Vasily Smyslov

1921 -

7th World Champion, 1957 - 1958

Vasily Vasilievich Smyslov was born in Moscow, Russia in 1921. He learned to play chess at the age of 6. He learned much about chess from his father and studied the chess books in his father's library. Smyslov was an opera singer but made chess his career after narrowly failing an audition for the Bolshoi Opera in 1950. He once said, "I have always lived between chess and music." and brought music to his games. He once sang operatic extracts on Swiss radio and during the interval of a serious living chess game against Botvinnik he sang to an audience of thousands. He defeated Botvinnik in 1957 World Championship match but lost the title to Botvinnik in the 1958 rematch.

Games
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[White "Mikhail Botvinnik"]
[Black "Vasily Smyslov"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 O-O 5.Nc3 d6 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.O-O
e5 8.e4 c6 9.Be3 Ng4 10.Bg5 Qb6 11.h3 exd4 12.Na4 Qa6 13.hxg4
b5 14.Nxd4 bxa4 15.Nxc6 Qxc6 16.e5 Qxc4 17.Bxa8 Nxe5 18.Rc1
Qb4 19.a3 Qxb2 20.Qxa4 Bb7 21.Rb1 Nf3+ 22.Kh1 Bxa8 23.Rxb2
Nxg5 24.Kh2 Nf3+ 25.Kh3 Bxb2 26.Qxa7 Be4 27.a4 Kg7 28.Rd1 Be5
29.Qe7 Rc8 30.a5 Rc2 31.Kg2 Nd4 32.Kf1 Bf3 33.Rb1 Nc6 0-1

[White "Mikhail Botvinnik"]
[Black "Vasily Smyslov"]

















1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.c4 c6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d4 O-O 6.Nc3 d5 7.cxd5
cxd5 8.Ne5 b6 9.Bg5 Bb7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.O-O e6 12.f4 Bg7
13.Rc1 f6 14.Nf3 Nc6 15.e3 Qd7 16.Qe2 Na5 17.h4 Nc4 18.Bh3 Nd6
19.Kh2 a5 20.Rfe1 b5 21.Nd1 b4 22.Nf2 Ba6 23.Qd1 Rfc8 24.Rxc8+
Rxc8 25.Bf1 Bxf1 26.Rxf1 Qc6 27.Nd3 Qc2+ 28.Qxc2 Rxc2+ 29.Rf2
Rxf2+ 30.Nxf2 Nc4 31.Nd1 Kf7 32.b3 Nd6 33.Kg2 h5 34.Kh3 Ne4
35.g4 hxg4 36.Kxg4 f5 37.Kh3 Bf6 38.Ne1 Kg7 39.Nd3 Nc3 40.Nxc3
bxc3 41.Ne1 Kh6 42.Nc2 Be7 43.Kg3 Kh5 44.Kf3 Kxh4 45.Ne1 g5
46.fxg5 Kxg5 47.Nc2 Bd6 48.Ne1 Kh4 49.Nc2 Kh3 50.Na1 Kh2
51.Kf2 Bg3+ 52.Kf3 Bh4 53.Nc2 Kg1 54.Ke2 Kg2 55.Na1 Be7 56.Nc2
Kg3 57.Ne1 Bd8 58.Nc2 Bf6 59.a3 Be7 60.b4 a4 61.Ne1 Bg5 62.Nc2
Bf6 63.Kd3 Kf2 64.Na1 Bd8 65.Nc2 Bg5 66.b5 Bd8 67.Nb4 Bb6
68.Nc2 Ba5 69.Nb4 Ke1 0-1

[White "Vasily Smyslov"]
[Black "V Liberzon"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. Rb1 d6 6. b4 a6
7. e3 f5 8. Nge2 Nf6 9. d3 O-O 10. O-O Bd7 11. a4 Rb8 12. b5
axb5 13. axb5 Ne7 14. Ba3 Be6 15. Qb3 b6 16. d4 e4 17. d5 Bf7
18. Nd4 Qd7 19. Bb2 g5 20. Nce2 Kh8 21. Ra1 Ng6 22. f4 exf3
23. Rxf3 Ne7 24. Nc6 Rbe8 25. Ned4 Nfxd5 26. cxd5 Bxd5
27. Nxf5 Rxf5 28. Bxg7+ Kg8 29. Rxf5 Bxb3 30. Rxg5 Ng6 31. Bh6
Qe6 32. h4 Qxe3+ 33. Kh2 Qc3 34. Rf1 Bc4 35. Rf2 Qe1 36. Rgf5
Bxb5 37. Bd2 Qb1 38. Bd5+ Kh8 39. Bc3+ Ne5 40. Nxe5 dxe5
41. Rxe5 1-0

[White "Vasily Smyslov"]
[Black "Samuel Reshevsky"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. c3 Nge7 6. d4 Bd7
7. Bb3 h6 8. Nbd2 Ng6 9. Nc4 Be7 10. O-O O-O 11. Ne3 Bf6
12. Nd5 Re8 13. dxe5 Bxe5 14. Nxe5 dxe5 15. Qf3 Be6 16. Rd1
Bxd5 17. Rxd5 Qe7 18. Qf5 Nf8 19. Be3 Ne6 20. Rad1 Red8 21. g3
Rd6 22. Rxd6 cxd6 23. Qg4 Kh8 24. Bb6 Nb8 25. Bxe6 fxe6
26. Qh4 Qd7 27. Qd8+ Qxd8 28. Bxd8 Nd7 29. Bc7 Nc5 30. Rxd6
Rc8 31. Bb6 Na4 32. Rxe6 Nxb2 33. Rxe5 Nc4 34. Re6 Nxb6
35. Rxb6 Rxc3 36. Rxb7 Rc2 37. h4 Rxa2 38. Kg2 a5 39. h5 a4
40. Ra7 Kg8 41. g4 a3 42. Kg3 Re2 43. Kf3 Ra2 44. Ke3 Kf8
45. f3 Ra1 46. Kf4 a2 47. e5 Kg8 48. Kf5 Rf1 49. Rxa2 Rxf3+
50. Kg6 Kf8 51. Ra8+ Ke7 52. Ra7+ 1-0


[White "Wolfgang Uhlmann"]
[Black "Vasily Smyslov"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. b3 d5 6. Bg2 Bb4+
7. Nfd2 c5 8. dxc5 Bxc5 9. Bb2 O-O 10. O-O Nc6 11. Nc3 Rc8
12. cxd5 exd5 13. Na4 Nd4 14. Nc3 Qe7 15. Re1 Nc2 16. Rf1 Nxa1
17. Qxa1 Rfd8 18. Bf3 Ba3 0-1

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