prize13-7, Exercise 1: 1948

Model answer (check the details):

Before 1948 the title belonged to the champion personally. He chose whom to play and on what terms, so a feared challenger could be put off or priced out. When Alexander Alekhine died in 1946 still holding the title, there was no champion to hand it on. In 1948 FIDE, the international federation founded in 1924, organised a five-player tournament to decide the successor, and Mikhail Botvinnik won it.

From then on the federation ran a cycle of qualifying events whose winner earned the right to challenge the champion. That mattered because a challenger no longer needed the champion's agreement: access came from results, not from negotiation, and the title became an institution rather than a possession.

Care: the details of the 1948 tournament and of the later cycles are from general knowledge and should be checked.