Candidates Tournament 1953

Zurich 1953 was a chess tournament won by Vasily Smyslov. It was a Candidates Tournament for the 1954 World Chess Championship, which led to the match between Smyslov and Mikhail Botvinnik. The tournament is famous for the strength of the players, the high quality of the games, and books on the tournament by David Bronstein and Miguel Najdorf that are regarded as among the best tournament books ever written. In May 2022 Yuri Averbakh died at the age of 100, having been the last living player to have played in the tournament.

The tournament was a double Round-robin event. Players were assigned one point for every win and a half-point for each draw. In later years, Bronstein claimed that the Soviet players were accompanied by KGB agents. According to Bronstein, during the tournament, the KGB handlers started to worry that the American candidate, Samuel Reshevsky, would win, and began pressuring some of the Soviet players to throw their games against Smyslov, who was leading the other Soviet players in points.^[1]

#	Player	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Total
1	Vasily Smyslov (USSR)	Does not appear	½ ½	1 1	½ 1	½ ½	1 1	½ ½	½ 0	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	1 ½	1 1	1 ½	18
2	David Bronstein (USSR)	½ ½	Does not appear	1 ½	1 1	½ ½	½ 0	½ ½	½ ½	1 ½	½ ½	½ ½	0 1	1 ½	½ ½	½ ½	16
3	Paul Keres (USSR)	0 0	0 ½	Does not appear	½ ½	½ 1	½ 1	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	0 ½	1 1	1 ½	½ 1	½ ½	1 1	16
4	Samuel Reshevsky (USA)	½ 0	0 0	½ ½	Does not appear	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	1 0	½ ½	½ 1	½1	1½	½ 1	1 1	1 ½	16
5	Tigran Petrosian (USSR)	½ ½	½ ½	½ 0	½ ½	Does not appear	½ ½	0 ½	½ ½	0 0	½ ½	½ ½	1 1	½ 1	1 ½	1 1	15
6	Efim Geller (USSR)	0 0	½ 1	½ 0	½ ½	½ ½	Does not appear	1 1	½ 0	0 1	½ ½	0 1	1 ½	½ 1	0 1	½ ½	14½
7	Miguel Najdorf (Argentina)	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	1 ½	0 0	Does not appear	1 ½	1 ½	½ 0	½ ½	½½	½ ½	0 ½	1 1	14½
8	Alexander Kotov (USSR)	½ 1	½ ½	½ ½	0 1	½ ½	½ 1	0 ½	Does not appear	1 0	1 ½	0 0	1 0	1 ½	0 ½	0 1	14
9	Mark Taimanov (USSR)	½ ½	0 ½	½ ½	½ ½	1 1	1 0	0 ½	0 1	Does not appear	1 0	½ ½	½ ½	½ 0	0 ½	1 1	14
10	Yuri Averbakh (USSR)	½ ½	½ ½	1 ½	0 ½	½ ½	½ ½	1 ½	0 ½	0 1	Does not appear	½ ½	½ ½	0 ½	1 1	0 0	13½
11	Isaac Boleslavsky (USSR)	½ ½	½ ½	0 0	½ 0	½ ½	1 0	½ ½	1 1	½ ½	½ ½	Does not appear	½ 0	½ ½	½ 1	½ ½	13½
12	László Szabó (Hungary)	½ ½	1 0	0 ½	0 ½	0 0	0 ½	½ ½	0 1	½ ½	½ ½	½ 1	Does not appear	1 ½	½ ½	1 ½	13
13	Svetozar Gligorić (Yugoslavia)	0 ½	0 ½	½ 0	½ 0	½ 0	½ 0	½ ½	0 ½	½ 1	1 ½	½ ½	0 ½	Does not appear	½ 1	1 1	12½
14	Max Euwe (Netherlands)	0 0	½ ½	½ ½	0 0	0 ½	1 0	1 ½	1 ½	1 ½	0 0	½ 0	½ ½	½ 0	Does not appear	1 ½	11½
15	Gideon Ståhlberg (Sweden)	0 ½	½ ½	0 0	0 ½	0 0	½ ½	0 0	1 0	0 0	1 1	½ ½	0 ½	0 0	0 ½	Does not appear	8