FM Andrey Terekhov is an award-winning author, dad, and software engineer. For the last decade or so, Andrey has been consumed with writing a detailed biography of the underappreciated World Champion, GM Vasily Smyslov. This week he joins me to discuss The Life and Games of Vasily Smyslov, Volume 2: The Challenger. The book goes beyond Smyslov's life and games, offering a fascinating look at Soviet chess history, including what may be the most famous chess tournament of all time. We discuss:
The enduring legacy of Zurich 1953. What makes this tournament so famous? What did Andrey discover about allegations of Soviet collusion and political interference?
How close did Smyslov get to giving up chess to pursue a career as an opera singer? What characterized his style as a chess player?
Andrey's incredibly detailed research process, including primary sources in multiple languages and a visit to Smyslov's former home in Moscow.
Lastly, we discuss Andrey's own chess adventures and the chess scene in Paris and France, where Andrey now resides. I am so grateful to people like Andrey for devoting so much time to preserving chess history, and I greatly enjoyed his latest book and our conversation.
Kotov's famous queen sacrifice against Averbakh
Zurich 1953 by GM David Bronstein
Center Stage and Behind the Scenes by GM Yuri Averbakh
Achieving the Aim by GM Mikhail Botvinnik
Andrey's blog post about the 2026 French Championship
Paris Blitz Society
Andrey's Chess.com profile
The Life and Games of Vasily Smyslov on Forward Chess
Russell Enterprises — Smyslov biography
Thanks to this week's sponsor:
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claude.ai/chess
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