On the occasion of the upcoming FIDE Candidates Tournament in Cyprus, Peter Doggers and Arne Moll discuss what is surely the most famous Candidates Tournament of all: Zurich 1953. The tournament was won by Vasily Smyslov, who scored his first international tournament victory and who qualified for his first world championship. (He would eventually play 12-12 vs. Mikhail Botvinnik in a match in 1954, but in 1957 Smyslov managed to win another match against the same opponent to become the 7th World Champion of Chess.)

The main reason why Zurich 1953 is so famous is because of David Bronstein's tournament book, which was praised by many trainers and players, including Garry Kasparov. As it turns out, three other participants also wrote books about the tournament – Max Euwe, Gideon Stahlberg, and Miguel Najdorf – and in this podcast, Arne argues that Najdorf's book might actually be better than Bronstein's. The hosts also discuss the rumors that the Soviet players were at some point working together to help Smyslov, forming a block against the other main contender, Samuel Reshevsky.

Perpetual Chess Podcast episode on Zurich 1953:

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2021/7/9/book-recap-17-discussing-zurich-1953-with-fm-nate-solon-featuring-gm-andy-soltis

Secret Notes by Bronstein & Voronkov: 

https://books.google.nl/books/about/Secret_Notes.html?id=raRqAQAACAAJ&redir_esc=y

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About the hosts:

Peter Doggers has played chess for over 30 years and written about it for almost 20. He regularly writes for Chess.com and New in Chess. He is the author of The Chess Revolution and also hosts The Chess News Podcast.

https://peterdoggers.com/

Arne Moll has played chess even longer than Peter and also loves to write about it. He contributed many thought-provoking articles to the website ChessVibes.com between 2007 and 2013 and recently published his first book as well, called The Center Game.

https://www.newinchess.com/the-center-game