La Diagonale du Figaro N°28: David Bronstein, the sorcerer of East India

Voluble, passionate, David Ionovitch Bronstein is one of the most important figures of the twentieth century. It was indispensable, dear friends of chess, to dedicate a first letter to him. Like Paul Keres and Victor Korchnoi, fate did not want him to become world champion. Yet for him everything was played on one shot. A terrible blunder against Botvinnik, who in the 23rd of the 1951 match turned a draw into a defeat. The patriarch of Soviet chess tied the score. At that time, 12 to 12 after 24 games, allowed the champion to retain his title...

David Ionovich was asked countless times if he had to bow on orders to the homo sovieticus Mikhail Botvinnik. Deep down for the Kremlin at the time, Bronstein was Jewish and Ukrainian, and that was a flaw in the eyes of Stalin, Beria and others. Yet he swore that no one had forced him to lose. Unconsciously, he will later admit that he was not made...

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