1967 USSR Chess Championship

Last updated
35th Soviet Chess Championship
Location Kharkov
Champion
Lev Polugaevsky
Mikhail Tal

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. [1] [2]

Contents

Lev Polugaevsky Lev Polugaevsky 1972.jpg
Lev Polugaevsky
Mikhail Tal Interzonaal fide schaaktoernooi in GAK gebouw, Tal in die concentratie te midden, Bestanddeelnr 916-4754.jpg
Mikhail Tal

The Championship

The 35th edition was dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. It was decided that a return to mass activity was called for and the experiment of a Swiss system for 130 players over 13 rounds was tried. There were other reasons. 1967 had been a very busy year for the top Soviet players, with major international tournaments in Leningrad and Moscow. Many of them were expected to skip the Soviet Championship to rest, so it seemed a good idea to open things up and see what kind of talent was out there.

The Swiss system experiment, which attracted few of the stars, was not repeated until the dying days of the USSR in 1991. In fact, as early as the first round Lev Polugaevsky was incensed that he had to play such a strong opponent as Lutikov, whereas Mikhail Tal was paired with Hillar Kamer, to whom he had lost in a junior event a decade earlier.

Although 130 players started out in Kharkov, four of them did not finish: Vladimir Simagin withdrew after making 2½/4. Oleg Moiseev left after six rounds with the same score. Nikolai Kopylov went after making ½/5. Finally, Valery Zhidkov was expelled from the event, according to the Swiss Chess Agency report, after scoring 5 points out of nine rounds, for unclear reasons (the chief judge Salo Flohr claimed in his report that there had been no incidents).

Tal dominated from the creative point of view, but Polugaevsky hung on doggedly to share first place. His first-round experience was repeated in the last round when he had to play the strong grandmaster Ratmir Kholmov, whereas Tal had the easier task of meeting Valery Zhuravlyov. Both won, but Polugayevsky's task was clearly the harder. He only broke down Kholmov's resistance in an English Opening after 51 moves. In a sense Polugayevsky had declined a challenge since after the moves 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 in the penultimate round, Polugaevsky offered a draw to Tal, which was accepted. For the sake of decency, they played another dozen moves, but Tal, as Black, had better reasons to be satisfied with this grandmaster draw.

Flohr praised the creative level of Evgeni Vasiukov games, attributing this to his recent joint study with Korchnoi.

Some future chess stars did make their debuts, such as Lev Alburt, Mark Dvoretsky, Boris Gulko, Gennady Sosonko, Evgeny Sveshnikov and Rafael Vaganian. [3]

Table and results

This is all the information available. No complete crosstable of the event can be found.

35th Soviet Chess Championship [4]
PlayerRounds and resultsResults in unknown roundsTotal
12345678910111213
1 Lev Polugaevsky +27+59=3+74=4=5+8=16+30+13=12=2+1110.0
2 Mikhail Tal +108+18+19=78=6=12=10+7+23=4+3=1+810.0
3 Evgeni Vasiukov +43+30=1=44+31+25-4+20+9+12-2=11+179.5
4 Mark Taimanov +80+31+52=12=1+78+3=23=11=2=40=5+139.5
5 Igor Platonov +76=93+11=78=1+45=12=40+23=4+20=33 =429.5
6 Yuri Sakharov +112+68=2=8=58-9-20+44+40+29+539.0
7 Vladimir Antoshin =107=25=11+83-2+29=34=20+26+15 +309.0
8Valery Zhuravliov=11=16+77=6-1-46+33-2+35 +45 +48 +80 +888.5
9 Vladimir Bagirov +44+6-3+19-11=14-31 +568.5
10 Semyon Furman -44+54=2-30+58=14-13+34 +37 +708.5
11 Ratmir Kholmov +66=8+47-5=7+74+22+58=4=17+9=3-18.5
12 Viktor Zheliandinov +105+48+116=4=58=2+28=5+49-3=1-17+408.5
13 Alexander Zaitsev +45+46-1+10-4=31 +33 +38 +428.5
14Alexander Izvozchikov+127=16=10=9+618.5
15Mikhail Steinberg=92-33-7 +24 =40 +56 =64 +788.5
16 Viacheslav Osnos +64=74=885+34=1=14-20+36 +1028.5
17 Vladimir Tukmakov +27=11+12-3+46 +658.5
18Alexander Chistiakov-2-27 +498.0
19Eduard Bukhman+60-2+21-9-278.0
20 Lev Alburt +78-3+6+16=7-5=33 =35 -1158.0
21 Vladimir Savon -19-33 =37 -38 +52 +70 +758.0
22Alexander Sinyavsky-11-44+948.0
23 Anatoly Lein +53+58=40=4-2+44-5=368.0
24Oleg Donchenko-15 +39 +598.0
25 Eduard Mnatsakanian =7-3-26+42 +1298.0
26Anatoly Volovich+25-7=1268.0
27 Anatoly Lutikov -1-44-17+18 +19 +31 +1037.5
28Sergey Krasnov+32=44-12+92-33-46 +1027.5
29 Vitaly Tseshkovsky -7-6+37 +1167.5
30 Bukhuti Gurgenidze -3+48+10-1=40-7 +537.5
31 Naum Levin -4-3+9 =13 -27 -42 +657.5
32Oleg Pavlenko=53-28+122 -1277.5
33Yuri Shilov+15+28-8=5 -13 =20 +21 -507.5
34Vitaly Tarasov-16+107=7-107.5
35 Gennadi Sosonko -8 =20 +57 =947.5
36 Mark Tseitlin -102=23-16 -54 =70 +787.5
37 Alexander Cherepkov -10 =21 -29 =867.5
38 Rashid Nezhmetdinov -116-13 +21 +477.5
39 Elizbar Ubilava -40-24 +64 +937.5
40 Gennadi Kuzmin +65=23+39=5=30=4-6-12=15 +41 +1227.5
41 Vladimir Arseniev -407.0
42 Viacheslav Dydyshko =5 -13 -25 +317.0
43Samuel Zhukhovitsky-3-86 -88 +1227.0
44 Georgy Borisenko +10=3+27=28-9+22-23-6=55 +1277.0
45 Yuri Nikolaevsky 85-5-13-8 +49 =70 +777.0
46Vladimir Doroshkievich=128+8-13-17 +28 =49 -957.0
47 Vladas Mikenas -11-38 -78 +1307.0
48L. Gudim-12-30-87.0
49 Janis Klovans +64-12-18-45=46=51=54=67+73-83+84+109+1177.0
50Yacov Murey-58+33 =70 =78 -1037.0
51Oleg Privorotsky=497.0
52Ilya Mikliaev-4-21 +667.0
53 Iivo Nei =32-23-6 -30 +937.0
54Rudolf Kimmelfeld-10+36 =49 +60 =707.0
55Oleg Chernikov=44 =70 +71 +1207.0
56 Evgeny Sveshnikov -9 -15 =887.0
57 Yuri Gusev -35 +777.0
58 Algimantas Butnorius +50+102+65=12-23=6-11-106.5
59Yuri Nikitin-1-24 -64 =656.5
60Leonid Slutzky-19-54 =656.5
61Vanik Zakharian-14 +88 -1296.5
62 Roman Pelts =70 -786.5
63Nikolay Popov6.5
64 Igor Zaitsev -16-49=15 -39 +59 +72 +1096.5
65 Mark Dvoretsky -58-40-17 -31 =59 =60 +1036.5
66 Vladlen Zurakhov -11-52 +966.5
67 Rafael Vaganian =49 +946.5
68Dzhemal Beradze-66.5
69Iosif Slepoy=70 =886.5
70 Anatolijs Šmits -10-21=36=45=50=54=55=62=69+101+107=1096.5
71Valery Zilberstein-556.0
72Igor Belov-64 +886.0
73I. Kagan-49 +108 -1286.0
74Valery Korensky+121=16-1-11+946.0
75Boris Rumiantsev-21 =946.0
76Boris Sorokin-5=886.0
77Genrikh Chepukaitis-8-45 -576.0
78Alexander Shamis+114+129=2=5-4-20-15 -36 +47 =50 +626.0
79Mikhail Shereshevsky+88 +1116.0
80Vladimir Bykov-4-8 =886.0
81Alexander Kremenetsky6.0
82Alexander Tuzovsky6.0
83 Vladimir Alterman -7+49 -1006.0
84Valery Voloshin-496.0
85Boris Kalinkin16456.0
86V. Kozlov=37 +43 +946.0
87Khanan Muchnik=886.0
88Igor Sakovich-8+43=56-61=69-72=76-79=80=87+106=119+1266.0
89Evgeny Gik=98 -1115.5
90E. Karkmazov-945.5
91E. Belokurov5.5
92 Boris Gulko =15-285.5
93Igor Kalinski=5-39 -53 -945.5
94Valentin Kirilov-22=35-67-74=75-86+90+93+114=119=1275.5
95Yuri Kots-116+465.5
96Vladimir Muratov-665.5
97Anton Polikarpov5.5
98V. Seleznev=895.5
99Alexander Vaisman=1285.5
100 Vladimir Zagorovsky +835.5
101N. Razvaliaev-705.5
102Evgeny Terpugov+36-58-16 -285.0
103Valery Bykov-27 +50 -655.0
104Roman Levit5.0
105Archil Tsereteli-125.0
106K. Cherskikh-885.0
107Vladimir Voronov=7-34-705.0
108Hillar Karner-2-735.0
109A. Smetanin-49 -64 =705.0
110V. Sazonov5.0
111 Tõnu Õim -79 +895.0
112 Helmuth Luik -65.0
113Robert Seoev5.0
114Neron Valiev-78-944.5
115Reinhardas Barstatis-129+204.5
116 Andrey Lukin +38+95-12-294.5
117Anatoly Noskov-494.5
118Anatoly Anokhin4.5
119V. Vakulenko=88 =944.5
120 Rein Etruk -554.5
121I. Evelnin-744.0
122Vladimir Karasev-32 -40 -434.0
123Valentin Sorokin4.0
124Y. Amakov4.0
125V. Gureev3.0
126M. Varzhapetian=26 -881.5
127Valery Zhidkov-14XXXX+32 -44 =94 (did not finish)5/9
128 Vladimir Simagin =46XXXXXXXXX+73 =99 (did not finish)2.5/4
129Oleg Moiseev+115-78XXXXXXX-25 +61 (did not finish)2.5/6
130 Nikolai Kopilov XXXXXXXX-47 (did not finish)0.5/5

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References

  1. Cafferty, Bernard (2016). The Soviet Championships. London: Everyman Chess. p. 137.
  2. Soltis, Andy. (2000). Soviet chess, 1917-1991. McFarland & Co. ISBN   0-7864-0676-3.
  3. Cafferty 2016 , pp. 137–138
  4. "Russ Chess Base".