New In Chess has printed or reprinted the 1941 Absolute Championship won by Botvinnik. In service download websites the games are available.
The games can be found in USSR Absolute Championship 1941
However I have doubts about the commentary written by Benzol.
I have never read anywhere including in the older English translation of the book that the winner was supposed to play Alekhine.
If I recall Botvinnik complained about the 1940 USSR Championship held in Moscow. Lilientahal and Bondarevsky tied for first place.
The Absolute 1941 was never listed as a USSR Championship.
See USSR Chess Championship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alekhine in 1941 was playing on the other side.
One of the problems with the PGN download of the tournament is where did the download come from. Russchess which Google has blocked never offered the 1941 download in the Archives.
Winter a few years back in Chess Archives indicated a problem or mystery of one of the games Keres played. Was f6 or f5 played? Some books have the e.p. Others do not.
The English version in the U.S. was by Dover in the 1960's, and reprinted it appears in the 1970's. Hardinge Simpole Chess Classics reprinted the book 2002. New In Chess version just came out.
The mystery of the Keres game has to be a guess of why it happened.
Possibly from transposing Algebraic or Russian notation to English descriptive.
If you are studying chess, 1941 Absolute is one way to go. Note that Botvinnik included one of the games in his 100 Games. Keres whether the Reinfeld edition, or Keres' own collection of his games also included the 1941.

In "My Great Predecessors Part II" Kasparov mentions that the winner was to play Alekhine and in "Botvinnik's Best Games vol I 1925-1941" Botvinnik writes about it himself, though both accounts differ in the details. Kasparov goes on to indicate that Keres was offered a match subsequently in 1943, but declined.

According to Botvinnik there had been negotiations and an agreement for a match between Alekhine and himself in 1939 but after the Soviet Ch in 1940 and his poor showing, his backers (read Soviet Gov) decided to have a match between the 6 most recent Soviet Champions to decide who would earn the right. It was shortly after the match tournament that Nazi Germany and the Soviets had a falling out - they had been allies prior to the '39 invasion of Poland and dissolved the alliance in 1941.

I may not play well but I love history.

Regards

Where Kasparov researched the question of Alekhine and Botvinnik playing a match is unclear. One of the problems with chess books, there are few exceptions there are no citations, footnotes, or bibliographies.
See Two Alekhine Interviews (1941) by Edward Winter
by Winter of items sent to him by Pedro Moran.
"With regard to the world championship, he replied to us that it was very difficult to imagine that a match could be held before the end of the War. In this connection the names of various players were mentioned, and he told us who were the most outstanding younger players; he was particularly watching Keres, Eliskases and a few others, with whom battles would be interesting".
Note that the last Tournament in Europe was the AVRO in Holland.
1 Keres ** 1½ ½½ ½½ 1½ ½½ 1½ ½½ 8½
2 Fine 0½ ** 1½ 10 10 11 ½½ 1½ 8½
3 Botvinnik ½½ 0½ ** ½0 1½ 1½ ½1 ½½ 7½
4 Euwe ½½ 01 ½1 ** 0½ 0½ 01 1½ 7
5 Reshevsky 0½ 01 0½ 1½ ** ½½ ½½ 1½ 7
6 Alekhine ½½ 00 0½ 1½ ½½ ** ½1 ½1 7
7 Capablanca 0½ ½½ ½0 10 ½½ ½0 ** ½1 6
8 Flohr ½½ 0½ ½½ 0½ 0½ ½0 ½0 ** 4½

In the Bell (Dover) edition of the Absolute there was no indication that the tournament was to determine who would play Alekhine.
Probably the information during the war in the West was the same as in the East. Fine did indicate that there was an attempt to deny Alekhine playing such a match after the War, because of articles he wrote mixing Chess and Nazi propaganda.
On the Winter website Alekhine mentioned Reshevsky and Stahlberg with no reference to a match. (Beside the above)
If anyone has reference to the English or Russian articles on the match post it. There were two recent books on Tournament in English but I have never read them.
Now this is not Kasparov's book but a website undocumented.
1939: Alekhine accepted Botvinnik's challenge for the World title. However the 2nd World war put an end to international chess in Europe.
The question I would ask was Botvinnik ready in 1941. I have to imagine that Alekhine may have believed that he could defeat Botvinnik.
Remember the Efim Dmitriyevich Bogoljubow two matches.
("When I am Black, I win because I am Bogolyubov"), well not in the 2 matches against Alekhine.
Chessmetrics Summary for 1941-1944
gives a summary of chess between 1941 to 1944.
Between 1941 and October 1942 Botvinnik was the top player.
Between 1943 Alekhine rated 2804 (their rating), came in second.
Reshevsky came in third.
The strongest Tournament between 1941 and 1944, The Absolute Championship.
Chessmetrics omitted U.S. Chess from any listing. Although Fine and Reinfeld edited Tournament Books. Before WWII and maybe into WWII the U.S. had the top players. Fine, Reshevsky, Horowitz, Seidman, Pincus, and countless others.
The Strongest match: Bogoljubov- Euwe III, Karlsbad 1941.
(The Euwe-Keres match was played before 1941, and was considered the strongest match at the time).
Too bad the Chess Library Archives in Moscow or Leningrad are not online.

My impression was that Botwinnik made a poor showing at the regular Soviet championship that the absolute championship, which was in a format that suited Botvinnik beter, was organised to let Botvinnik reclaim his number one spot in Soviet chess.

After the death of Alekhine there were 2 scenarios:

1) Give the title back to Euwe as last living ex-worldchampion
2) a match tournament

A vital moment was Groningen 1946; Botvinnik succeeded in becoming first, half a point before Euwe which strengthed his position.

Schaakhamster comments is what I read also.

Lillenthal who played in the Absolute is still alive, smokes, and drives and is over 95 years old.

My Great Predecessors, Volume II, pages 134-136
"12th USSR Championship. The tournament gave rise to a new intrigue: who was stronger- Keres or Botvinnik? Or, expressing it in the words of
the latter, 'who now, given the changed circumstances, should represent the Soviet Union in a Contest for the world championship with Alexander Alekhine? The Championship did not give an answer to this question.....
4 Keres 5 & 6 Boleslavsky and Botvinnik. ....... In order to clarify who was who, early in the spring of `941 Botvinnik's influential patrons arranged an unprecedented four-cycle event of six grandmasters called the match tournament for the title of Absolute USSR Champion."

Note that the tournament was played in the spring of 1941.
The German invasion of the Soviet Union occurred on May 4th in 1941.

Again Kasparov, page 137:
"Two months later Hitler attacked the Soviet Union, and the paths of the two contenders for the chess throne did not cross for more than six years."
The reference above was concerned about Keres and Botvinnik.

Recently I had occassion to take a brief look at the 1941 Chess Reveiw Annual (published NY, NY by I. A. Horowitz). The match tournament in the USSR was reported on, (I forget which month) but there was no mention of the tournament being to challenge Alekhine for a world championship match.

All things considerd, I would suggest that there was no formal arangement or, in fact, any type of agreement for a WChM and as far as the rest of the world was concerned - the 1941 USSR tournament was to decide the best player in the Soviet Union.

Since in the Soviet system all capital belonged to the State, to mount a bid for a WChM would need to be financed by the Government. Within the Soviet system, all the players and tournament organizers associated with the match, could have understood that whoever won the tournament would be backed by the State in a bid for the WCh title.

Thus the Soviet literature would consider this a bid for a WChM while the rest of the world, including perhaps Alekhine, saw it as a match tournament to decide the best Soviet player.

From reading Kasparov and knowledge from the Tournament Book, and other sources I have to believe that the USSR was considering a match.
But the question would be was Botvinnik ready.
In 1938 the AVRO was to decide the challanger. Keres and Fine took top billing.
At the AVRO Botvinnik lost 1 game to Fine, and a draw.
Two draws vs. Keres.
Botvinnik also lost to Euwe.
But he took Reshevsky with a win and a draw.
At the time, the U.S. was not at war. Germany and Russia were Allies.
Which may explain how Keres ended up playing in the Absolute.
This whole piece of history is a bit fuzzy until more sources become available.
IN 1941:
Absolute Botvinnik ahead of Keres.
Mar Del Plata Stahlberg edging out Najdorf, and Eliskases
Buenes Aires Stahlberg and Najdorf tied for first
Groningen Salo Landau
St. Louis Open Reuben Fine
Marshall Chess Club Championship Fine
Munich Stoltz ahead of lundin and Alekhine.
Matches:
Euwe defeated Bogoljubov 6.5-3.5
Reshevsky defeated Horowitz 9.5 50 6.5 in NYC

So it appears that Fine was quite active.