Wikipedia / USSR Chess Championship
Wikipedia / USSR Chess Championship
The USSR Chess Championship was played from 1920 to 1991. Organized by the USSR Chess Federation, it was the strongest national chess championship ever held, with eight world chess champions and four world championship finalists among its winners. It was held as a round-robin tournament with the exception of the 35th and 58th championships, which used the Swiss-system.
Most wins
Six titles: Mikhail Botvinnik, Mikhail Tal
Four titles: Tigran Petrosian, Viktor Korchnoi, Alexander Beliavsky
Three titles: Paul Keres, Leonid Stein, Anatoly Karpov
List of winners
{|class="wikitable"
|- ! Edition !! Date !! Place !! Winner !! Score !! width=700| Notes |- |1 ||4–24 Oct 1920 || Moscow | Alexander Alekhine || 12/15 (+9−0=6) |Known as the All-Russian Chess Olympiad at the time, this tournament was later recognized as the first USSR championship. |- |2 ||8–24 Jul 1923 || Petrograd | Peter Romanovsky ||10/12 (+9−1=2) | |- |3 ||23 Aug–15Sep 1924 || Moscow |Efim Bogoljubov || 15/17 (+13−0=4) | |- |4 ||11 Aug–6Sep 1925 ||Leningrad | Efim Bogoljubov ||14/19 (+11−2=6) | |- |5||26 Sep–25Oct 1927 || |Moscow |Fedor BogatyrchukPeter Romanovsky |14½/20 (+10−1=9)14½/20 (+12−3=5) |All of Bogatyrchuk's tournament results were erased from Soviet records after he emigrated to Canada and was declared a nonperson. |- |6 || 2–20 Sep 1929 || Odessa |Boris Verlinsky || 5½/8 (+4−1=3),4/5 (+4−1=0),and 3½/4 (+3−0=1) |The tournament was conducted in three stages. |- |7 || 10 Oct–11Nov 1931 || Moscow |Mikhail Botvinnik || 13½/17 (+12−2=3) | |- |8|| 16 Aug–9Sep 1933 || Leningrad | Mikhail Botvinnik || 14/19 (+11−2=6) | |- |9 || 7 Dec 1934–2Jan 1935 || Leningrad |Grigory Levenfish Ilya Rabinovich |12/19 (+8−3=8)12/19 (+9−4=6) | |- |10 || 12 Apr–14May 1937 || Tbilisi | Grigory Levenfish || 12½/19 (+9−3=7) | |- |11 || 15 Apr–16May 1939 || Leningrad | Mikhail Botvinnik || 12½/17 (+8−0=9) | |- |12|| 5 Sep–3Oct 1940 || Moscow |Andor LilienthalIgor Bondarevsky |13½/19 (+8−0=11)13½/19 (+10−2=7) | Mikhail Botvinnik won the Absolute Championship,23 Mar–29 Apr 1941, Leningrad/Moscow, 13½/20 (+9−2=9) |- |13 || 21 May–17Jun 1944 || Moscow | Mikhail Botvinnik || 12½/16 (+11−2=3) | |- |14 || 1 Jun–3Jul 1945 || |Moscow | Mikhail Botvinnik ||15/17 (+13−0=4) | |- |15 ||2 Feb–8Mar 1947 || Leningrad |Paul Keres || 14/19 (+10−1=8) | |- |16||10 Nov–13Dec 1948 || Moscow |David BronsteinAlexander Kotov |12/18 (+7−1=10)12/18 (+10−4=4) | |- |17 || 16 Oct–20Nov 1949 || Moscow |Vasily SmyslovDavid Bronstein |13/19 (+9−2=8)13/19 (+8−1=10) | |- |18 || 10 Nov–12Dec 1950 || Moscow |Paul Keres || 11½/17 (+8−2=7) | |- |19 || 11 Nov–14Dec 1951 || Moscow |Paul Keres ||12/17 (+9−2=6) | |- |20 || 29 Nov–29Dec 1952 || Moscow |Mikhail Botvinnik ||13½/19 (+9−1=9) |Botvinnik defeated Mark Taimanov in a playoff +2−1=3. |- |21 || 7 Jan–7Feb 1954 || Kiev |Yuri Averbakh || 14½/19 (+10−0=9) | |- |22 || 11 Feb–15Mar 1955 || Moscow |Efim Geller || 12/19 (+10−5=4) |Geller defeated Vasily Smyslov in a playoff +1=6. |- |23 || 10 Jan–15Feb 1956 || Leningrad |Mark Taimanov || 11½/17 (+8−2=7) |Taimanov defeated Boris Spassky and Yuri Averbakh in a playoff. |- |24 || 20 Jan–22Feb 1957 || Moscow |Mikhail Tal ||14/21 (+9−2=10) | |- |25 || 12 Jan–14Feb 1958 ||Riga |Mikhail Tal ||12½/18 (+10−3=5) | |- |26 || 9 Jan–11Feb 1959 || Tbilisi |Tigran Petrosian ||13½/19 (+8−0=11) | |- |27 || 26 Jan–26Feb 1960 || Leningrad |Viktor Korchnoi ||14/19 (+12−3=4) | |- |28 || 11 Jan–11Feb 1961 ||Moscow |Tigran Petrosian ||13½/19 (+9−1=9) | |- |29 ||16 Nov–12Dec 1961 ||Baku |Boris Spassky ||14½/20 (+10−1=9) | |- |30 || 21 Nov–20Dec 1962 ||Yerevan |Viktor Korchnoi || 14/19 (+10−1=8) | |- |31 || 23 Nov–27Dec 1963 || Leningrad |Leonid Stein || 12/19 (+6−1=12) |Stein defeated Boris Spassky and Ratmir Kholmov in a playoff. |- |32 ||25 Dec 1964–27Jan 1965 || Kiev |Viktor Korchnoi ||15/19 (+11−0=8) | |- |33 || 21 Nov–24Dec 1965 || Tallinn |Leonid Stein ||14/19 (+10−1=8) | |- |34 ||28 Dec 1966 – 2Feb 1967 ||Tbilisi |Leonid Stein ||13/20 (+8−2=10) | |- |35 ||7–26 Dec 1967 ||Kharkiv |Lev PolugaevskyMikhail Tal ||10/1310/13 |The tournament was a 126-player Swiss. |- |36 ||30 Dec 1968–1Feb 1969 ||Alma-Ata | Lev PolugaevskyAlexander Zaitsev |12½/19 (+7−1=11)12½/19 (+6=13) |Polugaevsky defeated Zaitsev in a playoff +2−1=3. |- |37 || 6 Sep–12Oct 1969 ||Moscow |Tigran Petrosian ||14/22 (+6−0=16) |Petrosian defeated Polugaevsky in a playoff held in Feb 1970 by +2=3. |- |38 || 25 Nov–28Dec 1970 || Riga |Viktor Korchnoi ||16/21 (+12−1=8) | |- |39 ||15 Sep–17Oct 1971 || Leningrad |Vladimir Savon || 15/21 (+9−0=12) | |- |40 || 16 Nov–19Dec 1972 || Baku | Mikhail Tal || 15/21 (+9−0=12) | |- |41 || 1–27 Oct 1973 || Moscow | Boris Spassky ||11½/17 (+7−1=9) | |- |42 || 30 Nov–23Dec 1974 || Leningrad |Alexander BeliavskyMikhail Tal ||9½/15 (+6−2=7)9½/15 (+6−2=7) | |- |43 || 28 Nov–22Dec 1975 || Yerevan | Tigran Petrosian || 10/15 (+6−1=8) | |- |44 |26 Nov–24Dec 1976 || Moscow |Anatoly Karpov || 12/17 (+8−1=8) | |- |45 || 28 Nov–22Dec 1977 || Leningrad |Boris GulkoIosif Dorfman || 9½/15 (+4−0=11)9½/15 (+4−0=11) |A playoff, held in 1978, was drawn +1−1=4. |- |46 || 1–28 Dec 1978 || Tbilisi |Mikhail TalVitaly Tseshkovsky |11/17 (+5−0=12)11/17 (+6−1=10) | |- |47 || 29 Nov–27Dec 1979 || Minsk | Efim Geller || 11½/17 (+6−0=11) | |- |48 || 25Dec 1980–21Jan 1981 || Vilnius |Lev PsakhisAlexander Beliavsky | 10½/17 (+8−4=5)10½/17 (+6−2=9) | |- |49 || 27 Nov–22Dec 1981 || Frunze |Garry KasparovLev Psakhis |12½/17 (+10−2=5)12½/17 (+9−1=7) | |- |50 || 2–28 Apr 1983 || Moscow | Anatoly Karpov || 9½/15 (+5−1=9) | |- |51 || 2–28 Apr 1984 || Lviv |Andrei Sokolov|| 12½/17 (+8−0=9) | |- |52 || 22 Jan–19Feb 1985 || Riga |Viktor GavrikovMikhail GurevichAlexander Chernin |11/19 (+4−1=14)11/19 (+6−3=10)11/19 (+5−2=12) | |- |53 || 4–28 Feb 1986 || Kiev | Vitaly Tseshkovsky || 11/17 (+6−1=10) | |- |54 || 4–29 Mar 1987 || Minsk | Alexander Beliavsky || 11/17 (+7−2=8) |Beliavsky defeated Valery Salov in a playoff +2=2. |- |55 || 25 Jul–19Aug 1988 || Moscow | Anatoly KarpovGarry Kasparov |11½/17 (+6−0=11)11½/17 (+6−0=11) | |- |56 || 22 Sep–16Oct 1989 || Odessa |Rafael Vaganian || 9/15 (+5−2=8) | |- |57 || 18 Oct–3Nov 1990 || Leningrad |Alexander BeliavskyLeonid YudasinEvgeny BareevAlexey Vyzmanavin |8½/13 (+5−1=7)8½/13 (+4−0=9)8½/13 (+6−2=5)8½/13 (+5−1=7) | |- |58 || 1–13 Nov 1991 || Moscow |Artashes Minasian || 8½/11 (+7−1=3) |Minasian won this Swiss-style tournament on tiebreak over Elmar Magerramov. |}
See also
Publications
Mark Taimanov, Bernard Cafferty, Soviet Championships, London, Everyman Chess, 1998 ()
References
Further reading