The Life & Games of Vasily Smyslov

The Life & Games of Vasily Smyslov PDF

Author: Andrey Terekhov

Publisher: SCB Distributors

Published: 2020-12-07

Total Pages: 621

ISBN-13: 1949859258

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The Life & Games of the Seventh World Chess Champion Vasily Smyslov, the seventh world champion, had a long and illustrious chess career. He played close to 3,000 tournament games over seven decades, from the time of Lasker and Capablanca to the days of Anand and Carlsen. From 1948 to 1958, Smyslov participated in four world championships, becoming world champion in 1957. Smyslov continued playing at the highest level for many years and made a stunning comeback in the early 1980s, making it to the finals of the candidates’ cycle. Only the indomitable energy of 20-year-old Garry Kasparov stopped Smyslov from qualifying for another world championship match at the ripe old age of 63! In this first volume of a multi-volume set, Russian FIDE master Andrey Terekhov traces the development of young Vasily from his formative years and becoming the youngest grandmaster in the Soviet Union to finishing second in the world championship match tournament. With access to rare Soviet-era archival material and invaluable family archives, the author complements his account of Smyslov’s growth into an elite player with dozens of fascinating photographs, many never seen before, as well as 49 deeply annotated games. German grandmaster Karsten Müller’s special look at Smyslov’s endgames rounds out this fascinating first volume. [This book] is an extremely well-researched look at his life and games, a very welcome addition to the body of work about Smyslov... – from the Foreword by Peter Svidler

World Champion Smyslov and His 120 Best Games

World Champion Smyslov and His 120 Best Games PDF

Author: Alexander Liepnieks

Publisher: Ishi Press

Published: 2012-11

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 9784871875455

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This collection of best games of Smyslov is probably the best collection of his annotated games in Descriptive Notation. This book was first published in 1958, the year that Vassily Smyslov was World Chess Champion. Smyslov was born on 24 March 1921. He won the two strongest chess tournaments of that decade, Z rich 1953 and Amsterdam 1956. He was a world champion candidate eight times in 1948, 1950, 1953, 1956, 1959, 1965, 1983 and 1985. He died in Moscow on 27 March 2010 at age 89.

Botvinnik-Smyslov

Botvinnik-Smyslov PDF

Author: Mikhail Botvinnik

Publisher: New In Chess,Csi

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789056912710

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World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik writes the story of his three clashes for the world title with fellow Russian Vasily Smyslov. Botvinnik, one of the greatest chess players of all time, analyses all the games, reveals his match strategy, and comments on the strategic choices of his opponent. Not only an important historical document on the pinnacle of chess of the mid-20th century, but also a fascinating and highly instructive report.

Chess Duels

Chess Duels PDF

Author: Yasser Seirawan

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781857445879

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He describes and analyses, in depth, his most memorable encounters-both famous victories and painful defeats, against the best chess players of the last 50 years. --

Vasily Smyslov

Vasily Smyslov PDF

Author: Vasily Smyslov

Publisher: Everyman Chess

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 9781857441987

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The endgame is a subtle phase of the game many ordinary players would like to improve. In taking the reader through over 150 instructive examples, taken mostly from his own games, Smyslov covers a very broad range of positions - and provides an excellent overall insight into the endgame as a whole. Unlike standard endgame manuals, which concetrate purely on the most basic and technical positions, this book has numerous examples with many pieces on the board - the type of endgame you are in fact most likely to reach. By learning from Smyslov's impeccable technique, readers will improve their own endgame abilities - and results! Grandmaster Vasily Smyslov is renowned for his artistic mastery of the endgame, and his 1957 World Championship victory over Botvinnik can be largely attributed to his unique gifts in this aspect of the game. The winner of innumerable first prizes in international tournaments, Smyslov became, at 61, the oldest player ever to qualify for the World Championship Candidates Matches. Now in his mid-seventies, he still participates constantly in international events - with remarkable success.

Zurich 1953

Zurich 1953 PDF

Author: Miguel Najdorf

Publisher: SCB Distributors

Published: 2012-05-18

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 193649051X

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The Stuff of Legend A great tournament deserves a great book. That's what grandmaster Miguel Najdorf produced in his account of one of the greatest and most important chess events of all time, the 1953 Zürich Candidates Tournament, in which 15 of the world's top players battled for the right to challenge the world champion, Mikhail Botvinnik. After two months and 210 games, many of which rank among the best ever played, Russian grandmaster Vassily Smyslov finally came out at the head of a star-studded field that included Sam Reshevsky, Paul Keres, David Bronstein, Tigran Petrosian, Efim Geller, Alexander Kotov, Mark Taimanov, Yuri Averbakh, Isaac Boleslavsky, Laszló Szabó, Svetozar Gligoric, Max Euwe, Gideon Ståhlberg, and Najdorf himself. This is the first English edition of this classic work, until now available only in its original Spanish. It includes all 210 games with Najdorf's full and extensive notes, plus all the original introductory material, biographical sketches of the players, round-by-round accounts of the action, closing summary, and a survey of the tournament's impact on opening theory. Additionally this edition has many more diagrams and photos, an introduction by Yuri Averbakh (one of the last surviving participants) and a foreword by Andy Soltis.

Smyslov, Bronstein, Geller, Taimanov and Averbakh

Smyslov, Bronstein, Geller, Taimanov and Averbakh PDF

Author: Andrew Soltis

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2021-06-21

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 147667793X

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A crucial decision spared chess Grandmaster David Bronstein almost certain death at the hands of the Nazis--one fateful move cost him the world championship. Russian champion Mark Taimanov was a touted as a hero of the Soviet state until his loss to Bobby Fischer all but ruined his life. Yefim Geller's dream of becoming world champion was crushed by a bad move against Fischer, his hated rival. Yuri Averbakh had no explanation how he became the world's oldest grandmaster, other than the quixotic nature of fate. Vasily Smyslov, the only one of the five to become world champion, would reign for just one year--fortune, he said, gave him pneumonia at the worst possible time. This book explores how fate played a capricious role in the lives of five of the greatest players in chess history.