Club Championship 2021

David Bronstein was born in the Ukraine then part of the USSR in 1924. Learning from his grandfather to play chess at the age of six his youthful talent was soon recognised and under the tutelage of the Soviet era he came second in the Ukrainian Championship aged 16. World War Two interrupted his development but in one of the few tournaments during the conflict he beat Botvinnik in the 1944 USSR Championship. He achieved third place the following year thereby earning representative honours in the USSR national team. He cemented his place amongst the elite Soviet players by tying for first place in both the 1948 and 1949 USSR Championships.

He commenced playing on the international circuit and was awarded his Grandmaster title by FIDE in 1950. After winning the 1950 candidates tournament in Budapest he played Botvinnik in 1951 for the World Championship. Bronstein played beautiful combinations but Botvinnik's superior end-game technique allowed him to tie the match 12-12 and retain the title. It was the closest Bronstein ever came to winning the title as in subsequent years the best he could manage was a runners-up place behind Smyslov in the 1953 Candidates tournament. Bronstein continued to ply his trade winning many major international tournaments combined with writings about the game including his highly readable autobiography 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice'. During his wanderings he had a spell in Kent during the 1990's and played for Charlton Chess Club.

Bronstein died in 2006 and is buried in Minsk, Belarus. He was arguably the strongest player never to have been crowned World Champion.