Botvinnik vs. Smyslov

     A few highlights from 1954 were the Russians defeated the USA in a team match that was held in Manhattan by a score of 20-12. An 11-year old named Bobby Fischer attended all four rounds and kept score of all the games. The USSR team also decisively won the Amsterdam Olympiad. Arthur Bisguier won the US championship.

     In 1955, Samuel Reshevsky won the Rosenwald tournament (later the Rosenwald became the US Championship) in New York. Bobby Fischer played in his first tournament, the US Amateur, and scored 2.5-3.5. His provisional rating was 1826 (Class A). 

     In 1956, Fischer took first place in the US Junior Championship that was held in July. In October he defeated Donald Byrne in the Game of the Century in the Rosenwald. This year the Olympiad was held in Moscow and the USSR again comfortably took first place. 

     In 1957, William Lombardy won the World Junior championship with a perfect score. Fischer tied with Bisguier for the US Open championship. Reshevsky defeated Bisguier in a match, but the title of US champion was not at stake and Bisguier remained the title holder. 

     In 1958, Raymond Weinstein became the US Junior champion. Fischer, age 14, won the 1957/58 US Championship which was also a Zonal tournament. 

     During the period from 1954 to 1958 the World Championship was a fight between Vasily Smyslov and Mikhail Botvinnik. They met in 1954 and Botvinnik retained his title when the match was tied at 7 wins apiece with 10 draws. They met again in 1957 and Smyslov prevailed +6 -3 =13. Taking advantage of the rematch clause, they met again in 1958 and Botvinnik scored +7 -5 =11 to regain his title. If you're counting, Smyslov actually had the better score: +18 -17 =34.

     Here's an exciting near-miniature that was the 9th game of their 1954 match.

[Event "World Championship, Moscow"] [Site "Moscow URS"] [Date "1954.04.03"] [Round "9"] [White "Vasily Smyslov"] [Black "Mikhail Botvinnik"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C18"] [Annotator "Owner"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "1954.??.??"] {French: Winawer} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Ba5 {Usually 5... Bxc3+ which leads to a very complicated position is played here, but Botvinnik often chose this move which gives white the opportunity to immediately force favorable tactical complications.} 6. b4 cxd4 (6... cxb4 {is to white's advantage after} 7. Nb5 bxa3+ 8. c3 {and the threat of Nd6+ gives white the advantage.}) 7. Qg4 {This sharp move was first played (I think) in Nezhmetdinov-Aramanovich, Tibilisi, 1948.These days you are more likely to see 7.Nb5 which yields better results.} Ne7 8. bxa5 dxc3 9. Qxg7 Rg8 10. Qxh7 { Botvinnik had reached this position in a game back in 1951, but his opponent didn't find the best line.} Nd7 11. Nf3 {White is clearly better.} Nf8 { This turns out to be a very poor maneuver. Better was 11...Qc7} (11... Qc7 12. Qh5 Nc5 13. Bg5 Bd7 14. Bxe7 Kxe7 15. Qh4+ {White is better, but black is better off than after the text.}) 12. Qd3 $18 Qxa5 13. h4 {aiming for Rb1.} Bd7 14. Bg5 {Smyslov's plan is to keep black's K in the center.} Rc8 (14... Nc6 { was tried in Tringov,G (2460)-Oren,M Moscow 1956.} 15. Bf6 {was considerably better.} Rg4 16. Be2 Re4 {Now instead of having a nice advantage after castling Tringov played 17.Ng5 which should have allowed black to equalize. Black failed to take advantage of the opportunity and ended up losing.}) 15. Nd4 Nf5 16. Rb1 (16. Nxf5 exf5 17. Rd1 Ne6 18. Qxd5 {is good, but the Rs invasion on the 7th rank is even more powerful.}) 16... Rc4 {Allowing the R to reach the 7th rank was a bad decision. He could have put up tougher resistance with 16...b6} 17. Nxf5 exf5 18. Rxb7 {Decisive. Threatened with Rb8+ black's position is desperate.} Re4+ {This meets with a brilliant refutation, but there was no saving the game.} (18... Rxg5 19. hxg5 Qxa3 20. Rb8+ Ke7 21. Qxd5 Re4+ 22. Be2 Ng6 23. Qd6+ Qxd6 24. exd6+ Kxd6 25. f3 Rd4 26. Rb3 {White has a winning position.}) 19. Qxe4 {[%mdl 512] The aforementioned brilliant refutation.} dxe4 (19... fxe4 20. Rb8+ Bc8 21. Bb5+ {regains the Q and leaves white with an easily won position.}) 20. Rb8+ Bc8 21. Bb5+ {This is the only correct followup.} (21. Rxc8+ Kd7 22. Rd8+ Kc7 {Black has escaped and the materially unbalanced position offers both sides chances.}) 21... Qxb5 22. Rxb5 Ne6 23. Bf6 Rxg2 24. h5 {[%cal Bh4h5,Bh5h6][%mdl 32]} Ba6 25. h6 {[%mdl 512] Very precise play by Smyslov.} (25. h6 e3 (25... Bxb5 26. h7 e3 27. Bh4 { and the P queens.}) 26. h7 exf2+ 27. Kf1 Rg1+ 28. Rxg1 fxg1=Q+ 29. Kxg1 Bxb5 30. h8=Q+) 1-0