Chessmetrics estimates his highest ever rating to have been 2800 in 1956 and to have been #1 between January 1952 and September 1958. Very impressive!
Smyslov was born in Moscow. A talented opera singer, he narrowly missed joining the Bolshoi Opera.
He was awarded the Soviet Grandmaster title in 1941.
The 1953 Candidates Tournament, held at Zurich, was a marathon 15 player double round robin that was won by Smyslov. In 1954, his world title match against Botvinnik ended in a 12-123 tie.
At the 1956 Amsterdam Candidates Tournament, a ten player double round robin, Smyslov again emerged victorious.
In 1957, he crushed Botvinnik in their world title match, winning by a four point margin. Botvinnik regained the title, winning by 2 points in their 1958 return match.
The following game is indicative of the skill Smyslov possessed when he won the finals of a Class A Championship Tournament in Moscow in 1938 and thereby was awarded the Soviet Master title.
His opponent was Vladimir Zak (February 11, 1913 - November 25, 1994), a Soviet player, writer and well known trainer in the chess section of the Pioneers Palace in Leningrad. His students included Boris Spassky Viktor Korchnoi and, among many others, GM Yermolinsky. In his book The Road to Chess Improvement, Yermolinsky did not have a very high opinion of Zak’s antiquated training method and credited his students' success to their talent, not to Zak’s methods.
Vasily Smyslov–Vladimir Zak1–0A00Class A Championship, Moscow1938Stockfish 16
Pirc Defense 1.d4 c5 2.d5 f6 3.g3 What to call this opening? With 1...
c5 starts oyut as a Benoni, but when white refrains from playing c4 it's
classified by Fitz auto-analysis as the Pirc. d6 4.g2 g6 At the time the
popular line was 4...e5. Instead, black reverts to the old idea of
fianchettoing the B. Soviet Master Yudovich questioned this strategy because
it allows white to obtain a mobile P-center. It must be remembered that at the
time this game was played all this hypermodern stuff was not well established
in theory. 5.c3 g7 6.e4 0-0 7.ge2 a6 8.0-0 b8 9.a4 c7 10.h3 b6 11.e3 11.g4 a6 12.b1 b5 13.axb5 axb5 14.b4 is equal. Najer,E (2663)
-Kokarev,D (2635) Sochi RUS 2015 11...a6 11...e6 12.dxe6 xe6 13.f4 fe8 14.d2 d7 White has the more active position. Hort,V (2545)-Polgar,Z
(2430) Dortmund 1985 12.b1 With this move Smyslov, himself, prepares
Q-side play. b5 13.axb5 xb5 13...axb5 is less precise because after 14.b4 White has the initiative. cxb4 15.d4 d7 15...bxc3 16.c6 favors
white. 16.a2 a6 17.xb4 xb4 18.xb4 with the more active position. 14.d2 d7 15.h6 While this exchanges dark squared Bs it actually doesn't
accomplish anything because white has no realistic prospects of taking
advantage of it. The alternative, 15.Nxb5, also does not gain anything special
and so the chances must be considered equal. xc3 15...xh6 was just a bit
more precise. After 16.xh6 d4 17.xd4 cxd4 18.e2 b5 Black has active
play and the chances are equal. 16.xc3 c7 17.xg7 xg7 18.fe1 b5
This rates a big question mark. Zak does not appreciate the
brewing trouble on the K-side and tries to attack on the Q-side. Instead, he
had to first try to neutralize white's advance in the center. 18...h5 19.f4 a5 20.e5 h7 21.b3 f5 White;s advantage is nominal. 19.f4 There was no
reason not to take the R! 19.xb5 axb5 20.f4 h5 21.e5 g8 22.a1
White has complete control of the game. 19...b6 He should
simply have moved the R. 19...b4 20.e5 e8 White is better, but far from
winning! 20.e5 Of course, the was nothing wrong with 20,Nxb5 e8 21.exd6 An interesting idea. Snyslov trades his strong P-chain for the seemingly
valueless e-file, but he knows what he is doing! Of course, taking the R is
still quite playable. exd6 22.e7 As it turns out this move works out well,
but it should not have! Once again capturing the R would have left white with
a significant advantage. f6 22...d8 Saves the day. Now
white is pretty much forced to take the R, but the result is only equality. 23.xb5 xe7 24.c3+ f6 25.xf6+ xf6 The only move that equalizes! 25...xf6 26.xd6 with a won ending. 26.c3 The position id completely
equal. 23.g4 White now has a very strong attack, but, yet again, taking
the R was much stronger. d8 24.be1 I hate to repeat myself, but he must
take the R if he wants a winning advantage. 24.xb5 xe7 25.e1 d8 26.xd6 White id clearly much better. 24...e8 This vindicates
white's strategy. The white R on e7 prevents the entyr of the white N via Ne2
or Ne4 into the game and so black should not have made this exchange. 24...xb2 equalizes. 25.f5 e8 26.g5 White's attack turns out to have more
bark than bite. xe7 27.gxf6+ xf6 28.xe7 xe7 28...xf5 is also
playable. 29.e1 g7 30.e4 xe4 31.xe4 This is also an unbalanced
position where the chances are equal. 29.f6+ e8 30.e3+ e6 In this
unbalanced position the chances are equal. 25.xe8 xe8 26.f5 This move
is satisfactory, but guess what move is even better? 26.Nxb5 of course. d7 26...xb2 is no better. 27.g5 d7 28.e4 e5 29.c3 b8 30.xd6 xd6 31.f6+ g8 32.xe5 xe5 33.xe5 h6 34.h4 This ending is won for white thanks
to his more active pieces. Just one example... hxg5 35.hxg5 b1+ 36.f2 d7 37.e4 b8 38.e7 The R on the 7th and advanced passed P assures the win... d8 39.f3 a5 40.f4 a4 41.d6 a3 42.d5 e8 43.e5 f8 44.a7 and the
Q-side Ps will fall. 27.g5 h5 28.f6+ g8 29.e7 xb2 30.e4 a4 31.e2 b5 31...xc2 32.xa6 e8 33.xd6 wins for if xd6 34.xd6 a4 35.c7 c1+ 36.h2 Black must lose material. e1 37.c8+ e8 38.xe8 32.e3 xc2 33.f1 Brilliant! The object of this move is to remove black's
B from the diagonal from where it controls e8. Prevents Re2. a5 33...xf1 34.xf1 h6 35.f2 b6 36.e8+ h7 37.h8+ xh8 38.e8+ h7 39.xf7+ h8 40.f8+ h7 41.xh6+ g8 42.xg6+ eventually wins. f8 43.h6+ g8 44.f7+ xf7 45.xh5+ e7 46.h7+ d8 47.xc2 34.f2 Threatening mate with
Re8+! g7 This N offer contains a nasty trap, but it was not the best
defense! Against Re8+ 35.g4 35.fxg7 This allows black to equalize! a1 36.d3 d4 37.xd4 cxd4 38.e4 38.f4 This actually loses! c1 39.g2 xf1 40.e4 d3 41.e8+ 41.d4 d2 42.xd2 xf4 41...xg7 42.xd3 xd3 38...xg7 39.e1 c3 40.xd4 xf1 41.xf1 xh3 with a likely draw. 35...d2 36.h6+ Black resigned 36.h6+ h8 37.xf7+ g8 38.h6+ f8 39.fxg7# 1–0
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