1931 USSR Chess Championship

Last updated
1931 USSR Chess Championship
Location Moscow
Champion
Mikhail Botvinnik

The 1931 USSR Chess Championship was the 7th edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 10 October to 11 November in Moscow. The tournament was won by the future world champion Mikhail Botvinnik. The competition had the largest number of players up to that edition and had an extensive set of preliminary qualifiers in which about 500 players took part. [1]


The young Mikhail Botvinnik Botvinnik 1933.jpg
The young Mikhail Botvinnik

Table and results

1931 USSR Chess Championship
Player123456789101112131415161718Total
1 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Mikhail Botvinnik -1111½111½1011101½13½
2 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Nikolai Riumin 0-1½½1½0½10111½11111½
3 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Boris Verlinsky 00-½110110110½½1½110
4 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Vladimir Alatortsev 0½½-10½½10½1111½0110
5 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Mikhail Yudovich 0½00-1101½½1½11½½110
6 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Fedir Bohatyrchuk ½0010-½½0½1½½1111110
7 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Ilya Kan 0½1½0½-½0011½½111½
8 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Vsevolod Rauzer 010½1½½-0½½0111½½½9
9 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Isaak Mazel 0½000111-½1100½11½9
10 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Georgy Lisitsin ½011½½1½½-0½00110½
11 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Vladimir Kirillov 010½½00½01-1½10½11
12 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky 10000½010½0-11½111
13 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Nikolai Sorokin 0010½½½011½0-1½0½07
14 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Abram Zamikhovsky 00½000½011000-½111
15 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Victor Goglidze 0½½00000½01½½½-0116
16 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Veniamin Sozin 100½½00½00½0101-½0
17 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Genrikh Kasparian 00½1½00½0100½00½-½5
18 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Alexander Budo ½00000½½½½001001½-5

Related Research Articles

1920 USSR Chess Championship

The 1920 USSR Chess Championship was the first edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 4 to 24 October in Moscow. The tournament was won by the future world chess champion Alexander Alekhine.

The 1923 USSR Chess Championship was the second edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 8 to 24 July in Petrograd. The tournament was won by Peter Romanovsky.

1924 USSR Chess Championship

The 1924 USSR Chess Championship was the third edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 23 August to 15 September in Moscow. The tournament was won by Efim Bogoljubow.

1925 USSR Chess Championship

The 1925 USSR Chess Championship was the fourth edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 11 August to 6 September in Leningrad. The tournament was won by Efim Bogoljubow.

1927 USSR Chess Championship

The 1927 USSR Chess Championship was the fifth edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 26 September to 25 October in Moscow. Fedir Bohatyrchuk and Peter Romanovsky were declared champions, since a tie-break match cannot be scheduled. An indication of the enhanced prestige of chess ins Soviet Union was the championship venue, the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions, one of the most eminent locations in the country. That edition also featured the debut of the future world chess champion and 16 year old young talent Mikhail Botvinnik.

1929 USSR Chess Championship

The 1929 USSR Chess Championship was the 6th edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 2 to 20 September in Odessa. The tournament was won by Boris Verlinsky. The event was held outside Moscow and Leningrad for the first time. 36 players competed in four quarterfinal sections, with the top three in each advancing into two six-player semifinals. The top two from each semifinals were then to play a double round final to determine the champion.

1933 USSR Chess Championship

The 1933 USSR Chess Championship was the 8th edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 16 August to 9 September in Leningrad. The tournament was won by Mikhail Botvinnik.

1940 USSR Chess Championship

The 1940 Soviet Chess Championship was the 12th edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 5 September to 3 October 1940 in Moscow. The tournament was won by Andor Lilienthal and Igor Bondarevsky. Twenty of the Soviet Union's strongest masters competed in the final, six of whom qualified in the semifinals in Kiev earlier that year: Eduard Gerstenfeld, Mark Stolberg, Igor Bondarevsky, Iosif Rudakovsky, Alexander Konstantinopolsky and Peter Dubinin. The remaining invitations went to the Soviet chess elite. Botvinnik did his worst championship, only drawing in 5th/6th position, losing matches to both winners. This championship marked the debut of the future world champion Vassily Smyslov (3rd) and Paul Keres (4th). USSR had expanded its territory in 1939-40, incorporating the Baltic states, which meant that the strong masters Paul Keres from Estonia and Vladimir Petrov from Latvia were able to participate. In 1941, the top six played a competition called Absolute Championship of Soviet Union, ending with Botvinnik's victory.

1948 USSR Chess Championship

The 1948 Soviet Chess Championship was the 16th edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 10 November to 13 December 1948 in Moscow. The tournament was won by David Bronstein and Alexander Kotov. Mikhail Botvinnik did not participate in the championship again, as he had recently won the world title in the tournament at The Hague and Moscow. In fact he was to take a three-year break, to work on his doctorate. Quarterfinal tournaments were played in the cities of Tbilisi and Yaroslavl; and semifinals in Sverdlovsk, Leningrad and Moscow.

1952 USSR Chess Championship

The 1952 Soviet Chess Championship was the 20th edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 29 November to 29 December 1952 in Moscow. The tournament was won by Mikhail Botvinnik. Botvinnik and Mark Taimanov had a play-off match of six games in February 1953, which ended with the victory of Botvinnik 3½-2½, so bringing him his seventh title. The final were preceded by quarter-finals events and four semifinals. For the first time in such events players were forbidden to agree a draw in under 30 moves unless they could get the arbiter's consent.

1956 USSR Chess Championship

The 1956 Soviet Chess Championship was the 23rd edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 10 January to 15 February 1956 in Leningrad. The tournament was won by Mark Taimanov who defeats Boris Spassky and Yuri Averbakh in a play-off. The final were preceded by semifinals events at Leningrad, Moscow and Riga.This edition marked the debut of the future world champion Mikhail Tal, often described as the magician from Riga, who demonstrated his over-adventurous tactical style, notably in the third round against Simagin, who had the honor to be one of the first to wonder about the soundness of the piece sacrifice that had defeated him.

1967 USSR Chess Championship

The 1967 Soviet Chess Championship was the 35th edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 7 December to 26 December 1967 in Tbilisi. The tournament was won by Lev Polugaevsky and Mikhail Tal. For the first time the Soviet Chess Championship was played on a Swiss system organized as a 13 round tournament for 130 players.

1969 USSR Chess Championship

The 1969 Soviet Chess Championship was the 37th edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 7 September to 12 October 1969 in Moscow. The tournament was won by Tigran Petrosian who defeats Lev Polugaevsky in a play-off match. The final were preceded by semifinals events at Barnaul, Kiev, Rostov-on-Don and Voronezh. This Championship saw a return to a strong event with the unprecedented entry of 23 players. Petrosian made a come-back after having lost his world title to Spassky the year before. A big surprise in the semifinals was the failure of David Bronstein to qualify from the Kiev event.

1976 USSR Chess Championship

The 1976 Soviet Chess Championship was the 44th edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 26 November to 24 December 1976 in Moscow. The world champion Anatoly Karpov won his first USSR Chess Championship title. The qualifying tournaments took place in Minsk and Rostov-on-Don.

1977 USSR Chess Championship

The 1977 Soviet Chess Championship was the 45th edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 28 November to 22 December 1977 in Leningrad. Boris Gulko and Josif Dorfman shared the title after tying in the play-off. The qualifying tournaments took place in Bălți and Baku.

1978 USSR Chess Championship

The 1978 Soviet Chess Championship was the 46th edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 1-27 December 1978 in Tbilisi. Mikhail Tal and Vitaly Tseshkovsky shared the title. The qualifying tournaments took place in Daugavpils and Ashkhabad. This edition marked the debut of the future world champion Garry Kasparov in the Soviet championships.

1979 USSR Chess Championship

The 1979 Soviet Chess Championship was the 47th edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 29 November to 27 December 1979 in Minsk. The tournament was won by Efim Geller. He won it at the age of 54 and was the oldest player ever to have won the Championship, and did so in a field where young players abounded as never before. The qualifying tournaments took place in Bălți and Bishkek.

1980 USSR Chess Championship

The 1980 Soviet Chess Championship was the 48th edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 25 December 1980 to 21 January 1981 in Vilnius. The title was won by Alexander Beliavsky and Lev Psakhis. Semifinals took place in Dnipro, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk e Tallinn; The First League wad held at Tashkent.

1983 USSR Chess Championship

The 1983 Soviet Chess Championship was the 50th edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 2-28 April 1983 in Moscow. The title was won by Anatoly Karpov. Semifinals took place in Ivano-Frankivsk, Pavlodar, Sievierodonetsk and Yaroslavl; The First League wad held at Telavi. There was no final in 1982, the year of the Soviet Zonal.

The 1991 Soviet Chess Championship was the 58th and last edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 1–13 November 1991 in Moscow. The title was won by the Armenian Artashes Minasian.

References

  1. Cafferty, Bernard. (2016). The Soviet Championships. Londres: Everyman Chess. p. 31.