ORIGINAL: Botvinnik - Smyslov World Championship Match (1957)

Game Collection: Smyslov vs World Champions Decisive Games

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5 March - 27 April 1957

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Chess events 13 May 1954- 5 March 1957 (Smyslov's results)

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USSR-USA Team Match 1954 in New York (19-23 June)

1st board vs. <Reshevsky> +0 -0 =4

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USSR-Great Britain Team Match 1954 in London (3-5 July)

1st board vs. <C.H.O.D. Alexander>: +1 -0 =1 .

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Amsterdam Olympiad (4-25 Sept 1954)

Bronze medal on 2d board with 75%

+6 -0 =6

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Hastings 1954-55 (29 Dec 1954 - 7 Jan 1955)

Hastings (1954/55)

Shared 1st with <Keres>

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22d USSR Championship 1955 (11 Feb - 15 March)

USSR Championship (1955)

2d to <Geller> after a 7 game playoff, over <Botvinnik>, <Spassky>, <Petrosian> and <Keres>

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USSR-USA Team Match 1955 in Moscow (21 June - 8 July)

2d board vs. <Bisguier>: +4 -0 =0

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USSR-Sweden Team Match 1955 in Stockholm (9-12 July)

1st board vs. <Stahlberg>: +1 -0 =1

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USSR-Poland Team Match 1955 (First European Team Championship semi-final) in Lodz (25-28 July)

1st board vs. <Sliwa>: +2 -0 =0

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Zagreb 1955 (1-25 Nov)

1st over <Matanovic>, <Ivkov>, <Gligoric> and <Geller>

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Amsterdam Candidates 1956 (27 March - 30 April)

Amsterdam Candidates (1956)

1st over <Keres>, <Szabo>, <Spassky>, <Petrosian>, and <Bronstein>

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USSR-Yugoslavia Team Match 1956 in Belgrade (17-28 June)

Smyslov scored 5.5 from 8 rounds:

vs. <Karaklajic> +1 vs. <Gligoric =1> vs. <Matanovic> =1 vs. <Ivkov> =1
vs. <Pirc> +1
vs. <Milic> =1) vs. <Djurasevic> +1 =1

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Moscow Olympiad 1956 (31 Aug - 25 Sept)

+5 -1 =7

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Alekhine Memorial 1956 in Moscow (9 Oct - 2 Nov)

Alekhine Memorial (1956)

Shared 1st with <Botvinnik> over <Taimanov>, <Gligoric>

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Smyslov was seeded directly into the

Amsterdam Candidates 1956 (27 March - 30 April)

Amsterdam Candidates (1956)

1st over <Keres>, <Szabo>, <Spassky>, <Petrosian>, and <Bronstein>>

because he had participated in a WCC Match in the previous cycle.

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Match preparation

Botvinnik:

<"Collect all Smyslov games played since 1 March 1954; Make a card index of openings; Draw up overall characteristics, after studying games and card index; Look at Olympiad, Alekhine Memorial, theoretical bulletins, semifinals and finals (of Soviet Championships- translator's note), etc, and pick out anything valuable; prepare openings for 12 Black and 12 White games; Test these in two sets of training games- 1-15 January, 6 games, 1-15 February, 6 games. Total 12 games. Check the rest in home analysis;

<<<Physical preparation:>>>

Spend not less than 4 days each week at the dacha, except for the periods 1-15 January and 1-15 February, when no. of days at the dacha should be no less than 6 per week.

Skiing, showers, salt-baths, ice-skating, walking, sleeping with window ajar, see dentist, exercises.">

-Mikhail Botvinnik, "Three World Chess Championship Matches: 1954, 1957, 1958" I.Y. Botvinnik, ed., Steve Giddins transl. (New in Chess 2009), p.92

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-<Training match with Averbakh>

Averbakh:

<"The final stage of Botvinnik's preparations for the second match with Smyslov was supposed to be a match between us of twelve games. We were due to start straight after the 1957 new year, but suddenly I went down with a cold and was ill for a week. As a result, we only played ten games, although the adjourned ninth game was never resumed. The score in the match was +3 -2 -4 in Botvinnik's favour, but in the unfinished game, I had an extra exchange and good winning chances. I remember that this match was extremely hard. We fought unusually hard for a training match. Several games ended in extreme time trouble, which often resulted in serious blunders. Now looking back at these games after half a century, and as it were re-living these battles anew, it occurred tome that these battles may have cost Botvinnik too much strength and nervous energy. <<<I cannot rule out the possibility that when he sat down at the board a month later with Smyslov, Botvinnik had not fully recovered,>>> and that this somehow influenced the course of the match.">

-Yuri Averbakh "Centre-Stage and Behind the Scenes" Steve Giddins transl. (New in Chess 2011), p.101

Timman:

<Between <<<25 Dec 1956- 30 Jan 1957>>>, at Botvinnik's dacha in Nikolina gora, he played 9 training games against Averbakh.>

-Jan Timman, "Secret Matches: The Unknown Training Games of Mikhail Botvinnik" (Russell Enterprises Inc. 2000), pp.79-83

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Conditions

-<Match length> First to 12 1/2 points from a maximum of 24 games.

--Harry Golombek "The World Chess Championships of 1957 and 1958" (Hardinge Simpole, 1958), p.8

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-<Time control>

40 moves in 2 1/2 hours, 16 moves per additional hour.

Golombek:

<"Sessions of play were from five to ten in the evening three times a week and adjourned games were played at the <<<Central Chess Club>>> on the day following the first session of play from four till ten in the evening.">

-Harry Golombek "The World Chess Championships of 1957 and 1958" p.2

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-<Draw odds> for the champion:

FIDE rules Paris 1949 Congress :

Translation by <Tabanus>

-<Punkt 9>

<9."If a world champion in a world championship match achieves a <<<draw>>>, or ties for first place with one or more participants in a world championship tournament, he retains his title.">

Tidskrift för schack, nr. 7-8, Juli-Aug. 1949, p.156

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-<Arbiter> Harry Golombek

-Harry Golombek "The World Chess Championships of 1957 and 1958" p.1

-G.H. Diggle, article in "Newsflash" (June 1981). In Edward Winter, Chessnote 8091. http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...

-<Umpire> Gideon Stahlberg

-Harry Golombek "The World Chess Championships of 1957 and 1958" p.8

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-<Seconds>

Averbakh and Grigory Goldberg Grigory Goldberg (for Botvinnik)

Bondarevsky and Vladimir Makogonov (for Smyslov)

One second was allowed to help analyze adjourned games. In this case, it was Averbakh and Makogonov who had the rights to these particular duties.

-Harry Golombek
"The World Chess Championships of 1957 and 1958" (Harding Simpole 2002 -original copyright Golombek 1957), p. 8

-<Smyslov> testifies to the value of <Makogonov's> aid:

<"During the match against Botvinnik, Makogonov was one of my coaches <<<And the fact that I became world champion>>> is due in large part to his work. He expounded his ideas clearly and persuasively. I remember his excellent analysis, which he summed up with the help of diagrams. This method is best to fix in memory the most important opening positions.">

(translation by Google. I adjusted some of the punctuation, diction and phrasing for clearer English idiom and sense)

-http://sultanov.azeriland.com/chess...

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-<venue> Tchaikovsky Concert Hall

-Harry Golombek
"The World Chess Championships of 1957 and 1958" p.1

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-<Right to a Rematch>

FIDE Congress Moscow 1956

"FIDE has increased the number of zones from 7 to 9, through making an Asian zone and increasing the zones in Europe from 2 to 3"

"The Candidate tournament in 1959 to select the challenger to the World Champion will be organised with 7 participants and quadruple rounds, and the final will be played in 1960. The right for dethroned World champions to step in as third participant in a final competition has been annulled and replaced by the right for him to have a return match against the new World champion before the Candidate tournament under certain conditions."

-<Tidskrift för Schack> Nov-Dec 1956, p.234

http://www.schack.se/tfs/history/19..., p.234

-<Averbakh>:

<"At the Moscow FIDE Congress in 1956, the point about the three-player match-tournament was <<<removed>>>, and instead of this, the world champion was given the right to a return match.">

-Yuri Averbakh
"Centre-Stage and Behind the Scenes- the Personal Memoir of a Soviet Chess Legend." Steve Giddins, tranls.
(New in Chess 2011), p. 112

-<Botvinnik>:

<"According to the rules of 1949 the ex-champion could be the third party in an event. Rogard was opposed to such a three-man match tournament, <<<fearing a conspiracy>>> between two of the contestants... The right of a defeated champion to a return match was maintained by laying down that this match should take place the year after his defeat.">

Mikhail Botvinnik "Achieving the Aim" Bernard Cafferty, transl. (Pergamon 1981), p.146

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Course of the match

Golombek:

"The Tchaikovsky Concert Hall... holds some 2,000 spectators, and, though at the beginning of the match not more than 1,000 were present, those numbers continually increased as the match progressed."

-Harry Golombek "The World Chess Championships of 1957 and 1958" p.8

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1st game

Botvinnik vs Smyslov, 1957 (0-1)

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2d game

Smyslov vs Botvinnik, 1957 (1/2)

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3d game

Botvinnik vs Smyslov, 1957 (1/2)

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4th game

Smyslov vs Botvinnik, 1957 (0-1)

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5th game

Botvinnik vs Smyslov, 1957 (1-0)

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6th game

Smyslov vs Botvinnik, 1957 (1-0)

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7th game

Botvinnik vs Smyslov, 1957 (1/2)

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8th game

Smyslov vs Botvinnik, 1957 (1-0)

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9th game

Botvinnik vs Smyslov, 1957 (1/2)

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10th game

Smyslov vs Botvinnik, 1957 (1/2)

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11th game

Botvinnik vs Smyslov, 1957 (1/2)

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12th game

Smyslov vs Botvinnik, 1957 (1-0)

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13th game

Botvinnik vs Smyslov, 1957 (1-0)

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14th game

Smyslov vs Botvinnik, 1957 (1/2)

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15th game

Botvinnik vs Smyslov, 1957 (1/2)

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16th game

Smyslov vs Botvinnik, 1957 (1/2)

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17th game

Botvinnik vs Smyslov, 1957 (0-1)

"Tied after seven games, the match swung in Smyslov's favor after this game...

-Adjourned position after <42.Ne1>

click for larger view

"...The general consensus about the adjourned position was a likely draw, but White can make Black sweat. Botvinnik studied the position extensively but found no strong line of play. He called the match arbiter and offered a draw- and was stunned when Smyslov refused. It had never occured to him that Black could try to win...

After <48...Kh4!>

click for larger view

...Goldberg acknowledged later that Botvinnik had underestimated this maneuver. The king threatens to reach <f1> after which White finds himself in Zugzwang."

Andrew Soltis, "Soviet Chess 1917-1991" (McFarland 1997), pp.257-38

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-<Karpova>

Vasily Smyslov: <The game was adjourned, and the following morning Goldberg, Botvinnik's second, sent me an offer of a draw.>*

Source: Page 173 of Vasily Smyslov, 'Endgame Virtuoso', Everyman Chess, 1997 (reprinted 2003).

*On move 41.Ne1 (41...Kh6 was the sealed move), annotating Botvinnik vs Smyslov, 1957

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18th game

Smyslov vs Botvinnik, 1957 (1/2)

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19th game

Botvinnik vs Smyslov, 1957 (1/2)

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20th game

Smyslov vs Botvinnik, 1957 (1-0)

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21st game

Botvinnik vs Smyslov, 1957 (1/2)

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22d game

Smyslov vs Botvinnik, 1957 (1/2)

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Evaluations

Botvinnik:

<"I had 'firmly' resolved not to write anything about this match, but the decision of a judge is law, and at the request of the arbiter, chess-master Golombek, I have to say a few words.

If a match for the World Championship is an examination for a candidate, then it is now clear that the examination has been passed, and that the examiner himself was not sufficiently prepared for the examination.

Now the question arises: <<<Is it necessary to play a return match? Is it necessary for the chess world that the same two chess-players should play the same match (at the same time of year and at the same place)?>>> I am most interested to hear the opinion about this, not only of British chess-players, but of chess circles all over the world.

Anyhow, I hope that the chess-players of Great Britain will not refuse to accept the sincere wishes and greetings of a Soviet chess-player who, though he has lost a match for the World Championship, has still tried not to lose the sense of humor that is so essential both for the struggle and for the victory in this field.

Moscow, May 3, 1957.>

--Harry Golombek "The World Chess Championships of 1957 and 1958" (Hardinge Simpole, 1958), p.139

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EDITs <OhioChessFan>

OhioChessFan Edits

<<At the 1956 Amsterdam Candidates Tournament, a ten player double round robin, Vasily Smyslov again emerged victorious +6 -1 =11, 1.5 points ahead of Keres.

This earned Smyslov the right to challenge Mikhail Botvinnik for a second time. The title match was held at Moscow, March 1957. >

"again" needs some context. While the next sentence sort of clarifies that the "again" has some reference to playing Botvinnik, I think there must be a more explicit explanation of what Smyslov won for the second time. The sentence is already a bit long, so adding anything almost demands it be broken up, eg,

Following his victory in the 1954 Candidates Tournament, Vasily Smyslov won the 1956 Amsterdam Candidates Tournament, a ten player double round robin. Smyslov won with a score of +6 -1 =11, 1.5 points ahead of Keres>

<<Vasily Smyslov again emerged victorious +6 -1 =11, >

"with" or "at" after "victorious".>

EDIT <Ohio>

<<This earned Smyslov the right to challenge Mikhail Botvinnik for a second time. The title match was held at Moscow, March 1957. >

I don't quite like this sentence. "This earned Smyslov" is a pretty weak/awkward construction.>

EDIT <Ohio>

<<In this match, and again in 1958, Botvinnik played without the use of a second. >

I don't like the 1958 reference. Not a big deal, but why get ahead of the game when pursuing a historical matter?

During the 1954 match, Botvinnik felt that Smyslov was too ready for prepared variations that he (Botvinnik) had never played before. Believing that his second was leaking information, and unwilling to trust anyone else, Botvinnik played the next two matches alone.1

Need to go ahead and name the second, even if the other info is in the footnote.>

This absolutely needs to be fixed with proper resarch.