The 1957

World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has held the title since 2013. The first event recognized as a world championship was the 1886 match ...

was played between Mikhail Botvinnik and

Vasily Smyslov Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov ( rus, Васи́лий Васи́льевич Смысло́в, Vasíliy Vasíl'yevich Smyslóv; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster, who was World Chess Champion from 1957 t ...

in Moscow from March 5 to April 27, 1957. Botvinnik had been World Champion since 1948, while Smyslov earned the right to challenge by winning the 1956 Candidates tournament. This was the second World Championship match between the pair, after the drawn 1954 match. Smyslov won the match and became the seventh World Chess Champion. However he lost the title in the 1958 rematch.

1955 Interzonal tournament

An interzonal tournament was held in

Göteborg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a p ...

, Sweden, in August and September 1955. The top nine finishers qualified for the Candidates Tournament. : Ilivitsky won a 6-game match against Pachman (1-0 with 5 draws) to qualify as first reserve for the Candidates.

1956 Candidates tournament

The 1956 Candidates tournament was held in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

in the Netherlands in April and May. As the loser of the last championship match, Smyslov was seeded directly into the tournament and joined by the top nine from the Interzonal. Smyslov won, once again becoming the challenger in the 1957 championship match. With two rounds remaining, the leaders were Smyslov 10, Keres 9½, Geller 9. In the penultimate round, Keres lost in a winning position against Filip, while Smyslov and Geller drew their games, giving Smyslov a full point lead. Smyslov also won his final game, against Pilnik, to ensure victory.Amsterdam Candidates (1956)
Chessgames.com :

1957 Championship match

The match was played as best of 24 games. If it ended 12-12, Botvinnik, the holder, would retain the Championship. Smyslov won.

References

External links

1957 World Chess Championship
at the Internet Archive record of Graeme Cree's Chess Pages {{World Chess Championships, state=expanded

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

1957 in chess 1957 in Soviet sport 1957 in Moscow