Vasily Smyslov

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Vasily Smyslov
Smyslov in 1977
Full name	Vasily Vasilyevich (Vasilievich) Smyslov
Country	Soviet Union
Born	(1921-03-24)24 March 1921 Moscow, Russian SFSR
Died	27 March 2010(2010-03-27) (aged 89) Moscow, Russia
Title	Grandmaster (1950)
World Champion	1957–58
Peak rating	2620 (July 1971)
Peak ranking	No. 9 (July 1971)

Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov (Russian: Васи́лий Васи́льевич Смысло́в, romanized: Vasíliy Vasíl'yevich Smyslóv; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010)^[1] was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster who was the seventh World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidate for the World Chess Championship on eight occasions (1948, 1950, 1953, 1956, 1959, 1965, 1983, and 1985). Smyslov twice tied for first place at the USSR Chess Championships (1949, 1955), and his total of 17 Chess Olympiad medals won is an all-time record. In five European Team Championships, Smyslov won ten gold medals.

Smyslov remained active and successful in competitive chess well after the age of sixty. Despite failing eyesight, he remained active in the occasional composition of chess problems and studies until shortly before his death in 2010. Besides chess, he was an accomplished baritone singer.