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Isaac Boleslavsky vs Vasily Smyslov
"The Bolero" (game of the day Mar-18-2022)
Budapest Candidates (1950), Budapest HUN, rd 6, Apr-20
Slav Defense: Alapin Variation (D16)  ·  1-0

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
a
1
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
White to move.
ANALYSIS [x]
Notes by Stockfish 9 v010218 (minimum 6s/ply)6.e3 was played in Tolush vs Alatortsev, 1944 (1-0)better is 11...O-O 12.O-O Bd7 13.e5 Ne8 14.Rad1 Bc6 15.Nd4 Bxd4 = +0.47 (21 ply)better is 12.e5 Nd7 13.O-O Nb6 14.Be2 Bd7 15.Nd6 Bc6 16.Rac1 Nb4 ⩲ +1.13 (23 ply) 12...Rd8 13.Rad1 Rxd1 14.Rxd1 Bd7 15.e5 Ne8 16.Ne4 Bc6 ⩲ +0.51 (21 ply) ⩲ +1.47 (22 ply) 13...Ne8 14.Rad1 Bc6 15.Bg5+ Kf8 16.Be3 b6 17.Nd6 Nxd6 ⩲ +1.06 (23 ply) ± +2.28 (24 ply) after 14.Bc1 Bc6 15.g4 Nf6 16.exf6+ gxf6 17.Bh6 Nb4 18.Rad1 better is 14...Bxe3 15.fxe3 f5 16.e4 g6 17.Nd6 Nb4 18.Rad1 Nc6 ± +1.87 (21 ply) 15.Rad1 Nb4 16.Bb3 Bxb5 17.axb5 f5 18.Bg5+ Kf7 19.Rd7+ +- +2.56 (25 ply) ± +1.66 (23 ply) 17...Rf8 18.Rad1 Nb4 19.g4 Nd5 20.Nc5 Bxb5 21.Bxb5 Rac8 ± +2.10 (25 ply)+- +2.87 (25 ply) after 18.Nd4 Rc7 19.g4 Ng7 20.Nb5 Rc2 21.Nbd6 Nf5 22.Bxa6 bxa6 better is 19.Bxh5 gxh5 20.Nf6 Bc6 21.e4 Rh8 22.Ra3 h4 23.Rh3 Nb4 ± +1.69 (19 ply) ± +2.21 (27 ply) 20...f5 21.gxh5 Rb8 22.Rf2 Rbxb2 23.Rxc2 Rxc2 24.Nf6 ± +2.32 (26 ply)+- +4.15 (27 ply)22...Rxc1+ 23.Rxc1 Bd7 24.Rc7 Rd8 25.Rxa7 h5 26.Nb7 Rc8 +- +6.35 (28 ply)1-0

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
FEN COPIED

Annotations by Stockfish (Computer).      [35437 more games annotated by Stockfish]

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Kibitzer's Corner
Nov-12-04  azaris: What a mess from Smyslov! 22...♖xc1+ 23. ♖xc1 ♗d7 24. ♖c7 ♖d8 25. ♖xa7 and Black is without hope.
Oct-22-05  turkishgrandmaster: 22.Rfc1!! maybe Smyslov could have tried 22...Ba4 he will lose two pawns but it is better than resigning.
Oct-22-05  Resignation Trap: Smyslov contributed many important ideas to opening theory. 5...c5 was not one of them. (:()
Oct-22-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  Open Defence: and Boleslavsky is a very under rated player .. certainly of Championship material
Feb-08-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  Peligroso Patzer: The 5. ...c5 line worked out much better for Black (0-1 in 21 moves) when Morozevich assayed it against Van Wely (Corus Wijk aan Zee 2001).
Jun-01-11
Premium Chessgames Member
  GrahamClayton: 14. ♗e3! is an excellent move, attempting to exchange the Black bishop, which is attacking the White outpost square of d6.

16. ♘e4 continues the theme. Black is forced to exchange, as 16...♗b4 17. g4 ♘g7 18. ♗g5+ ♔f8 19. ♘f6 wins at least a pawn.

May-16-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  kingscrusher: Beautiful Boleslavsky. Highly underrated player - who may have deliberately let Bronstein catch up to him in the 1950 Candidates. Was very good friends with Bronstein and even his daughter married bronstein. I associate him with "Strategic crush" of the d5 square from the Most instructive games of Chess book by Chernev. The funnny thing is that he is known for research into the "Boleslavsky hole" on d5 - from the black perspective.
Jun-11-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  Honza Cervenka: Smyslov followed his own play from Flohr vs Smyslov, 1945 but Boleslavsky was apparently well prepared. Instead of 11...Ke7 it was better to castle, on the other hand, 12.e5 and only then castling would have been more accurate order of moves from white's part, as after 12.0-0 Rd8 black could avoid much of troubles, which he met later in the game. 8...e5 is better in this line.
Mar-18-22  Brenin: Boa constrictor.
Mar-18-22  goodevans: Boletus.
Mar-18-22  goodevans: For anyone interested in mushroom picking, boletes are among the easiest to identify. From what I recall, almost all are edible and only one, the devil's bolete, is poisonous.

I used to go mushroom picking in our local woods and have very occasionally found good boletes there. I don't bother any more. The woods have become much more popular ever since the Covid lockdowns and now it's impossible to find decent mushrooms that haven't been kicked over and destroyed. It seems people are just scared of anything that doesn't look like what they see on supermarket shelves. Sad.

Mar-18-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: 11...Ke7 is plain weird. Why play anything else besides 0-0?
Mar-18-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  Honza Cervenka: <OhioChessFan: 11...Ke7 is plain weird. Why play anything else besides 0-0?>

Smyslov had thought that the game was heading into an endgame and so he preferred 11...Ke7 leaving the King in the centre. Positionally such a decision is quite understandable but here it has also some tactical setbacks.

May-20-22  cehertan: No easy feat crushing smyslov in a relatively quiet queenless middle game. This event seems like the high water mark for Boleslavsky.
Mar-23-25  Rubenchik: 13. e5 VERY STRONG. it looked a quiet position, but not!

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