World Championship 1958: Botvinnik – Smyslov
Beaten a year earlier, Botvinnik invoked the champion's automatic right to a return match — the rule that would come to bear his name — and blew the contest open with three straight wins from the very first game, reclaiming the crown he had lost to Smyslov.
◈The rematch rule
FIDE's regulations of the era let a dethroned champion demand a return match a year later without re-qualifying. The clause came to be nicknamed the "Botvinnik rule" precisely because Botvinnik, twice deposed, twice used it to win the title straight back. Between matches he prepared with his trademark scientific rigour, this time to reverse the verdict of 1957.
It worked immediately.
◈Three wins out of the gate
Botvinnik won the first three games and never surrendered the lead. The match was not flawless — in the fifteenth game, absorbed in a winning position, he astonishingly forfeited on time — but he kept his composure, and a draw in the twenty-third game secured a 12½–10½ victory and his second reign (+7−5=11).
Smyslov's brief championship was over; the two would never meet for the title again.
◈Cross Table
| Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
1 win · ½ draw · 0 loss — click a game number to replay it.