Vasilii Smyslov
Smyslov, Vasilii Vasil’evich
Born Mar. 24, 1921, in Moscow. Soviet chess player. Grand master of the USSR (1941) and Honored Master of Sports (1948); international grand master (1950).
Smyslov was champion of the USSR in 1949 and 1955 and world champion in the period 1957-58. He played against M. M. Botvinnik three times in world championship matches. In 1954, Smyslov and Botvinnik tied; Smyslov won in 1957, but in 1958 he lost his title to Botvinnik. Smyslov also played in a world championship tournament match in 1948, taking second place after Botvinnik. As part of the Soviet team, he played in nine chess olympiads between 1952 and 1972 and in the European championships between 1957 and 1973. Smyslov has been awarded the Order of Lenin.
WORKS
Izbrannye partii. Moscow, 1952.Teoriia ladeinykh okonchanii, 2nd ed. Moscow, 1959. (With G. Ia. Levenfish.) [23–1871–]