Former World Champion (200-2007) Vladinir Kramnik said od Smtslov, “I would recommend a study of Smyslov's games to children who want to know how to play chess because he plays the game how it should be played: his style is the closest to some sort of 'virtual truth' in chess.”
Kramnik continued, “He always tried to make the strongest move in each position. He has surpassed many other of the World Champions in the number of strongest moves made.”
The following game against Rudakowski is a perfect example of how to take advantage of a Knight outpost and his opponent’s backward Pawn and the struggle of a Knight against a Bishop. When playing over the game watch how effortlessly Smyslov makes things look.
It was only when I started analyzing this game that I noticed the similarity between it and the Geller-Najdorf game in the post of August 22. In both games white played f5 forcing ...Bc4 with the exchange of Bs resulting in black having a fatal wakness on the light squares.
His opponent was Iosif Rudakovsky (1914-1940), a Ukrainian master of considerable talent who died at the age of 33 from tuberculosis.
HathiTrust is a site you should know about. It’s a global partnership of academic and research institutions that digitizes and preserves millions of books, journals, and other print materials.
If you know English Descriptive Notation you can view and download a selection of 62 of Smyslov’s games played from 1935 to 1956 that was published by Alexander Liepnieks in 1958 from HathiTrust HERE.
[Event "USSR Championship, Moscow"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1945.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Vasily Smyslov"]
[Black "Iosif Rudakovsky"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B83"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "1945.??.??"]
{B83: Sicilian Scheveningen Variation} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 (2... d6 3. d4 cxd4
4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. O-O Nbd7 9. f4 Qc7 10. f5 {
Geller-Najdorf, Zurich 1953. Compare this maneuver to the one in the game} Bc4
11. a4 Rc8 12. Be3 Be7 13. a5 h5 14. Bxc4 Qxc4 {White eventually established a
N on d5 and went on to win.}) 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 {In the
Scheveningen Variation black's center Pawn setup (Ps on e6 and d6) is onr of
the most popular systems. It’s solid and control of the critical squares d5
and e5. It’s also flexible and black has the possibility of a break with
either ...e5 or ...d5. White's chances are usually based on an attack on the
K-side.} 6. Be2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. Be3 Nc6 9. f4 Qc7 {What should white play
here? My opening fatabase has 11 replies with 11.Kh1 being the most popular by
far, It's also the engine;s top choice.} 10. Qe1 {This unusual move has two
purposes: 1) to transfer the Q to g3 from where it will be in a good position
for attacking purposes and 2) to vacate d1 for the R on a1.} Nxd4 {Equally
popular and just as playable is 10...a6} 11. Bxd4 e5 {This is the point of his
previous move. central pawn thrust is the point of the previous exchange.
Should white retreat the B straightway ot play fxe5 first? In my database the
two moves appear with almost the same frequency and the same results...black
scores much better than white! Engines show no preference and evaluates the
position as equal. Smyslov believed it is better for white to retreat the B.}
12. Be3 (12. fxe5 dxe5 13. Qg3 Bc5 14. Bxc5 Qxc5+ {Here the dark squared Bs
are exchanged which in Snyslov’s opinion diminish white’s attacking
chances.}) 12... Be6 {Smyslov was of the opinion that it wa better to develop
this B on c6 and so correct was 12...Bd7. The drawback of developing the B in
e6 is that it allows white to start a Pawn advance on the K-side with a gain
of time.} 13. f5 {The gain of time.} Bc4 {In the Geller-Najdorg game this was
compulsory, but here it is not and he should have played 10...Bd7. Let Smyslov
explain what is wrong with this move: Black executes a plan which from the
positional point of view is incorrect: (The move 10...e5) weakened the centrt
point d5, so he should preserve his white-squared Bishop to defend that
important square.} 14. Bxc4 Qxc4 15. Bg5 {An instructive example of how to
take advantage of the weakness of d5 in such positions. The exchange on f6 is
unavoidable whereupon the white N becomes firmly entrenched on d5. This gives
white good prospects of a direct attack on black’s K.} Rfe8 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17.
Nd5 {Is it safe for black to take the c-Pawn?} Bd8 {After this black's game
can bve considered strategically lost. As bad as it is, taking the c-Pawn was
his best option.} (17... Qxc2 18. Rf2 Qc6 19. Rc1 {See the note to white's 10.
Qe1. Black is faced with Nc7 forking the Rs}) 18. c3 {Of course he doesn't
want to retreat the N.} b5 19. b3 Qc5+ 20. Kh1 {On the next two moves black
might play ...f6, bu by doing so he would condemned himself to passive defense.
White would only have to transfer his heavy pieses to the K-side to start a
decisive attack.} Rc8 21. Rf3 Kh8 (21... f6 22. Rh3 {Black can do nothing
except twiddle his thumbs while white builds up the attack.} a5 23. Qh4 h6 24.
Qh5 Kf8 25. Rg3 Qc6 26. Rd1 Qd7 27. Rdd3 b4 28. c4 Rc5 29. Rxg7 Qxg7 30. Rg3
Qh7 31. Rg6 Rxd5 32. cxd5 Re7 33. Rxh6 Qg8 34. Rh8 {etc.}) 22. f6 {Another
instructive move by Smyslov. This is a typical thrust. The P cover around
black's K is broken up.} gxf6 (22... Bxf6 {Now white's N on d5 sacomplishes
the destruction of the position of bl;ack;s K.} 23. Nxf6 gxf6 24. Qh4 Re6 25.
Rh3 Kg8 26. Qh6 {Threatening mate with 27.Rg3} f5 27. Qxh7+ Kf8 28. Qxf5 Rc7
29. Rf1 Ke8 30. Rh7 {The triple attack on h7 wraps it up.} Rce7 (30... Ree7 31.
Rh8#) 31. Rxf7 Qc7 32. Qxe6 Rxe6 33. Rxc7) 23. Qh4 Rg8 24. Nxf6 Rg7 25. Rg3
Bxf6 26. Qxf6 Rcg8 27. Rd1 d5 28. Rxg7 Rxg7 $146 29. Rxd5 {Black resigned. He
cannot prevent the R from going to d8. Not only an instructive game by Smyslov,
but his Accuracy Rayimg compared to Stockfish was a nearly perfect : White =
90%/} 1-0
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