Smyslov
Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov (24 March 1921 – 27 March
2010) was a Russian chess Grandmaster, World Champion, senior World Champion
and referee.
He was a candidate for the World Chess Championship on
eight occasions (1948, 1950, 1953, 1956, 1959, 1965, 1983, and 1985) and twice Soviet
champion (1949, 1955). At the Chess Olympiad he won 17 medals, from which 13
were gold. In the first team chess world championship he was the member of the winner
Soviet team (1985). He took part in five European Team Championships and won ten
gold medals.
Smyslov learned to play chess at the age of 6 from his
father, who was a strong chess Master. His father gave him a copy of Alexander
Alekhine's book My Best Games of Chess 1908–1923 which had a great effect on Smyslov’s
later career.
He began professional chess at the age of 14. His first
serious successes were achieved in 1938, when he won the USSR Junior
Championship.
In 1940, in the 12 USSR Chess Championship he finished
third place, behind Andor Lilienthal and Igor Bondarevsky, ahead of players
such as Paul Keres, Isaac Boleslavsky, or Mikhail Botvinnik.
In 1941, at the Absolute Championship of the Soviet Union,
which called the strongest tournament of all times the twenty-year-old Smyslov came
in 3rd behind Botvinnik and Keres. During World War II, he achieved excellent
results at tournaments in the Soviet Union, and behind Botvinnik and Keres he
was regarded to be the third strongest chess player.
In 1946, Groningen, he finished 3rd place behind
Botvinnik and the previous world champion, Max Euwe. At the chess world champion
1948, he achieved second place behind Botvinnik, who won the world champion title.
Moreover, he played on seven further occasions at Candidates
Tournaments; twice he advanced to the final, and won the Candidates' Tournament
in Amsterdam in 1956 so he could challenge the world champion, Botvinnik. In
1957, Smyslov won by 12½–9½ and got the title.
At the age of 63, he was again close to the world champion
title when, in 1984, he advanced to the final of the Candidate Tournament,
where he was beaten by the later world champion, Garry Kasparov.
Between 1952 and 1972 he represented the Soviet national
team at nine Olympiads. He won 9 gold medals in team; 4 gold, 2 silver and 2
bronze individual medals. Only Garry Kasparov gained more Olympiad medals (19).
In 1991, he won the first World Senior Chess Championship.
Between January 1952 and September 1958 he led the world
ranking in 59 different months. From October 1940 to September 1970 he was one
of the best ten players of the world. His highest score was 2800 according to Chessmetrics.
From 1936, he published endgames. Smyslov was known for
his positional style and many chess openings are named after him, for example, a
variation of the King's Indian Defense.
As a qualified lyric baritone opera singer he took
part in several auditions. On his 80th birthday, he made a
performance in the Moscow Conservatory.
Sources: https://hu.wikipedia.org; https://en.wikipedia.org;