At the time this encounter was played, Botvinnik was already an established star. The former is still considered one of the most beautiful games of all time, while the latter was a model of positional brilliance. In 1938, as a young and almost completely unheralded student, he won the Ukrainian Championship in Kiev (then part of the USSR). He finished 5th at the USSR Championship in 1940, took 4th at the Absolute Soviet Championship in 1941, and won the Kuybyshev tournament in 1942. In fact, the position remained dynamically balanced – provided Black played with precision.