USSR Chess Championship

Photograph of the participants of the fourth USSR Chess Championship in 1925
The participants of the fourth USSR Chess Championship in 1925.
Sitting (left to right): Vilner, Levenfish, Rokhlin (organizer), Gotthilf, I. Rabinovich, Bogolyubov (winner), Ilyin-Genevsky, Duz-Khotimirsky, Romanovsky, Sergeyev, Nenarokov, Verlinsky, A. Rabinovich.
Standing (left to right): von Freymann, Sozin, Eremeev (organizer), Grigoriev, Zubarev, Selezniev, Kaspersky, Kutuzov, Weinstein (organizer).

This is a list of all the winners of the USSR Chess Championship. 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 were Swiss system tournaments.

No. Date Place Winner Score 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–15 Sep 1924 Moscow Efim Bogoljubov 15/17 (+13−0=4)
4 11 Aug–6 Sep 1925 Leningrad Efim Bogoljubov 14/19 (+11−2=6)
5 26 Sep–25 Oct 1927 Moscow Fedor Bogatyrchuk
Peter 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–11 Nov 1931 Moscow Mikhail Botvinnik 13½/17 (+12−2=3)
8 16 Aug–9 Sep 1933 Leningrad Mikhail Botvinnik 14/19 (+11−2=6)
9 7 Dec 1934–2 Jan 1935 Leningrad Grigory Levenfish
Ilya Rabinovich		 12/19 (+8−3=8)
12/19 (+9−4=6)
10 12 Apr–14 May 1937 Tbilisi Grigory Levenfish 12½/19 (+9−3=7)
11 15 Apr–16 May 1939 Leningrad Mikhail Botvinnik 12½/17 (+8−0=9)
12 5 Sep–3 Oct 1940 Moscow Andor Lilienthal
Igor 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–17 Jun 1944 Moscow Mikhail Botvinnik 12½/16 (+11−2=3)
14 1 Jun–3 Jul 1945 Moscow Mikhail Botvinnik 15/17 (+13−0=4)
15 2 Feb–8 Mar 1947 Leningrad Paul Keres 14/19 (+10−1=8)
16 10 Nov–13 Dec 1948 Moscow David Bronstein
Alexander Kotov		 12/18 (+7−1=10)
12/18 (+10−4=4)
17 16 Oct–20 Nov 1949 Moscow Vasily Smyslov
David Bronstein		 13/19 (+9−2=8)
13/19 (+8−1=10)
18 10 Nov–12 Dec 1950 Moscow Paul Keres 11½/17 (+8−2=7)
19 11 Nov–14 Dec 1951 Moscow Paul Keres 12/17 (+9−2=6)
20 29 Nov–29 Dec 1952 Moscow Mikhail Botvinnik 13½/19 (+9−1=9) Botvinnik defeated Mark Taimanov in a playoff +2−1=3.[1]
21 7 Jan–7 Feb 1954 Kiev Yuri Averbakh 14½/19 (+10−0=9)
22 11 Feb–15 Mar 1955 Moscow Efim Geller 12/19 (+10−5=4) Geller defeated Vasily Smyslov in a playoff +1=6.[2]
23 10 Jan–15 Feb 1956 Leningrad Mark Taimanov 11½/17 (+8−2=7) Taimanov defeated Boris Spassky and Yuri Averbakh in a playoff.
24 20 Jan–22 Feb 1957 Moscow Mikhail Tal 14/21 (+9−2=10)
25 12 Jan–14 Feb 1958 Riga Mikhail Tal 12½/18 (+10−3=5)
26 9 Jan–11 Feb 1959 Tbilisi Tigran Petrosian 13½/19 (+8−0=11)
27 26 Jan–26 Feb 1960 Leningrad Viktor Korchnoi 14/19 (+12−3=4)
28 11 Jan–11 Feb 1961 Moscow Tigran Petrosian 13½/19 (+9−1=9)
29 16 Nov–12 Dec 1961 Baku Boris Spassky 14½/20 (+10−1=9)
30 21 Nov–20 Dec 1962 Yerevan Viktor Korchnoi 14/19 (+10−1=8)
31 23 Nov–27 Dec 1963 Leningrad Leonid Stein 12/19 (+6−1=12) Stein defeated Boris Spassky and Ratmir Kholmov in a playoff.
32 25 Dec 1964–27 Jan 1965 Kiev Viktor Korchnoi 15/19 (+11−0=8)
33 21 Nov–24 Dec 1965 Tallinn Leonid Stein 14/19 (+10−1=8)
34 28 Dec 1966 – 2 Feb 1967 Tbilisi Leonid Stein 13/20 (+8−2=10)
35 7–26 Dec 1967 Kharkov Lev Polugaevsky
Mikhail Tal 		10/13
10/13		 The tournament was a 126-player Swiss.
36 30 Dec 1968–1 Feb 1969 Alma-Ata Lev Polugaevsky
Alexander Zaitsev		 12½/19 (+7−1=11)
12½/19 (+6=13)		 Polugaevsky defeated Zaitsev in a playoff +2−1=3.[3]
37 6 Sep–12 Oct 1969 Moscow Tigran Petrosian 14/22 (+6−0=16) Petrosian defeated Polugaevsky in a playoff held in Feb 1970 by +2=3.[4]
38 25 Nov–28 Dec 1970 Riga Viktor Korchnoi 16/21 (+12−1=8)
39 15 Sep–17 Oct 1971 Leningrad Vladimir Savon 15/21 (+9−0=12)
40 16 Nov–19 Dec 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–23 Dec 1974 Leningrad Alexander Beliavsky
Mikhail Tal 		9½/15 (+6−2=7)
9½/15 (+6−2=7)
43 28 Nov–22 Dec 1975 Yerevan Tigran Petrosian 10/15 (+6−1=8)
44 26 Nov–24 Dec 1976 Moscow Anatoly Karpov 12/17 (+8−1=8)
45 28 Nov–22 Dec 1977 Leningrad Boris Gulko
Iosif Dorfman 		9½/15 (+4−0=11)
9½/15 (+4−0=11)		 A playoff, held in 1978, was drawn +1−1=4.[5]
46 1–28 Dec 1978 Tbilisi Mikhail Tal
Vitaly Tseshkovsky		 11/17 (+5−0=12)
11/17 (+6−1=10)
47 29 Nov–27 Dec 1979 Minsk Efim Geller 11½/17 (+6−0=11)
48 25 Dec 1980–21 Jan 1981 Vilnius Lev Psakhis
Alexander Beliavsky		 10½/17 (+8−4=5)
10½/17 (+6−2=9)
49 27 Nov–22 Dec 1981 Frunze Garry Kasparov
Lev 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 Lvov Andrei Sokolov 12½/17 (+8−0=9)
52 22 Jan–19 Feb 1985 Riga Viktor Gavrikov
Mikhail Gurevich
Alexander 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.[6]
55 25 Jul–19 Aug 1988 Moscow Anatoly Karpov
Garry Kasparov		 11½/17 (+6−0=11)
11½/17 (+6−0=11)
56 22 Sep–16 Oct 1989 Odessa Rafael Vaganian 9/15 (+5−2=8)
57 18 Oct–3 Nov 1990 Leningrad Alexander Beliavsky
Leonid Yudasin
Evgeny Bareev
Alexey 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.

Most wins:

See also

Publications

References

  1. ↑ "USSR Championship 1952". Chessgames.com. 1953-02-05. Retrieved 2012-05-26.
  2. ↑ "USSR Championship 1955". Chessgames.com. Retrieved 2012-05-26.
  3. ↑ "USSR Championship 1968/69". Chessgames.com. Retrieved 2012-05-26.
  4. ↑ "USSR Championship 1969". Chessgames.com. 1969-10-12. Retrieved 2012-05-26.
  5. ↑ "USSR Championship 1977". Chessgames.com. 1977-12-22. Retrieved 2012-05-26.
  6. ↑ "USSR Championship 1987". Chessgames.com. Retrieved 2012-05-26.
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