Mikhail Botvinnik and Max Euwe were in a close race to the end. Botvinnik had a lead much of the way, but successive losses to Kotov and Yanofsky in rounds 14 and 15 let Euwe go ahead by a point. However, Euwe then drew three in a row while Botvinnik won three in a row to pull ahead by a half point going into the last round.
In the last round Botvinnik’s nerves tool over and he was outplayed by Najdorf, but Euwe blundered and lost a drawn position against Kotov and as a result Botvinnik and Euwe tied for first.
For Botvinnik, it was his first outright victory outside the Soviet Union and for Euwe, it was his last great international success.
As for the American representative, US Champion Arnold Denker, he had been playing non-stop since the previous year and his even score was respectable, but deeply disappointing for him personally.
Denker’s collapse started in round 11 when he e\suffered the worst mental blackout of his career against Euwe. Denker was tied for third with Smyslov at 7-3 he had already drawn (Botvinnik, Smyslov and Najdorf) or defeated (Szabo) then leaders.
Then against Euwe he reached a winning position, but at move 47 he was told that there was a Transatlantic phone call from his wife which he took because he had plenty of time on his clock.
Mrs. Denker informed him that while he was out of the country that Reuben Fine and Samuel Reshevsky had conspired against him and convinced Maurice Wertheim, captain of the US team in the upcoming match against the Soviet Union to play on the top boards even though Denker was US Champion.
When an angry Denker return to his game against Euwe, he blundered on move 47 and then on move 48 and had to resign on move 52. He proceeded to score only 2.5-5.5 in the rest of the tournament.
By the way, the US team (Reshevsky, Fine, Denker, Horowitz, Kashdan, Steiner, Pinkus, Kevitz, Dake and Ulvestad) got crushed by the Soviets (Botvinnik, Keres, Smyslov, Boleslavsky, Kotov, Flohr, Ragozin, Bondarevky, Lilienthal and Bronstein) by a score of 7.5-12.5. Only Kashdan, Kevitz and Ulvestad managed to score a win for the US and Denker lost both of his games to Smyslov.
In the following game we see Kottnauer reach a position where everything looks safe, but in reality Smyslov was pulling the strings when he exploited a seemingly innocuous pin.
For Denker in his game against Euwe, this game would have been a good example of why attention is required right up until the opponent resigns. Only three moves before the end Smyslov still could have allowed his opponent to get right back into the game.
[Event "Groningen"]
[Site "Groningen NED"]
[Date "1946.08.30"]
[Round "14"]
[White "Vasily Smyslov"]
[Black "Cenek Kottnauer"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B84"]
[Annotator "Stoxkfish 16"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "1946.08.13"]
{B84: Sicilian Scheveningen} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3
a6 6. Be2 e6 7. O-O b5 8. Bf3 Ra7 {An excellent move! The R is removed from
the diagonal and at the same time prepares to make its way to the c- or d-file
at the right time.} (8... Bb7 {is met by} 9. e5 {which wins. For example...}
Bxf3 10. Qxf3 Nd5 (10... dxe5 11. Nxe6 fxe6 12. Qxa8) 11. Nxd5 exd5 12. exd6
Bxd6 13. Re1+ Be7 14. Bg5 f6 15. Ne6 Qd7 16. Nxg7+ Kd8 17. Rxe7 Qxe7 18. Bxf6)
9. Qe2 {Brilliant! Many strong players would probably try to take advantage of
the position of the R on a7, but black has a strong answer to that idea.} (9.
Be3 Rc7 10. Nb3 Rd7 (10... b4 11. Ne2 Nbd7 {with equal chances.}) 11. a4 b4 12.
Ne2 Bb7 13. c3 {with complete equality.}) 9... Rc7 {Alas! This is not the
right time! Smyslov will soon take advantage of the Rs position. The right way
was 9...Be7 developing and preparing to castle.} 10. Rd1 (10. a4 {was a little
stronger.} bxa4 11. Nxa4 Nbd7 {The wrong N moves to d7. The other N would have
maintained equality.} 12. Bd2 e5 13. Nf5 {White is considerably better. Riff,J
(2474)-Guliyev,N (2570) Nancy 2008}) 10... Nbd7 11. a4 {White needs to open up
the game, and in this the position of the black R is going ti be to white's
advantage.. .} bxa4 (11... b4 12. Na2 Bb7 (12... a5 13. Nb5 {is very good for
white.}) 13. Nxb4 {with the more active position.}) 12. Nxa4 {It's somewhat
surprising to find that these same moves were plsyed 50 yearsd later!} Bb7 (
12... Ne5 13. Bf4 Nfd7 14. Bg3 Bb7 15. Bh5 g6 16. f4 Nc4 17. b3 gxh5 18. Nxe6
fxe6 19. Qxh5+ Ke7 20. Bh4+ {Black resigned. Anagnostopoulos,D (2495)-Banikas,
H (2470) Kavala 1997} Nf6 21. Bxf6+ Kxf6 22. Qg5+ {wins the Q.}) 13. e5 {
A typical move in this type of position. White must not allow black to
complete his development because then the strength of black's center (two Os
in the center and pressure on e4) would make itself felt. The move played
opens more lines for the white pieces. As a result black will soon be faced by
insoluble problems.} Nxe5 14. Bxb7 $18 Rxb7 15. Qxa6 {Black's position is now
lost and it happened very quickly.} Qb8 16. Nc6 Nxc6 17. Qxc6+ Nd7 {A casual
glance at the position may give the impression that black is not threatened by
anything. However, Smyslov exploits the pin on the N in a most instructive way.
His attack is based on two tactical motifs. 1) opening of lines for the R and
B and the 2) diverting black's Q.} 18. Nc5 {[%mdl 512] Much stroinger than the
immediate 18.Bf4 which should also win.} dxc5 19. Bf4 {[%mdl 512] The crusher.
This game is a good example of why attention is required right up until the
opponent resigns.} (19. Rxd7 {One wonders if this was what Kottnauer was
expecting. If so, he salvages the game!} Rxd7 20. Ra8 Qxa8 21. Qxa8+ Ke7 {
And black is right back in the gaem. In Shootouts from tjid podition all 5
games were drawn.}) 19... Bd6 (19... Qxf4 20. Ra8+ Ke7 21. Qxb7 {and the N is
lost.}) 20. Bxd6 Rb6 21. Qxd7+ {[%mdl 512] Black resigned} (21. Qxd7+ Kxd7 22.
Bxb8+ Kc6 23. Be5 {is an easy win.}) 1-0
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