We are looking at some early Smyslov games this week because a great new book has come out: "The Life and Games of Vasily Smyslov, Volume 1" by Andrev Terekhov (Russell Enterprises, Inc.) Deeply annotated games and a detailed history of the champions life, and, indeed, Soviet chess life, make this a remarkably interesting book.

Smyslov-Kirillov, Moscow, 1940: 1. Rxa6!! Rc8 Can't take the rook: 1... Rxa6 2. Nxb5! Ra5 (2... cxb5 3. Qc8#) 3.Nc7# 2. Rfa1 Also good is 2. Ra7 2... h6? 3. Rxc6 Rxc6 4. Ra8+ Nb8 5.Rxb8+ Rc8 Perhaps the most delightful variation is this coordination of the white pieces if Black played 5... Kd7 6. Rd8+ Kc7 7. Nxb5+ Kb7 8. Qxc6+ Kxc6 9. Nd4+ Kc7 10. Nxe6+ fxe6 11. Be7 with an easy win. 6. Nd5 Rxb8 7. Qc6+ Qd7 8. Nc7# Very pretty final position!

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