Champion Of Champions (part 12)

HERE is the tournament bracket after three quarter-finals.

Round of 16               Quarter-Finals          Semi-Finals
1. Steinitz
v----------------------------Carlsen
16. Carlsen (+102.5)
                                    v................................Tal
8.Tal (+8.5)
v----------------------------Tal (+79.5)
9.Petrosian

6. Botvinnik (+66)
v----------------------------Botvinnik (+18.5)
11. Fischer
                                    v.................................Botvinnik
13. Kasparov
v----------------------------Alekhine
4. Alekhine (+21.5)

3. Capablanca
v----------------------------Kramnik (+118)
14. Kramnik (+12)
                                     v................................Kramnik
5. Euwe
v----------------------------Karpov
12. Karpov (+11.5)

7. Smyslov (+18)
v----------------------------Smyslov
10. Spassky
                                     v................................
15. Anand
v----------------------------Lasker
2. Lasker (+50.5)

Quarter-Finals
Match Four: Smyslov v Lasker
Game One
Vasily Smyslov - Emanuel Lasker
Spanish Berlin
1.e4
As noted before, 1.e4 was played in 454 of the games in ChessBase's 2020 Mega database in which Smyslov had white, compared with 425 games for 1.d4.
1...e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.Re1
Very modern!
5...Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7

Smyslov did not face 5...Be7, so this is as far as we can get

The analysis engines Stockfish11 and Komodo11.01 give White an averaged advantage of +34.5.

Game Two
Emanual Lasker - Vasily Smyslov
Spanish Closed
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4
Lasker played the text almost three times as frequently as the move often associated with him, 3.Bxc6.
4...Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d6 9.d4!?
Lasker played this four times, compared with two for 9.h3.
9...Bg4 10.Be3 exd4 11.cxd4 Na5 12.Bc2 c5
Smyslov played the text and 12...Nc4 twice each, scoring a win and a loss with the latter but a win and a draw with 12...c5, which is therefore chosen on tiebreak.

As far as we can go - Lasker did not face 12...c5

The engines give Lasker an averaged advantage of +23 - not enough to overcome Smyslov's score from game one.
Here is the updated tournament bracket.

Round of 16               Quarter-Finals          Semi-Finals
1. Steinitz
v----------------------------Carlsen
16. Carlsen (+102.5)
                                    v................................Tal
8.Tal (+8.5)
v----------------------------Tal (+79.5)
9.Petrosian

6. Botvinnik (+66)
v----------------------------Botvinnik (+18.5)
11. Fischer
                                    v.................................Botvinnik
13. Kasparov
v----------------------------Alekhine
4. Alekhine (+21.5)

3. Capablanca
v----------------------------Kramnik (+118)
14. Kramnik (+12)
                                     v................................Kramnik
5. Euwe
v----------------------------Karpov
12. Karpov (+11.5)

7. Smyslov (+18)
v----------------------------Smyslov (+11.5)
10. Spassky
                                     v................................Smyslov
15. Anand
v----------------------------Lasker
2. Lasker (+50.5)

So the semi-finals can be thought of as an all-Soviet affair, although Kramnik might argue with that description.