Looking for the results between these players during the 1950's only.It is my
contention that Smyslov was the strongest player of the decade despite
Botvinnik being the World Champ throughout most of the decade.I believe Smyslov
outscored Botvinnik(+1) in the 3 World Championship matches.What were the other
results between the 2 during this decade?

Smyslov was the strongest player in the in the world in the 50's.
There really is no doubt about that. Botvinnik's matches were always
a tad suspicious and it was Smyslov's fault he lost the rematch.
Granted Botvinnik worked hard but he didn't quited have the talent
Smyslov had. If Smyslov had won the rematch then it would have been
Tal, Smyslov for the title. What a titanic match that would have
been.

EZoto

smyslov did not lose the rematch. botvinnik was the sixth world champion
and smyslov was the seventh world champion. smyslov beat botvinnik on
the second attempt.
on the third match botvinnik took the title back.


EZoto wrote:

Smyslov was the strongest player in the in the world in the 50's.
There really is no doubt about that. Botvinnik's matches were always
a tad suspicious and it was Smyslov's fault he lost the rematch.
Granted Botvinnik worked hard but he didn't quited have the talent
Smyslov had. If Smyslov had won the rematch then it would have been
Tal, Smyslov for the title. What a titanic match that would have
been.

EZoto

according to smyslov's autobiography he played about 100 games with MM
Botvinnik over their career-spans.

Etj718 wrote:

Looking for the results between these players during the 1950's only.It is my
contention that Smyslov was the strongest player of the decade despite
Botvinnik being the World Champ throughout most of the decade.I believe Smyslov
outscored Botvinnik(+1) in the 3 World Championship matches.What were the other
results between the 2 during this decade?

On Tue, 23 Dec 2003 04:17:16 GMT, oej wrote:

smyslov did not lose the rematch. botvinnik was the sixth world champion
and smyslov was the seventh world champion. smyslov beat botvinnik on
the second attempt.
on the third match botvinnik took the title back.


EZoto wrote:

Sorry about that. My slip.

EZoto

it was Smyslov's fault he lost the rematch

Can you elaborate this point?I did hear that Smyslov was sick for the first 3
games.Is this what you are referring to?

Etj718 wrote:
Looking for the results between these players during the 1950's only.

A quick check of Divinsky's "Life Maps" shows a composite score of +20 -17
=37 in Smyslov's favor for the 1950s. This includes the world title matches of
1954, 1957, and 1958, and five tournaments over the years 1951-56. In the
matches Smyslov scored +18 -17 =34, in the tournaments +2 =3. Therefore naming
Smyslov "the strongest player of the decade" has considerable basis.
Divinsky gives their total lifetime score as +26 -22 =48 in Botvinnik's
favor.

Taylor Kingston

On 23 Dec 2003 22:28:30 GMT, (Etj718) wrote:

it was Smyslov's fault he lost the rematch

Can you elaborate this point?I did hear that Smyslov was sick for the first 3
games.Is this what you are referring to?

He was. Unfortunately he was too much of a gentlemen to postpone it.
Smyslov could have postponed it. He didn't. Why I don't know.
That's where the details get sketchy. Then again so with Bronstein
and Keres.

EZoto

[Event "URS-USA"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "1955.??.??"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Reshevsky, Samuel H"]
[Black "Botvinnik, Mikhail M"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D49"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "1955.??.??"]
[Source "www.chesslib.no"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8.
Bd3
a6 9. e4 c5 10. e5 cxd4 11. Nxb5 Nxe5 12. Nxe5 axb5 13. Qf3 Qa5+ 14. Ke2 Bd6
15. Qc6+ Ke7 16. Bd2 b4 17. Qxd6+ Kxd6 18. Nc4+ Kd7 19. Nxa5 Rxa5 20. Rhc1
Ba6
21. Bxa6 Rxa6 22. Rc4 Nd5 23. Rxd4 Rb8 24. Kd3 h5 25. Kc4 b3 26. a4 Rc6+ 27.
Kd3 Rc2 28. Rb1 Rbc8 29. a5 R8c6 30. Ke2 Rd6 31. Ke1 Nc7 32. Rxd6+ Kxd6 33.
Bc3
f6 34. Ra1 Na6 35. Ra3 Kc7 36. Rxb3 Nc5 37. Rb5 Na4 38. Bd4 e5 39. Kd1 Rc4
40.
Be3 Kc6 41. Rb8 Kc7 1-0

[Event "URS-USA"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "1955.??.??"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Botvinnik, Mikhail M"]
[Black "Reshevsky, Samuel H"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D41"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "1955.??.??"]
[Source "www.chesslib.no"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. d4 c5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e3 Nc6 7. Bc4 Nxc3 8.
bxc3 Be7 9. O-O O-O 10. Bd3 b6 11. Qc2 g6 12. Rd1 cxd4 13. exd4 Bb7 14. Bh6
Re8
15. Qe2 Qc7 16. Rac1 Bf8 17. Bxf8 Kxf8 18. Re1 Kg7 19. Bb5 a6 20. Ba4 b5 21.
Bb3 Qd6 22. Qe3 Rac8 23. h4 h5 24. Red1 Ne7 25. Qe5+ Qxe5 26. Nxe5 Nd5 27.
Bxd5
Bxd5 28. a3 Re7 29. Nd3 Rc4 30. Nb2 Rc8 31. Nd3 Rc4 32. Nb2 1/2-1/2

[Event "URS-USA"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "1955.??.??"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Reshevsky, Samuel H"]
[Black "Botvinnik, Mikhail M"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B20"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "1955.??.??"]
[Source "www.chesslib.no"]

1. e4 e6 2. d3 c5 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 g6 5. Nd2 Bg7 6. Ngf3 Nge7 7. O-O O-O 8.
Re1
d6 9. c3 h6 10. Nb3 e5 11. d4 b6 12. Be3 Ba6 13. Nh4 Rc8 14. Bh3 Rc7 15.
dxc5
dxc5 16. Qxd8 Rxd8 17. Rad1 Rxd1 18. Rxd1 Bc8 19. Bxc8 Rxc8 20. Kf1 Kf8 21.
Ke2
Ke8 22. f4 exf4 23. gxf4 f5 24. e5 Nd8 25. Nd2 Rc6 26. Nc4 Nc8 27. Rg1 Kf7
28.
Rd1 Ke8 29. Rg1 Kf7 30. Rd1 1/2-1/2

[Event "URS-USA"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "1955.??.??"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Botvinnik, Mikhail M"]
[Black "Reshevsky, Samuel H"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E40"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "1955.??.??"]
[Source "www.chesslib.no"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 d5 5. a3 Be7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. b4 Nbd7 8.
Bb2
c6 9. Qc2 dxc4 10. Bxc4 a5 11. b5 Nb6 12. Bd3 cxb5 13. Nxb5 Bd7 14. O-O Rc8
15.
Qe2 Na4 16. Ne5 Bxb5 17. Bxb5 Nc3 18. Bxc3 Rxc3 19. Qb2 Qc7 20. Rfc1 Rc8 21.
Nd3 Ne4 22. a4 Bb4 23. g3 h6 24. Nc5 Rxc1+ 25. Rxc1 Nxc5 26. dxc5 Bxc5 27.
Rd1
Rd8 28. Qc2 b6 29. Rxd8+ Qxd8 30. Qd3 Qxd3 31. Bxd3 1/2-1/2

-af-
"Etj718" wrote in message
...
Looking for the results between these players during the 1950's only.It is
my
contention that Smyslov was the strongest player of the decade despite
Botvinnik being the World Champ throughout most of the decade.I believe
Smyslov
outscored Botvinnik(+1) in the 3 World Championship matches.What were the
other
results between the 2 during this decade?

(Etj718) wrote in message ...

Looking for the results between these players during the 1950's only.It is my
contention that Smyslov was the strongest player of the decade despite
Botvinnik being the World Champ throughout most of the decade.I believe
Smyslov outscored Botvinnik(+1) in the 3 World Championship matches.

But in the last match, won by Botvinnik, Botvinnik
with plenty of time (over a minute or 2-3) forgot
about the clock on his 40th ([pre-adjournment) move
and lost a won game.

I am also of the opinion that Smyslov was the best player
for the mid-fifties years (Keres-Bronstein even Boleslavsky
were perhaps stronger around 1950-51, and Tal of course
had dominated the later part of tyhat decade). Nonetheless
the Botvinnik's come back in their last match was magnificient.

What were the other results between the 2 during this decade?

Did they play at all ezch other besides the championship games?

Regards,

Wlod