GM Jesse Kraai reviews Vassily Smyslov, one of his favorite players of all time. Jesse claims studying Smyslov’s endgames helped him to become a Grandmaster.Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov (Russian March 24, 1921 ? 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian Grandmaster and was World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidate for the World Chess Championship on eight times (1948, 1950, 1953, 1956, 1959, 1965, 1983, and 1985). Smyslov twice tied for first at the Soviet Championship (1949, 1955), and his total of 17 Chess Olympiad medals won is an all-time record. In five European Team Championships, Smyslov won ten gold medals.