Five qualifiers of the Interzonal tournament at Saltsjobaden, 1948 (Bronstein, Szabo, Boleslavsky, Kotov and Lilienthal) were supposed to join four participants of the 1948 World Championship tournament (Reshevsky, Keres, Smyslov, and Euwe) plus Reuben Fine in a double round-robin competition.
Reshevsky and Fine ended up not playing. Supposedly the US State Department barred them from traveling to Hungary due to the Cold War. Fine also claimed he did not want to play. Euwe did not get a leave from his teaching duties. As a result, FIDE decided to replace them with players who finished 6th-9th in the Interzonal tournament: Najdorf, Stahlberg, Flohr and Igor Bondarevsky (the latter withdrew due to illness).
Going in, Smyslov, Keres and Bronstein were the favorites but it was Isaac Boleslavsky who held the lead for most of the tournament.
Halfway through Boleslavsky was leading with a +3 score, followed by Keres (+2) and Bronstein (+1). In the second half Boleslavsky scored three more victories and forged into the lead.
After 16 rounds he was a full point ahead of Bronstein, the only player who had a theoretical chance of catching him. In the last two rounds, Boleslavsky made two quick draws, but Bronstein scored two wins, against Stahlberg and then in the final round he took a lot of risks and defeated Keres and so tied Boleslavsky for first place.
Bronstein and Boleslavsky had a playoff match which was held in the summer of 1950 in Moscow. It ended in another tie, but Bronstein won the first decisive game and became the official challenger.
Chess Review magazine did not think too highly of the tournament...there were seven Russians and Reuben Fine, Samuel Reshevsky and the Yugoslav champion Svetozar Gligorich were missing. Even so, they had to admit that the tournament brought
together many of the world's top players and it provided a severe test for the winners.
That Boleslavsky avoided loss in such company while Bronstein, though losing twice, scored eight wins and so it was clear that Botvinnik would not have an easy time in the defense of his title. Indeed, their 1951 match was tied and so Botvinnik retained his title.
Did Bronstein purposely avoid winning the match? He hinted at it. In a 1993 interview he explained that, "There was no direct pressure... But...there was the psychological pressure of the environment..." in part caused by his father's "several years in prison" and what he called "the marked preference for the institutional Botvinnik." Bronstein concluded that, "It seemed to me that winning could seriously harm me, which does not mean that I deliberately lost."
The following game between Boleslavsky and Smyslov was a Queenless middlegame that was quite instructive
[Event "Budapest Candidates"]
[Site "Budapest HUN"]
[Date "1950.04.20"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Isaac Boleslavsky"]
[Black "Vasily Smyslov"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D16"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[EventDate "1950.??.??"]
{Slav Defense} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 {[%cal Bg1f3,Bf3d4,Bd4b5]
[%mdl 32]} dxc4 5. a4 c5 {Prior to this game this continuation was considered
quite satisfactory for black because after the exchange of Qs the ending
offered him satisfactory counterplay. Boleslavsky disagreed and considered the
move premature, preferring 5...Bf4. Today Smyslov's move has all but
disappeared and Boleslavsky's recommendation has become the norm.} (5... Bf5 6.
Ne5 Nbd7 7. Nxc4 {Black can play either 7...Qc7 or 7...Nb6}) 6. e4 cxd4 $14 7.
Qxd4 Qxd4 8. Nxd4 {White is slightly better.} e6 {Now white can favorably post
a N on b5 which black could not prevent prevent with 8...a6} (8... a6 {[%mdl
8192]} 9. e5 Ng4 10. Nd5 $1 {with a huge positional advantage.}) (8... Nc6 {
was his best try. After} 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Bxc4 e5 {White's advantage is
minimal.}) (8... e5 9. Ndb5 Na6 {White is slight better, but a draw was soon
agreed to in Lalic,B (2547)-Mellado Trivino,J (2462) Seville 2003}) 9. Ndb5 Na6
{To prevent Nc7+} 10. Bxc4 {Boleslavsky's improvement over 10.Be3 which had
been previously played.} (10. Be3 Bb4 (10... Bd7 11. Bxc4 Rc8 12. Be2 Nb4 13.
Rc1 a6 14. Na3 Bc5 15. Bxc5 Rxc5 16. O-O O-O {Flohr,S-Smyslov,V Moscow 1945
soon agreed to a draw.}) 11. f3 Bd7 12. Bxc4 O-O 13. Kf2 Rfc8 14. Be2 Bc5 15.
Rhd1 Bxe3+ 16. Kxe3 Nb4 {White is slightly better. Lilienthal,A-Fridstein,G
Moscow 1945}) 10... Bc5 11. Bf4 {Also good was 11.e5} Ke7 {This is explained
by Smyslov's mistaken believe that the game was entering the ending. Instead,
it's a Queenless middlegame and Boleslavsky launches an ingenious attack
against Smyslov's K which is now caught in the center.} (11... O-O {keeps
white's advantage in the "slight" category.} 12. O-O Bd7 13. e5 Ne8 14. Ne4 Be7
{and white is slightly better.}) 12. O-O Bd7 13. e5 {This is the move that
proves Smyslov wrong. His K is stuck in the center and he is going to be
subjected to a very strong attack.} Nh5 {This is the move that proves to be
black's immediate undoing.} (13... Ne8 {was the best option. After} 14. Ne4 Bb4
15. Nd4 {White there is no forced win, black's position is very difficult to
defend.}) 14. Be3 {Brilliant! White hopes for 14...Bxe3 15.exf3 weakening the
dark squares.} Rhc8 (14... Bxe3 15. fxe3 f5 16. Nd6 {[%cal Og2g4]} g6 17. Bxa6
bxa6 18. Nce4 Rhd8 {Black no longer has a satisfactory defense.} 19. Nc5 Ng7
20. Rac1 Ne8 21. Ndb7 Rdc8 22. Nxd7 Kxd7 23. Nc5+ Ke7 24. Nxa6 {with a won
ending.}) 15. Be2 {White is clearly winning.} g6 16. Ne4 Bxe3 17. fxe3 Rc2 {
This results in immediate disaster.} (17... Rf8 18. Nf6 Nxf6 19. exf6+ Kd8 20.
Rfd1 {Even here white has a decisive positional advantage.}) 18. Nbd6 Rf8 19.
Bxa6 bxa6 20. g4 Ng7 21. Nf6 {Spectacular...he threatens simply Nxh7 and if
the R moves then Rxf7+ is fatal.} Bc6 22. Rfc1 {Smyslov resigned because he
cannot prevent the invasion of white's R. Weighted Error Value: White=0.12
(very precise) /Black=0.64} (22. Rfc1 Rxc1+ 23. Rxc1 Bxa4 24. Rc7+ Kd8 25. Rc8+
Ke7 26. Rxf8 Kxf8 27. Nxh7+ Kg8 28. Ng5 {mops up.}) 1-0
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