Vasily Smyslov will long be remembered for his love for chess and music.
IT IS very easy to get excited when meeting revered players such as world champions, or even former world champions. When my friends and I were in Lucerne way back in 1982, our greatest reverence was reserved for two former world champions who turned up at the Chess Olympiad.
One of them was Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov (pic), officially the seventh world chess champion. His reign at the pinnacle of the chess world was only for a very short period, from 1957-1958, but nevertheless, he was still the world champion.
Smyslov was warded in a Moscow hospital, where he died of heart failure last Saturday. He was 89, and had just celebrated his birthday three days earlier.
Smyslov could have been a professional opera singer. Blessed with a powerful baritone voice, he auditioned for the Bolshoi Theatre in 1950. When he was not accepted into the Theatre, he concentrated and excelled in his other love, chess.
Yet, music was never far from his mind. He once said: “I have always lived between chess and music.”
It was not uncommon of him to give private impromptu recitals in the midst of a chess event. It was said that on occasions, he would be accompanied by his fellow chess grandmaster, Mark Taimanov, who also happened to be a professional concert pianist.
Smyslov produced a CD of Russian romances when he was 75. In May 2001, he took centre stage at the Bolshoi Theatre in celebration of Anatoly Karpov’s 50th birthday. (Karpov is, of course, another former world chess champion. Recently, he announced his intention to contest for the World Chess Federation’s presidency.)
But enough of Smyslov’s music abilities. It was his prowess at chess that people remember Smyslov for. For a long while, from 1954 to 1958, his world chess championship matches with Mikhail Botvinnik was one of the few great rivalries in the modern game.
Smyslov was a Candidate player in the world chess championship cycles on two occasions in 1948 and 1950. In 1953, Smyslov won the Candidates tournament in Zurich to earn a shot at the defending champion, Botvinnik. That match ended drawn at 12-all and Botvinnik retained his world title.
In the next Candidates tournament in Amsterdam in 1956, Smyslov again showed his mettle by eliminating the other contenders to earn a second shot at the title.
This time, Smyslov was successful, beating Botvinnik by 12½-9½ in 1957. A rematch ensued the following year and Smyslov lost his title with a 10½-12½ final score.
Smyslov later said his health suffered during the return match, as he came down with influenza and pneumonia, but he also acknowledged that Botvinnik was better prepared.
Smyslov never got near to challenging Botvinnik or anyone in the world championship final again. By 1959, other stars had emerged in the old Soviet Union and they were surpassing their older colleagues. Nevertheless, Smyslov achieved great success in tournament plays well through the 1960s and 1970s.
He featured occasionally in Candidates qualifying events right through until 1985.
In 1983, he catalysed one of the biggest chess rivalries at world championship levels. At 62, he made his last appearance in the final stage of that year’s Candidates series. The winner of that match would have played with Karpov in 1984. However, Smyslov lost that match by 4½-8½.
We all know what happened in 1984, don’t we? It was the start of Karpov’s six-year struggle with Garry Kasparov over the chessboard. Yes, Kasparov was the player that Smyslov could not overcome in 1983.
Smyslov last appearance in a Candidates event was in 1985. He still played chess but it was clear that he was no longer up there with the world’s best players.
In 1991, he won the inaugural world senior chess championship. However, his eyesight was failing him and his swansong event was the 2001 Klompendans Veterans versus Ladies tournament in Amsterdam. He never played competitively after that.
According to an obituary in The Guardian newspaper: “Smyslov and his wife of more than half-a-century spent their final few years in near-poverty as his heart ailment deteriorated.”
His wife survives him. With Smyslov’s death, the oldest surviving former world chess champion is now Boris Spassky.