The Resume

(March 24, 1921-March 27, 2010)
Born in Moscow, Russia
World chess champion (1957-58)
Won the first World Senior Chess Championship (1991)

Why he might be annoying:

He was exempted from service during World War II due to extreme nearsightedness.
He decided on a career in chess only after failing an audition to sing at the Bolshoi Opera (1950).
His disappointing fourth place finish in the 1959 candidates tournament was rumored to have been caused by an extramarital affair with a female Yugoslav grandmaster.

Why he might not be annoying:

He was married to Nadezhda Smyslova for over fifty years.
Stanley Kubrick named a character in '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968) after him.
He won a record 17 medals (eight individual, nine team) at Chess Olympiads (1952-72).
At age 62, he became the oldest player to qualify for the candidates tournament to determine who would challenge the world champion (1984); before losing to Gary Kasparov in the final match, he defeated two opponents who were both more than 30 years his junior.

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 89]
• I Died in 2010 (Ranked: 89)
• I Died in the City I Was Born In
• Look at Me and My Pet
• Look at Me, I'm Playing Chess
• Opera Singers and Composers
• Profiles 54751-55000 (Ranked: 54966)
• We Celebrated Our Golden Anniversary
• World Chess Champions (Ranked: 1957)

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 13 Votes: 46.15% Annoying