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Vasily Smylov came out victorious in the 1953 Candidates tournament in
Zurich, Switzerland. Fifteen of the strongest players
ever assembled participated in the double round-robin
tournament that took place from August 30th to October 23rd.
The first 8 rounds were actually played in Neuhausen,
with the remaining 22 rounds all played in
Zurich. The tournament boasted the
likes of
Tigran Petrosian, Paul Keres,
Miguel Najdorf, Efim Geller, and Alexander
Kotov just to name a few.
Samuel Reshevsky of the USA, playing against nine
Russians and having no second with him, got off to a
fast start gaining 6 out of a possible 8 points in the
early portion of the contest. Smylov was leading after
12 rounds with Reshevsky running a close second, just a
half point behind. The American then lost an important
game with the White pieces to David Bronstein in
a thrilling game (King’s Indian Defense).
Reshevsky quickly bounced back from the defeat and
surged into a tie for the lead with Smyslov through 22
rounds, with Bronstein (1 point) and Keres (1 ½ points)
trailing close behind. Smyslov had a scheduled bye in
the 23rd round, so Reshevsky had a chance to
take the outright lead, but lost with the Black pieces
to Kotov in a Queen’s Indian Defense.
Smylov went on to win his next two games and lead the
rest of the way by himself, winning the tournament by a
margin of 2 points. Reshevsky had to settle for a 2nd place tie with both Bronstein and
Keres.
Reshevsky and Keres both had poor showings against the
other three top contenders (1 ½ / 6), while Smyslov and
Bronstein stayed strong against them (4 ½ / 6). Smyslov
went on to play Mikhail Botvinnik for the world title in
1954, but fell just short with a 12-12 tie, which
retained the title for the champion.
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