What is Mikhail Botvinnik?
{{Infobox chess player |box_width = p280px |playername=Mikhail Botvinnik |image= Mikhail Botvinnik 1962.jpg |caption=Botvinnik in 1962 |birthname=Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik |country= [[USSR]] |datebirth={{birth date|1911|08|17}} |placebirth=[[Kuokkala]], [[Russian Empire]] (now [[Repino]], [[Russia]]) |datedeath={{death date and age|1995|5|5|1911|08|17}} |placedeath=[[Moscow]], Russia |title=[[Grandmaster (chess)|Grandmaster]] |worldchampion=1948–1957<br />1958–1960<br />1961–1963 |womensworldchampion= |rating= |peakrating = }}'''Mikhail Botvinnik''' ({{lang-ru|Михаи́л Моисе́евич Ботви́нник}}; 17 August 1911 – 5 May 1995) was a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[Russians|Russian]] [[Grandmaster (chess)|grandmaster]] and three-time [[World Chess Championship|World Chess Champion]]. He was an [[Electrical engineering|electrical engineer]], one of the few chess masters who achieved distinction in another career while playing top-class competitive chess. Botvinnik was the first world-class player to develop within the [[Soviet Union]]. This put him under some political pressure, but also gave him considerable influence within Soviet chess. He played a major role in the design of the [[World Chess Championship]] system after [[World War II]]. After his retirement as a player he coached a few select pupils. They included three future World Champions [[Anatoly Karpov]], [[Garry Kasparov]] and [[Vladimir Kramnik]]. == Life & career == === Early years === [[File:Botvinnik (1927).jpg|thumb|right|200px|Young Botvinnik, 1927]] Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik was born near [[Saint Petersburg|St. Petersburg]] into a [[Jewish]] family. His father was a dental technician, and a cantor (''[[hazzan]]'') in the local [[synagogue]]. His mother was a [[dentist]], which allowed the family to live outside the [[Pale of Settlement]] to which most Jews in Russia were restricted at the time.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.jewishgen.org/BELARUS/rje_b.htm | accessdate= | title=Russian Jewish Encyclopedia | year=1995}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| las