1958 World Chess Championship Mikhail Botvinnik (USSR) vs. Vassily Smyslov (USSR) Moscow, USSR March 4 - May 9, 1958 Conditions: Best of 24 Games. In the event of a 12-12 tie, Smyslov retains the title.Result: Mikhail Botvinnik becomes World Champion for the 2nd time.
USSR, 1958 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Score Botvinnik 1 1 1 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 12½ Smyslov 0 0 0 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 10½
In Game 15 of this match, Botvinnik had a very favorable position after 55 moves, and had only to make two moves in three minutes in order to adjourn and work out the possibilities. However, he stared at the board and became so absorbed in trying to figure out the win of a piece and which pawn to push that he was quite surprised when referee Gideon Stahlberg informed him that he had forfeited in time. The decisive game of the 1977 Spassky-Hort Candidates Match ended in almost exactly the same way, and that was a Game 15 also.
# White - Black Locale Date ECO Result 1 Smyslov - Botvinnik Moscow 03-04-1958 B11 0-1 2 Botvinnik - Smyslov Moscow 03-06-1958 E81 1-0 3 Smyslov - Botvinnik Moscow 03-11-1958 B19 0-1 4 Botvinnik - Smyslov Moscow 03-13-1958 D98 ½-½ 5 Smyslov - Botvinnik Moscow 03-18-1958 B72 1-0 6 Botvinnik - Smyslov Moscow 03-20-1958 E81 1-0 7 Smyslov - Botvinnik Moscow 03-22-1958 B72 ½-½ 8 Botvinnik - Smyslov Moscow 03-25-1958 E69 ½-½ 9 Smyslov - Botvinnik Moscow 03-27-1958 B72 ½-½ 10 Botvinnik - Smyslov Moscow 03-29-1958 A16 ½-½ 11 Smyslov - Botvinnik Moscow 04-01-1958 D99 1-0 12 Botvinnik - Smyslov Moscow 04-03-1958 A12 1-0 13 Smyslov - Botvinnik Moscow 04-05-1958 D47 ½-½ 14 Botvinnik - Smyslov Moscow 04-08-1958 A16 1-0 15 Smyslov - Botvinnik Moscow 04-10-1958 B12 1-0 16 Botvinnik - Smyslov Moscow 04-15-1958 A16 ½-½ 17 Smyslov - Botvinnik Moscow 04-17-1958 B10 ½-½ 18 Botvinnik - Smyslov Moscow 04-19-1958 A16 1-0 19 Smyslov - Botvinnik Moscow 04-22-1958 B11 1-0 20 Botvinnik - Smyslov Moscow 04-29-1958 A30 ½-½ 21 Smyslov - Botvinnik Moscow 05-01-1958 B34 ½-½ 22 Botvinnik - Smyslov Moscow 05-03-1958 A95 0-1 23 Smyslov - Botvinnik Moscow 05-08-1958 A05 ½-½