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The 1954 World Chess Championship was played between Mikhail Botvinnik and Vasily Smyslov in Moscow from March 16 to May 13, 1954. Botvinnik retained his title.
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1952 Interzonal tournament
An interzonal tournament was held at Saltsjöbaden in Stockholm, Sweden, in September and October 1952. The top eight finishers qualified for the Candidates tournament.
Only the top five were supposed to have qualified for a 12-player Candidates Tournament, but four players were tied for fifth place, and since the Sonneborn-Berger tie-break margins were so small, all four were included. The tournament was surrounded by some controversy as the five Soviet players took the top five spots - having drawn every single game amongst themselves, several of them after suspiciously few moves. Originally, the 1952 Interzonal was supposed to have featured 22 players, but Julio Bolbochán of Argentina suffered a hemorrhage and had to withdraw after a first-round adjournment.
1953 Candidates tournament
The Candidates tournament was held in Zürich, Switzerland, from August to October 1953. The field consisted of 15 players: The top eight from the 1952 Interzonal, the top five from the previous Candidates Tournament (Bronstein, Boleslavsky, Smyslov, Keres, and Najdorf), and the last two players from the 1948 championships not already qualified (Reshevsky and Euwe).
Smyslov qualified as challenger by winning the tournament.
1954 Championship match
The match was played as best of 24 games. If it ended 12-12, Botvinnik, the holder, would retain the Championship.
Botvinnik retained the Championship.