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Isaac Boleslavsky vs Vasily Smyslov
"The Bolero" (game of the day Mar-18-2022)
Budapest Candidates (1950), Budapest HUN, rd 6, Apr-20
Slav Defense: Alapin Variation (D16)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
Nov-12-04  azaris: What a mess from Smyslov! 22...♖xc1+ 23. ♖xc1 ♗d7 24. ♖c7 ♖d8 25. ♖xa7 and Black is without hope.
Oct-22-05  turkishgrandmaster: 22.Rfc1!! maybe Smyslov could have tried 22...Ba4 he will lose two pawns but it is better than resigning.
Oct-22-05  Resignation Trap: Smyslov contributed many important ideas to opening theory. 5...c5 was not one of them. (:()
Oct-22-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  Open Defence: and Boleslavsky is a very under rated player .. certainly of Championship material
Feb-08-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  Peligroso Patzer: The 5. ...c5 line worked out much better for Black (0-1 in 21 moves) when Morozevich assayed it against Van Wely (Corus Wijk aan Zee 2001).
Jun-01-11
Premium Chessgames Member
  GrahamClayton: 14. ♗e3! is an excellent move, attempting to exchange the Black bishop, which is attacking the White outpost square of d6.

16. ♘e4 continues the theme. Black is forced to exchange, as 16...♗b4 17. g4 ♘g7 18. ♗g5+ ♔f8 19. ♘f6 wins at least a pawn.

May-16-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  kingscrusher: Beautiful Boleslavsky. Highly underrated player - who may have deliberately let Bronstein catch up to him in the 1950 Candidates. Was very good friends with Bronstein and even his daughter married bronstein. I associate him with "Strategic crush" of the d5 square from the Most instructive games of Chess book by Chernev. The funnny thing is that he is known for research into the "Boleslavsky hole" on d5 - from the black perspective.
Jun-11-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  Honza Cervenka: Smyslov followed his own play from Flohr vs Smyslov, 1945 but Boleslavsky was apparently well prepared. Instead of 11...Ke7 it was better to castle, on the other hand, 12.e5 and only then castling would have been more accurate order of moves from white's part, as after 12.0-0 Rd8 black could avoid much of troubles, which he met later in the game. 8...e5 is better in this line.
Mar-18-22  Brenin: Boa constrictor.
Mar-18-22  goodevans: Boletus.
Mar-18-22  goodevans: For anyone interested in mushroom picking, boletes are among the easiest to identify. From what I recall, almost all are edible and only one, the devil's bolete, is poisonous.

I used to go mushroom picking in our local woods and have very occasionally found good boletes there. I don't bother any more. The woods have become much more popular ever since the Covid lockdowns and now it's impossible to find decent mushrooms that haven't been kicked over and destroyed. It seems people are just scared of anything that doesn't look like what they see on supermarket shelves. Sad.

Mar-18-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: 11...Ke7 is plain weird. Why play anything else besides 0-0?
Mar-18-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  Honza Cervenka: <OhioChessFan: 11...Ke7 is plain weird. Why play anything else besides 0-0?>

Smyslov had thought that the game was heading into an endgame and so he preferred 11...Ke7 leaving the King in the centre. Positionally such a decision is quite understandable but here it has also some tactical setbacks.

May-20-22  cehertan: No easy feat crushing smyslov in a relatively quiet queenless middle game. This event seems like the high water mark for Boleslavsky.
Mar-23-25  Rubenchik: 13. e5 VERY STRONG. it looked a quiet position, but not!

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