In this 3-hour video training, GM Marian Petrov demonstrates how he took super-aggressive opponents into an uncomfortable strategic playground and super-positional opponents through a tactical rollercoaster ride.
He stayed at or near the top for THIRTY years!
…from 1933, when he drew a match against Flohr, to 1963, when he lost his world champion title to Petrosian.
A feat equaled historically only by Emanuel Lasker and Wilhelm Steinitz—and that made him one of the GREATEST players of all time.
Mikhail Botvinnik’s playing style was strategically forceful. He did not engage in a berserk piece sacrifice or any unsound tactical combination only to put pressure on his opponent. What he did instead was slowly outplayed him with a superior strategy until he cracked like an egg.
Meticulous preparation was his strong point, and it showed in his games. As a computer engineer and scientist, he played moves that not only conformed to a predetermined structure but also followed unflawed logical reasoning, tieing one move t the next.
If you want to be a logical chess player, studying Botvinnik’s games is a MUST.
How better it would be if a grandmaster commentates on those games and explains the moves to you, right?
That’s why GM Marian Petrov is here with his brand-new course ‘Playing like Mikhail Botvinnik’ where he breaks down what made Botvinnik one of the GREATEST of all times…
This 3-hour video training demonstrates how he took super-aggressive opponents into an uncomfortable strategic playground and super-positional opponents through a tactical rollercoaster ride.
Is this course for you?
You have got no choice.
Strategy is something that distinguishes a pro from an amateur. If you think practicing tactical puzzles for 5 hours a day will take you beyond to the advanced level, no, it’s not.
As your opponents become stronger and stronger, you need to understand how to create those positions first from where the tactics flow. These opponents won’t make it easy for you.
How do you do it then? That’s where studying the games of strategic geniuses come in. Especially the ones of Petrosian, Capablanca and of course, BOTVINNIK!
That’s why you absolutely need this course. No exception.
Here’s what you are going to learn:
- Timely pawn breakthroughs. Botvinnik was a master of “piece and pawn” play. When to push that pawn forward and how to maneuver the piece in coordination to it, and gain INSTANT tactical advantage… just what he did against Lasker in the 1936 Moscow Int’l match.
- Passed pawn domination. In his 1938 match against Capablanca, Botvinnik as White was a pawn down! Yet he managed to get a solid passed pawn on the e-file, deflect the enemy queen, wrecked the king’s fortress with a sly check, and the game was over for Black. What went wrong for Capablanca in this game? Let Petrov show you.
- Exploit weaknesses right away. Tal was a superb tactician and his calculation skills were off the charts! But his moves were not sound. More of attack and less of defense. Botvinnik exploited it in his 1960 World Championship match against Tal. How? Hint: He used his knights to control the center of the board and made Tal’s dark-squared bishop a mere stooge…
- Bishop vs knight? Fischer usually preferred bishops to knights. So when Botvinnik entered into an endgame where he had the bishop and Fischer had the knight and an extra pawn, how did it end? Fire sparks all over the board with a tinge of positional hue! It ended in a draw but a must study for you as a student of strategic chess.
- “Thou shalt not play.” That’s exactly what Botvinnik ordered to Reshevsky in their 1938 AVRO match. An awesome demonstration of eliminating your opponent’s best pieces out of the game while advancing your plans. Even if it meant exchange sacrifices, more pawn islands or losing the initiative.
About the Author:
GM Marian Petrov (FIDE 2537)
Is an accomplished professional chess coach, theorist, and Bulgarian champion for 2002 and 2017, as well as winner of many open tournaments around the world. Also a FIDE trainer and coach of the team of Wales at the last Olympiad in Baku in 2016. He graduated from the National Sports Academy in Sofia, Bulgaria with a Bachelor’s degree in Chess Pedagogy, a four-year undergraduate program designed to prepare top-level chess trainers.
