Vasily Smyslov is the 7th official world chess champion and baritone singer. He wrote a chess books like 125 Selected Games, Rook Endings, and Endgame Virtuoso etc.
He was born on March 24, 1921 at Moscow, Russia. His father taught him about chess at the age of 6. In 1935, he played in competitive chess, when he started taking part in classification tournaments. Then, three years after Smyslov won the 1938 USSR Junior Championship. That same year, he tied for 1st–2nd places in the 1938 Moscow City Championship, with 12.5/17.
In 1940-41, during the war years, he performed exceptionally well at the 1940 USSR Chess Championship, he got 3rd place with 13/19, finishing ahead of the reigning champion Mikhail Botvinnik. Also, in 1941 Absolute Championship of the USSR, he scored 10/20 for third place, behind Botvinnik and Keres. Both were the strongest tournament of all time including Botvinnik, Keres, Boleslavsky, Bondarevsky, Lilienthal, etc. This proved that Smyslov was of genuine world class Grandmaster strength at age 20, a very rare achievement at that time.
Smyslov's playing style was characterized by a deep understanding of positional play, endgame technique, and an exceptional strategic sense. He possessed a remarkable ability to maneuver his pieces with precision, often outplaying his opponents in long, complex battles.
Smyslov played many candidates tournament from 1948 till 1984, but the most significant one was the 1956 Candidates where he finished 1st placed with 11.5/18 points ahead of Paul Keres, Boris Spassky and Tigran Petrosian and securing the 1957 world championship match
One of the highlights of Smyslov's career was winning the World Chess Championship in 1957, defeating Mikhail Botvinnik in a highly contested match with 6 wins 3 losses and 13 draws. Smyslov's strategic prowess and resilience were on full display during this match, earning him widespread recognition and admiration within the chess community.
After losing in world rematch the following year (1958), Smyslov did not get another world championship match but he continued playing in top chess tournaments like 1984 Candidates where he lost to Garry Kasparov in the finals. And lastly at the 2001 Amsterdam where he got 5/10 points.
In March 27, 2010, he died and buried at Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.
There are 2856 games listed in the chessbase.
Let’s look of his best games which feature in our GMG page.