|
Defending champion |
Challenger | |||||
 | ||||||
 Mikhail Botvinnik |
Vasily Smyslov | |||||
| ||||||
|
Born 17 August 1911 45 years old |
Born 24 March 1921 35/36 years old | |||||
| Winner of the 1954 World Chess Championship | Winner of the 1956 Candidates Tournament | |||||
|
| ||||||
A World Chess Championship was played between Mikhail Botvinnik and Vasily Smyslov in Moscow from March 5 to April 27, 1957. Botvinnik had been World Champion since 1948, while Smyslov earned the right to challenge by winning the 1956 Candidates tournament. This was the second World Championship match between the pair, after the drawn 1954 match.
Smyslov won the match and became the seventh World Chess Champion. However he lost the title in the 1958 rematch.