Shortly thereafter, he accepted an invitation to join the Botvinnik chess school.
On the basis of his strong results during and just after World War II, Botvinnik was one of five players to contest the 1948 World Chess Championship, which was held at The Hague and Moscow.
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Botvinnik also played a major role in the organization of chess, making a significant contribution to the design of the World Chess Championship system after World War II and becoming a leading member of the coaching system that enabled the Soviet Union to dominate top-class chess during that time.
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Botvinnik asked to be allowed to play in the 1956 Candidates Tournament, as he wanted to use the event as part of his warm-up for the next year's title match, but his request was refused.
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But after the FIDE world championship cycle was established in 1948, reigning champions had to play the strongest contender every three years, and successful title defenses became less common than in the pre-World War II years, when the titleholder could select his challenger.
(He crushed the future World Champion Spassky in their individual game.) This result was probably the peak of his career, as it advanced him to the 1956 Candidates tournament in Amsterdam, the winner of which would play a 24 game match for the World Championship with Mikhail Botvinnik.
In 1965 at Alexander Kronrod’s laboratory at the Moscow Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics (ITEP), Vladimir Arlazarov co-developed the ITEP Chess Program, together with Georgy Adelson-Velsky, Anatoly Uskov and Alexander Zhivotovsky, advised by Russian chess master Alexander Bitman and three-time world champion Mikhail Botvinnik.
Mikhail Gorbachev | Mikhail Baryshnikov | Mikhail Bulgakov | Mikhail Lermontov | Mikhail Vrubel | Mikhail Bakunin | Mikhail Botvinnik | Mikhail Skobelev | Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov | Mikhail Glinka | Mikhail Chigorin | Mikhail Tal | Mikhail Arkadyevich Svetlov | Mikhail Turovsky | Mikhail Trepashkin | Mikhail Sholokhov | Mikhail Khodorkovsky | Mikhail Kaneev | Mikhail Boyarsky | Mikhail Bakhtin | Mikhail Vorontsov | Mikhail Tukhachevsky | Mikhail Pletnev | Mikhail Nesterov | Mikhail Natarevich | Mikhail Kasyanov's Cabinet | Botvinnik | Mikhail Tomsky | Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin | Mikhail Olegovich Yefremov |
In one review, it was suggested that Adorján's books could have been co-authored by Botvinnik and Monty Python.
In 1945 he played on board one in the USA vs USSR radio match, losing both games to Mikhail Botvinnik, and in 1946 travelled to Moscow for the return match, losing both games against Vasily Smyslov.
He has produced translations of Botvinnik's Best Games 1947-70 and the Soviet world champion's autobiography (Achieving the Aim) as well as collections of the best games of Mikhail Tal and Boris Spassky.
In the past, a number of famous over-the-board players have also been International Judges, including Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, David Bronstein, Paul Keres, Yuri Averbakh and Wolfgang Unzicker, though in modern times the title is generally held by individuals largely unknown outside the world of problems.
They were joined by Vasily Smyslov (loser of the 1958 rematch for the championship with Mikhail Botvinnik), and Paul Keres, who had finished second at the 1956 Amsterdam Candidates tournament.