His best result came at the 1952 Saltsjibaden Interzonal where he finished an undefeated first hree clear points ahead of Tigran Petrosian and Mark Taimanov. In the Candidates Tournament in Zurich in 1953 he tied for 8th place out of 15.
Kotov wrote several books, but he is probably most famous for Think Like a Grand master (1971) and Play Like a Grandmaster (1973). Both are heavy reading. In Think Like a Grandmaster he teaches amateurs how Grandmasters think. His main focus is on the what he calls the tree of analysis, candidate moves and the decision-making process. In Play Like a Grandmaster, Kotov gives a practical guide that focuses on things like positional judgment, planning and calculation.
In describing the following game Kotov observed how sometimes in the opening one of the players “flagrant1y violates the genera1 princip1es” of the opening and “his moves are not ίn accordance with the requirements οf the position, presenting
themse1ves either as a loss of time or cutting across the genera1 harmonious setup of the pieces.
Kotov wrote that when that happens, the opponent “have the right and are obliged to punish the opponent for such a disregard of general chess princip1es.” He added that such punishment is often carried out “quickly with maximum energy from the attacking pieces.”
That’s what happened to Wade in this game. His first few opening moves do not seem as bad as Kotov claimed or were they? Stockfish doesn’t show black’s position to be losing after 5...f6, but only that white is better by a little less that a P. In practice though black’s survival chances are slim. Engines are tactical monsters, but are GMs better at evaluating long term strategic advantages? Also, take a look at the position after 7.c5. How many humans would play 7...g5 which appears to seriously weaken black’s K-side and leaves him with most of his Ps on dark squares? Yet, Stockfish fails to demonstrate any advantage for white.
[Event "Saltsjobaden Interzonal"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1952.10.02"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Alexander Kotov"]
[Black "Robert Wade"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A41"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "1952.09.15"]
{A41: Modern Defense} 1. d4 d6 {Αt the time this games was played this move
had become popular and it often transposed into the King's Indian Defense.} 2.
c4 e5 {In annotating this game Kotov claimed that with this move Wade
displayed an unfamiliarity ith the ideas of this νariation and claimed that 2.
..e5 was premature because it leads to a significant weakening of the K-side
which white subsequently exploits. That claim seems a bit outlandish. In my
database this move has been played over 6,000 times and black has won 39%
compared to white's 28%. What's more, engines give white no advantage beyond
that of the first move.} 3. Nf3 Nd7 {This, however, is where black starts
drifting into an inferior position. He should either play 3...exd4, or play
aggressively with 3...e4} (3... e4 4. Ng5 f5 5. Nc3 c6 {with a lot of
possibilities for both sides.}) 4. e4 g6 {Kotov pronounced this bad and
recommended 4...Nf6. He quoted Alekhine who used the term "unlawful upsetting
of the balance" ίn the opening. i.e. that happens when one side deνiates
greatly from the positional foundations. When that happens the other side must
immediately take steps to punish the offender by using energetic tactics.
Kotov write, "Wade carelessly weakens the black squares οη his K's flank,
induced by P moνes which will be particularly noticeable after the important
exchange dxe5." Exactly how horrible was Wade's move? White's advantage has
increased a bit to 3/4 of a P.} 5. Bg5 {Kotov claims this punishes black for
weakening the dark squares around his K and that the best move is 5...Be7, but
that results in the exchange pf hos valuable dark squared B.} f6 {This move
(which cannot be good) has been played 5 times in my database and black has
lost 4 of them, so it is clearly not good. For whatever reason Kotov neglects
to mention the possinility of 5...Ngf6 after which it is unclear how white has
any significant advantage.} (5... Ngf6 {And bow Stockfish says the position is
equal after 6.Nc3 Bg7. There is another possibility thatis equally good and a
bit more inetersting...} 6. Nxe5 dxe5 7. dxe5 Bb4+ (7... Nxe5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.
Bxf6+) 8. Nc3 Qe7 9. exf6 Qxe4+ 10. Qe2 Nc5 {White's advantage is minimal.}) 6.
Bh4 Bg7 {He could have remained equal after 6...c5!} (6... c5 7. d5 Be7 8. Nc3
f5) 7. c5 {Here Kotov babbles on about how black has "unlawfully upset the
balance and therefore (white) takes immediate measures to punish him." Kotov
was pretty harsh on the next move stating the "continuation chosen by Wade
merits censure ίη eνery possible way."} dxc5 (7... g5 {looks really bad at
first glance and it's not likely to suggest itself to a human player but after}
8. Bg3 h5 9. h3 h4 10. Bh2 dxc5 {neither side can demonstrate any advantage!})
8. dxe5 Qe7 9. Nc3 Nxe5 {This careless move loses instantly. Even after the
better 9...c6 white has an excellent position} (9... c6 $16 {was called for.}
10. Qb3 {Black's best chance is to mix things up with} g5 11. exf6 Bxf6 (11...
Ngxf6 12. Bxg5 {White is much better.}) 12. Bg3 g4 13. Nd2 Ne5 {and at least
black can play on.}) 10. Nxe5 Qxe5 {The exposed position of his Q results in
black's losing the game/} 11. Bg3 Qe6 {Resigns was the only other alternative.}
12. Nd5 {Kotov is after more than 12.Bxc7 has to offer.} Kf7 13. Nxc7 Qxe4+ 14.
Be2 Bh3 15. Nxa8 {There were other ways to win, but white decided to win by
picking up material.} Bxg2 16. Rg1 Bh6 17. Qb3+ Kg7 18. f3 Qd4 19. Rxg2 Bd2+
20. Kf1 Ne7 21. Nc7 {Black resigned, Poor Wadw never had a chance. The
auto-analysis feature of Fritz assigned hin an Accuracy rating of a miserable
22%. In the book Kotov was equally harsh on Wade's play. But, let's not fprget
Wade was was New Zealand champion three times and British champion twice} 1-0
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