Vasily Smyslov - Team Competition

Team Competition

Smyslov represented the Soviet Union a total of nine times at chess Olympiads, from 1952 to 1972 inclusive, excepting only 1962 and 1966. He contributed mightily to team gold medal wins on each occasion he played, winning a total of eight individual medals. His total of 17 Olympiad medals won, including team and individual medals, is an all-time Olympiad record, according to olimpbase.org.

At Helsinki 1952, he played second board, and won the individual gold medal with 10.5/13. At Amsterdam 1954, he was again on second board, scored 9/12, and took the individual bronze medal. At Moscow 1956, he scored 8.5/13 on second board, but failed to win a medal. At Munich 1958, he made 9.5/13 on second board, good for the silver individual medal. At Leipzig 1960, he was dropped to first reserve, and made a great score of 11.5/13, which won the gold medal.
After missing out on selection in 1962, he returned for Tel Aviv 1964, on third board, and won the gold medal with 11/13. He missed selection in 1966, but returned with a vengeance for Lugano 1968, and made a phenomenal 11/12 for another gold medal as second reserve. At Siegen 1970, he was first reserve, and scored 8/11 for the bronze medal. His final Olympiad was Skopje 1972, where at age 51 he played third board and scored 11/14, good for the silver medal.

His overall Olympiad score is an imposing 90 points in 113 games (+69 −2 =42), for 79.6 per cent. This performance is the fifth all-time best for players participating in at least four Olympiads. S Smyslov also represented the USSR in five European Team Championships, and emerged with a perfect medals' record: he won five team gold medals and five board gold medals. His total score in these events was (+19 −1 =15), for 75.7 per cent. From olimpbase.org, here is his European teams' data.

• Vienna 1957: board 1, 3.5/6 (+2 −1 =3), board and team gold medals;
• Oberhausen 1961: board 5, 9/9 (+7 −0 =2), board and team gold medals;
• Hamburg 1965: board 4, 6/9 (+3 −0 =6), board and team gold medals;
• Kapfenberg 1970: board 5, 5/6 (+4 −0 =2), board and team gold medals;
• Bath, Somerset 1973: board 6, 4/5 (+3 −0 =2), board and team gold medals.

Smyslov played for the USSR in both the 1970 and 1984 matches against teams representing the Rest of the World. He was on board six at Belgrade in 1970, and on board four at London in 1984, with the Soviets winning both matches.