The Soviet players were very successful, Botvinnik taking first, Vasily Smyslov third, and Isaac Boleslavsky and Salo Flohr tied for sixth and seventh, beginning an era of Soviet domination of international chess.
FIDE's discussions mainly favored: A round-robin tournament involving the world's top players, to determine who would be the new World Champion (their first proposal in July 1946 nominated Euwe, Botvinnik, Paul Keres, Vasily Smyslov, Reuben Fine, Samuel Reshevsky and one of the winners of the Groningen and Prague tournaments to be held later in 1946).
They were joined by Vasily Smyslov (loser of the 1958 rematch for the championship with Mikhail Botvinnik), and Paul Keres, who had finished second at the 1956 Amsterdam Candidates tournament.
Keene brought Victor Korchnoi and Garry Kasparov together for their 1983 Candidates' semi-final match in London as part of the 1984 World Championship cycle; the semi-final match between Vasily Smyslov and Zoltán Ribli was also played at the same site.
Vasily Smyslov | Vasily Zhukovsky | Vasily Livanov | Vasily Golovnin | Vasily Polenov | Vasily Vladimirovich Petrov | Vasily Rainchik | Vasily Perov | Vasily Lanovoy | Vasily Kafanov | Vasily Kachalov | Vasily Gorodtsov | Vasily Chapayev | Vasily Vasilyevich Rochev | Vasily Vasilievsky | Vasily Vasilievich Struve | Vasily Sokolovsky | Vasily Petrenko | Vasily Pavlovich Rochev | Vasily Orlov-Denisov | Vasily Nemirovich-Danchenko | Vasily Konstantinovich | Vasily Kazakov | Vasily Karasev | Vasily Fyodorovich Trutovsky | Vasily Fesenkov | Vasily Dolgorukov | Vasily Botkin | Vasily Bartold | Vasily Azhayev |
In 1945 he played on board one in the USA vs USSR radio match, losing both games to Mikhail Botvinnik, and in 1946 travelled to Moscow for the return match, losing both games against Vasily Smyslov.
In the past, a number of famous over-the-board players have also been International Judges, including Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, David Bronstein, Paul Keres, Yuri Averbakh and Wolfgang Unzicker, though in modern times the title is generally held by individuals largely unknown outside the world of problems.