvinnik , the reigning World Champion. The match was drawn by a score of 12-12, and under FIDE rules, the title remained with the holder. He never came so close again. Like many other instances, there is credible theory that he was forced to throw the match by the Soviet oligarchy, to allow the Russian Botvinnik to win. Similarly, in the 1953 candidates tournament in Zurich, there is further speculation that there was pressure on the non-Russian Soviets, Keres and Bronstein to allow Vassily Smyslov to win.

Bronstein has taken many first place prizes in tournaments. Among the most notable are the USSR Championships of 1948 (jointly with Alexander Kotov and 1949 (jointly with Vasily Smyslov). He has also won the Moscow Championships 6 times. He has represented Russia at the Olympiads of 1952, 1954, 1956, and 1958, winning board prizes at each of them.

David Bronstein has written a number of chess books and articles. He is highly regarded for his authorship of Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953 and co-authorship of The Sorcerer's Apprentice (1995). Both of these have become landmarks in chess publishing history and in which he seeks to amplify the ideas behind the players' moves instead of burdening the reader with pages of analysis of moves that never made it onto the scoresheet. His theoretical work in transforming the King's Indian Defence from a dubious (pre-World War II) to reliable (post-World War II) defence should not go unnoticed and is evidenced in his contribution to the 1999 book, Bronstein on the King's Indian.

During his later years, Bronstein has continued playing chess at a good level. He has inspired young and old alike with endless simultaneous displays, a warm, gracious attitude and glorious tales of his own, rich chess heritage.

Download 1658 chess games by David Bronstein

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