Three titans

The Dutch grandmaster Genna Sosonko specialises in biographies of the greats of the Soviet era. His earlier forays covered the careers of David Bronstein and Viktor Korchnoi; the latter is my choice of book of the year for 2018. Now Sosonko, a Soviet émigré himself, has turned his focus on Vassily Smyslov, world champion from 1957 to 1958, who also made history as the oldest world championship contender of all time in 1984 when he reached the Candidates final in his mid-sixties.
 
Smyslov won the supreme title in 1957 and came close to retaining it in the revenge match a year later. The final turning point came in this week’s puzzle, where Smyslov could have caused Botvinnik’s resignation in a crucial game, but faltered and went on to lose.
 
This week’s game was the first published by the young Smyslov and he regards it as the win of which he is most proud.
 
Gerasimov-Smyslov: Moscow 1935; Colle System
 
1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 e3 e6 4 Bd3 c5 5 b3 In this variation, developing the queen’s bishop to b2 has the idea of posting a knight on e5 and launching an attack on the kingside.