| USSR Championship (1949) |
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The 17th USSR chess championship took place in the Soviet capital of Moscow from October 16th to November 20th, 1949. Twenty of the Soviet Union's best grandmasters and masters qualified or received invitations to participate in the round robin event. Twelve players qualified from semi-final tournaments held earlier in the year: Igor Bondarevsky, Mark Taimanov, and Grigory Levenfish qualified from Leningrad; Vladas Mikenas, Alexey Sokolsky, and Semyon Furman qualified from Vilnius; Lev Aronin, Grigory Goldberg, and Victor Liublinsky qualified from Moscow; and Efim Geller, Tigran Petrosian, and Ratmir Kholmov qualified from Tbilisi. Bondarevsky could not attend the final, so he was replaced by Leningrad fourth place Nikolai Kopilov. The eight remaining players were invited to fill out the field were: David Bronstein and Alexander Kotov as returning champions from the 16th championship; previous Soviet champions Andre Lilienthal and Paul Keres; and four previous final participants Isaac Boleslavsky, Salomon Flohr, Viacheslav Ragozin, and Vasily Smyslov. This tournament saw two of Mikhail Botvinnik 's greatest rivals finish shared first with thirteen points out of nineteen rounds. It was Bronstein's second consecutive Soviet crown, and his last. He would face Botvinnik two years later for the world crown, coming closer than anyone else to being world champion without succeeding. While this championship was Smyslov's first and last Soviet crown, he too would go on to face Botvinnik, but unlike his fellow shared first, he would defeat Botvinnik in their second of three encounters, earning the highest of all chess honors: the champion of the world. The final standings and crosstable:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Pts
=1 Smyslov * 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 0 1 1 13
=1 Bronstein 0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 13
=3 Geller ½ ½ * ½ 1 1 1 0 ½ 0 1 0 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 12½
=3 Taimanov ½ ½ ½ * 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 12½
=5 Furman 1 ½ 0 1 * 1 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 11½
=5 Boleslavsky ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 * ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 11½
=5 Kotov ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ * ½ 0 ½ 1 0 ½ 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 11½
8 Keres ½ 0 1 0 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 0 ½ 11
=9 Aronin 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 1 ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 10
=9 Kholmov 0 0 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ 0 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 10
11 Flohr 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 0 ½ 9
12 Sokolsky ½ 0 1 0 ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 1 ½ * ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 8½
=13 Lilienthal 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ * ½ 1 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 8
=13 Mikenas ½ 0 ½ 0 1 0 1 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ * 0 0 1 ½ ½ 1 8
=13 Kopilov ½ 0 0 0 1 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 0 1 * ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 8
16 Petrosian 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 1 ½ * 0 1 1 0 7½
17 Ragozin 0 0 0 ½ 1 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 1 * ½ ½ 1 6½
=18 Levenfish 1 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * 1 0 6
=18 Liublinsky 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 1 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 * ½ 6
=18 Goldberg 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 1 0 1 ½ * 6
This collection would not have been possible without the efforts of <Phony Benoni>.Original collection: Game Collection: USSR Championship 1949, by User: suenteus po 147.
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| page 2 of 2; games 26-39 of 39 |
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| Game |
| Result | Moves |
Year | Event/Locale | Opening |
| 26. N Kopilov vs Lilienthal |
 | 0-1 | 44 | 1949 | USSR Championship | A54 Old Indian, Ukrainian Variation, 4.Nf3 |
| 27. Levenfish vs G Goldberg |
| 0-1 | 44 | 1949 | USSR Championship | E21 Nimzo-Indian, Three Knights |
| 28. Ragozin vs Geller |
| 0-1 | 40 | 1949 | USSR Championship | C59 Two Knights |
| 29. Flohr vs Kotov |
| 0-1 | 33 | 1949 | USSR Championship | A97 Dutch, Ilyin-Genevsky |
| 30. Ragozin vs Lilienthal |
| 0-1 | 41 | 1949 | USSR Championship | A53 Old Indian |
| 31. Kotov vs Geller |
 | 0-1 | 40 | 1949 | USSR Championship | E67 King's Indian, Fianchetto |
| 32. V Mikenas vs N Kopilov |
| 0-1 | 50 | 1949 | USSR Championship | E93 King's Indian, Petrosian System |
| 33. Kholmov vs Boleslavsky |
| 0-1 | 43 | 1949 | USSR Championship | B62 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer |
| 34. Flohr vs Geller |
| 0-1 | 61 | 1949 | USSR Championship | E92 King's Indian |
| 35. A Sokolsky vs Bronstein |
| 0-1 | 69 | 1949 | USSR Championship | C46 Three Knights |
| 36. Lilienthal vs Smyslov |
| 0-1 | 58 | 1949 | USSR Championship | E10 Queen's Pawn Game |
| 37. Geller vs Kholmov |
| 0-1 | 43 | 1949 | USSR Championship | C61 Ruy Lopez, Bird's Defense |
| 38. G Goldberg vs Taimanov |
| 0-1 | 41 | 1949 | USSR Championship | E41 Nimzo-Indian |
| 39. Boleslavsky vs Furman |
| 0-1 | 42 | 1949 | USSR Championship | C97 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin |
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| page 2 of 2; games 26-39 of 39 |
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