Vasily Smyslov

The seventh World Champion, whose harmonious, intuitive style produced some of the most beautiful games in chess history.

The Seeker of Harmony

Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov was born on March 24, 1921, in Moscow. His father was a strong chess player who had once competed in the Russian championship. Smyslov learned chess at age six and showed immediate talent, but his approach to the game was different from his contemporaries. Where Botvinnik treated chess as a science and Tal treated it as a battlefield, Smyslov approached it as an art form.

Smyslov's games were characterized by a sense of harmony and balance that was almost musical (he was also an accomplished opera singer who once auditioned at the Bolshoi Theatre). His pieces always seemed to work together naturally, each one perfectly coordinated with the others. He had an extraordinary feel for the endgame, particularly rook endings, where his intuition for piece activity often trumped material considerations.

Brief Reign

Smyslov defeated Botvinnik in 1957 to become World Champion, winning the match 12.5-9.5. It was the culmination of years of challenges and near-misses. But his reign lasted only one year: Botvinnik exercised his right to a rematch and regained the title in 1958, winning 12.5-10.5.

Remarkably, Smyslov continued competing at the highest level for decades. He reached the Candidates Final in 1965 (losing to Spassky) and again in 1984, at the age of 62, losing to Kasparov. His longevity at the elite level is unmatched in chess history. Smyslov died on March 27, 2010, in Moscow, three days after his 89th birthday.