RIP - Vasily Smyslov

Vasily Smyslov

b. : 24 March 1921

d. : 27 March 2010

. Vasily Smyslov was the World Chess Champion from 1957-1958, beating Botvinnik 12½-9½ for the title before dutifully losing it back to him a year later, 12½-10½. He was a top-tier Grandmaster, back in the days when that title actually meant something. He was a candidate for the World Championship on a regular basis from 1948-1985. As of the 1972 World Championship Interzonal in Petropolis, his FIDE rating was 2600, which is pretty darn good. He finished fifth there, 11-6, just a half-game shy of qualifying for the next round in the Championship. . His style is usually described as being "positional", but his games are much more interesting than those of other positional players like Reshevsky or Rubinstein. He played a broad range of openings, which made it a bear to try and prepare something against him. Like any Russian grandmaster he was steeped in theory, but he also liked to get "out of book", particularly by fianchettoing the King's Bishop on the black side of the Ruy Lopez. (which will mean utterly nothing to non-chessplayers). . I have one of his "Best Games" books in my personal chess library, which came in useful when I was trying to teach myself to play positional chess. It's old, beat up, and probably out of print now, although I'm sure they'll re-issue it in honor of his recent passing. .

P.S. I should also note that Istvan Bilek, a Hungarian grandmaster from the same time-period as Smyslov, passed away on 21 March. Methinks God is collecting a "set" of GM's. Maybe She's planning to field a team in the next Chess Olympiad. If so, She needs four more GM's. This is one time when I'm happy I'm a patzer.