XIV Schach-Olympiade Leipzig, 1960

Vasily Smyslov
Number of games in database: 2,638
Years covered: 1935 to 2001
Last FIDE rating: 2494
Highest rating achieved in database: 2620
Overall record: +912 -307 =1385 (61.6%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games
      Based on games in the database; may be incomplete.
      34 exhibition games, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:  Sicilian (205)      B24 B40 B92 B58 B23  English (128)      A15 A13 A14 A10 A17  Ruy Lopez (106)      C77 C92 C79 C97 C75  King's Indian (83)      E61 E60 E62 E66 E69  Reti System (70)      A04 A05 A06  English, 1 c4 c5 (69)      A30 A36 A33 A35 A39	With the Black pieces:  Ruy Lopez (216)      C60 C76 C69 C92 C67  Slav (145)      D19 D13 D11 D10 D15  Nimzo Indian (122)      E32 E54 E41 E55 E34  Ruy Lopez, Closed (92)      C92 C97 C93 C98 C84  Grunfeld (76)      D94 D98 D85 D86 D99  English, 1 c4 e5 (70)      A28 A21 A29 A22 A20

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   Botvinnik vs Smyslov, 1954 0-1
   Smyslov vs V Liberzon, 1968 1-0
   Smyslov vs I Rudakovsky, 1945 1-0
   Smyslov vs Reshevsky, 1948 1-0
   Smyslov vs Ribli, 1983 1-0
   Smyslov vs Karpov, 1971 1-0
   K Gerassimov vs Smyslov, 1935 0-1
   Keres vs Smyslov, 1953 0-1
   Smyslov vs Botvinnik, 1954 1-0
   Botvinnik vs Smyslov, 1957 0-1

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: [what is this?]
   FIDE World Championship Tournament (1948)
   Botvinnik-Smyslov World Championship Match (1954)
   Botvinnik-Smyslov World Championship Return Match (1957)
   Botvinnik-Smyslov World Championship Rematch (1958)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   Match Smyslov! by amadeus
   Road to the Championship - Vasily Smyslov by suenteus po 147
   125 Selected Games by Vasily Smyslov by suenteus po 147
   Nearly to Perfection by Imohthep
   Endgames virtuoso Smyslov by LESTRADAR
   Guess-the-Move Chess: 1940-1959 (Part 2) by Anatoly21
   Vasily Smyslov's Best Games by KingG
   Guess-the-Move Chess: 1940-1959 (Part 1) by Anatoly21
   Smyslov brevities by ughaibu
   Smyslov's Best Games of chess 1935-1957 by kashparov72c5
   Endgames World champions - part two by Alenrama
   Guess-the-Move Chess: 1960-1979 (Part 3) by Anatoly21
   WC-Botvinnik-Smyslov trio by kevin86
   Vasily Smyslov by blues66

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VASILY SMYSLOV (born Mar-24-1921, died Mar-27-2010) Russia PRONUNCIATION: [what is this?] Vasily Vasiliyevich Smyslov was born in Moscow. A talented singer, Smyslov narrowly missed joining the Bolshoi Opera. Opera's loss was the chess world's gain. He was awarded the Grandmaster title in 1941. Moscow champion of 1942. He took his his first win over Botvinnik at Moscow championship of 1943. Moscow champion of 1944/5. Sub-champion of the World in 1948. Shared the first place with David Bronstein in the soviet championship of 1949. Winner of Chigorin Memorial 1951. After his success at Zurich 1953, he became the challenger in 1954, but tied the match with Botvinnik. Soviet champion in 1955 sharing the first place with Efim Geller. Again winner of the Candidates Tournaments at Amsterdam 1956 and after winner of Alekhine memorial(drawing Botvinnik) was paved the way for Smyslov to become the 7th World Champion when he defeated Mikhail Botvinnik in 1957. The reign was short-lived as Botvinnik regained the title a year later. Smyslov would go on to many tournament victories such as Amsterdam1964 (jointly) Havana 1965 in front of Robert James Fischer, and Monte Carlo 1969. In 1982 at the Las Palmas Interzonal Tournament, Smyslov finished second and qualified for the Candidates Matches, and at age 61 advanced past Robert Huebner in the quarter-finals (winning the spin of a roulette wheel to decide the tied match), then defeating Zoltan Ribli in the semi-final, before losing to young challenger Garry Kasparov in the final. Vasily Smyslov crowned a remarkable career by becoming the first Senior World Champion at Bad Worishofen in 1991. His father Vasily Osipovich Smyslov also played and was a strong amateur player. Crosstables and other info can be found here: [rusbase-1] [rusbase-2] http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/48$... [rusbase-3] http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/525... http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/525... [rusbase-4] [rusbase-5] http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/555... [rusbase-6] http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/646... Smyslov Videos: Singing, playing piano, beating Botvinnik (1957) http://www.britishpathe.com/record.... Receiving World Championship Laurels (1957) http://www.britishpathe.com/record.... Walking with Keres in the Netherlands (1948) http://www.britishpathe.com/record.... Wikipedia article: Vasily Smyslov

page 1 of 106; games 1-25 of 2,638  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. K Gerassimov vs Smyslov 0-1 22 1935 Moscow D05 Queen's Pawn Game 2. Smyslov vs M Recash 1-0 23 1938 Moscow B10 Caro-Kann 3. Smyslov vs Lilienthal 1-0 56 1938 t Moscow C11 French 4. V Baturinsky vs Smyslov 0-1 34 1938 Moskva C45 Scotch Game 5. Smyslov vs V Zak 1-0 36 1938 Moscow A43 Old Benoni 6. S Belavenets vs Smyslov 0-1 36 1939 Leningrad/Moscow training A48 King's Indian 7. Smyslov vs V Makogonov   ½-½ 49 1939 Leningrad/Moscow training B10 Caro-Kann 8. Keres vs Smyslov 1-0 33 1939 Leningrad/Moscow training D55 Queen's Gambit Declined 9. P Romanovsky vs Smyslov   ½-½ 43 1939 Leningrad/Moscow training D52 Queen's Gambit Declined 10. Alatortsev vs Smyslov 0-1 40 1939 Leningrad/Moscow training E47 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 11. Smyslov vs Ragozin 0-1 35 1939 Leningrad/Moscow training C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense 12. Smyslov vs Levenfish   ½-½ 63 1939 Leningrad/Moscow training C98 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin 13. Lilienthal vs Smyslov   ½-½ 42 1939 Leningrad/Moscow training D51 Queen's Gambit Declined 14. Reshevsky vs Smyslov 1-0 70 1939 Leningrad/Moscow training D51 Queen's Gambit Declined 15. Averbakh vs Smyslov 0-1 24 1939 Moscow A06 Reti Opening 16. Smyslov vs Kan   ½-½ 31 1939 Leningrad/Moscow training C43 Petrov, Modern Attack 17. Smyslov vs Konstantinopolsky 1-0 57 1939 Leningrad/Moscow training C77 Ruy Lopez 18. Panov vs Smyslov ½-½ 42 1939 Leningrad/Moscow training C77 Ruy Lopez 19. Smyslov vs Tolush 0-1 24 1939 Leningrad/Moscow training C16 French, Winawer 20. Smyslov vs Goglidze 1-0 80 1939 Leningrad/Moscow training B83 Sicilian 21. Bondarevsky vs Smyslov 1-0 26 1939 Leningrad/Moscow training E85 King's Indian, Samisch, Orthodox Variation 22. Smyslov vs I Rabinovich   ½-½ 31 1939 Leningrad/Moscow training B77 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack 23. Smyslov vs Flohr ½-½ 43 1939 Leningrad/Moscow training C77 Ruy Lopez 24. Lilienthal vs Smyslov   ½-½ 51 1940 USSR Championship E11 Bogo-Indian Defense 25. Smyslov vs Konstantinopolsky   ½-½ 31 1940 USSR Championship D51 Queen's Gambit Declined  page 1 of 106; games 1-25 of 2,638    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Smyslov wins | Smyslov loses

< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 43 OF 48 ·  Later Kibitzing> Mar-28-10    siggemannen: Vasily Vasil'evich Smyslov, rest in peace, you were a great man and an icon of chess. Mar-28-10    Calli: Added some videos from British Pathe to the bio. Hear Smyslov sing! Mar-28-10    humangraymatter: Rest in peace Vasily Smsylov. Mar-28-10    SirChrislov: "One of the 4 great geniuses of the post-war era. The others being Botvinnik, Keres and Bronstein." --Spassky His '125 selected' is a flawless demonstration on the style and technique that took him to the title. http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail... Mar-28-10    moronovich: R.I.P. Old master.One of the best ever. Mar-28-10    whatthefat: Farewell to one of the greatest. Mar-28-10    waustad: I just read an article at http://www.chessoutpost.com/smyslov... where he mentions that Smyslov had been a WC Candidate in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. It seems that the author missed his play in the 1948 WC tournament after the death of Alekhine. Mar-28-10    amaurobius: Farewell to a wonderful player - the world champion when I was born. I have hardly ever read a bad word about him. Mar-28-10    Fluffy: Sleep well, Vasily. We will remember you always. Mar-28-10    talisman: R.I.P. thanks! Mar-29-10    karnak64: R.I.P., champ. We'll remember you. Mar-29-10    SimonWebbsTiger: Here is a recording of Vasily Vassilyevich singing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbDk... http://www.chessblog.com/uploaded_i... A very young Alexandra Kosteniuk shakes hands with Smyslov in a simul. (See her blog.) Nigel Short has posted a couple of lovely pictures of himself at a young age from a Smyslov simul on his facebook page. (Not sure I can link direct to that.) RIP V.V.Smyslov Mar-29-10    SimonWebbsTiger: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!... Mar-29-10    Staggirq: He made the world better. Shalom! Mar-29-10    Staggirq: His English opening against Bronstein (1953) is breathtaking. After only eight moves the board is charged with energy and excitement. Mar-29-10    whiteshark: Here is a famous study from Smyslov which he composed in 1937: click for larger view White to move <draws>! Mar-29-10    TheAlchemist: Rest in peace, maestro. Mar-29-10    birthtimes: Smyslov's record playing the Najdorf as Black was very impressive...wonder why he didn't play it more often??? Repertoire Explorer: Vasily Smyslov (black) Mar-30-10    ray keene: i have written an obituary of smyslov which appears in the times today in the print version and online at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/co... Mar-30-10    roberts partner: A longer obituary.... http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/chess Mar-30-10    cannedpawn: I am going to ask a question and pose it to Mr. Keene who wrote a very good obit of my favorite player, Vasily Smyslov. In the guardian.co.uk there is a lengthly obit and in there it mentions a scandal during the 59 candidates. It says that Grandmaster Smyslov had a public "affair"(my words) with a Yugoslavian woman Grandmaster. I was not aware there were Woman Grandmasters in 1959 is this an error? Mar-30-10    kingfu: Thank you GM Keene for telling the story of a an all-time great chess player and a great human being. Composure in chess. Composing in music. Vasily Smyslov was the Crown Jewel in The Soviet Culture. Mar-30-10    Riverbeast: R.I.P. Smyslov Mar-30-10    ray keene: the affair is widely rumoured but it seemed to me to be lacking in taste to mention such things in an obit for the times Mar-30-10    Jim Bartle: I agree. Not the place. Jump to page #    (enter # from 1 to 48) < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 43 OF 48 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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