Only four contenders in the organised history of the World Chess Championship have ever succeeded in winning the "Candidates" twice - these were Spassky, Korchnoi, Karpov and Vassily Smyslov.

Having won the 1953 Candidates and drawn with Botvinnik in 1954, Smyslov returned to the charge with an equally devastating performance in the 1956 qualifier, surging ahead of Keres, Bronstein , Spassky , Geller and Petrosian. Combined with the companion Hardinge Simpole volume on the World Championship Candidates Tournament of 1953 this book completes a record of staggering tournament expertise and determination by the immortal Smyslov.

The author is well known journalist Barry Wood, member of the English Olympiad team, Chess Correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and for many years Editor-in-Chief of Chess Magazine, ably assisted by the former German (latterly Irish/South African) master Wolfgang Heidenfeld. As before the eye witness accounts guarantee the accuracy and depth of the notes