Botvinnik did not win the AVRO tournament of 1938, placing third behind Keres and Fine, yet soon afterwards began angling through the Soviet government channels for a match with Alekhine for the World Championship. Botvinnik did win the 1939 Soviet Championship with a dramatic last-round victory over runner-up Alexander Kotov. But he played relatively poorly in the very strong 1940 Soviet Championship, finishing in a tie for 5th–6th places, with 11.5/19, two full points behind Bondarevsky and Lilienthal. How would it look for him to be trying for a world title match, yet doing that poorly in his own national championship? With World War II underway by this time, and the strong possibility of little or no chess for some time in the future, Botvinnik seems to have prevailed upon the Soviet chess leadership to hold another tournament "in order to clarify the situation". This wound up being the 1941 Absolute Championship of the USSR, which featured the top six finishers from the 1940 event, playing each other four times. Botvinnik won this tournament convincingly, to reclaim his prominence.