Word: smyslov
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...pawns were human when World Chess Champion Mikhail Botvinnik took on the 1957 titleholder, Vassily Smyslov, in a "Peace Fund" benefit match that enthralled 15,000 Muscovites. So were the king, queen, and all the other pieces in the latest Marxist evolution of an ancient Oriental version of chess. But unlike the Eastern game-in which, according to legend, the chessmen were prisoners of war, and once taken, were beheaded-the Soviet game employed beauteous ballerinas and assorted other troupers, each of whom, upon being captured, put on a performance. So distracting, in fact, was the circus atmosphere (the show...