Members · Prefs · Laboratory · Collections · Openings · Endgames · Sacrifices · History · Search Kibitzing · Kibitzer's Café · Chessforums · Tournament Index · Players · Kibitzing

USSR Championship (1976) The 44th Soviet Chess Championship was a Category XII event played in the capital of Moscow from November 27 to December 23, 1976. Eighteen of the USSR's strongest grandmasters and masters participated in the tournament, including (in order of Elo): Anatoli Karpov (2695), Tigran Petrosian (2635), Lev Polugaevsky (2635), Efim Geller (2620), Mikhail Tal (2615), Vassily Smyslov (2580), Oleg Romanishin (2560), Vitaly Tseshkovsky (2550), Rafael Vaganian (2550), Yuri Balashov (2545), Mark Taimanov (2540), Boris Gulko (2530), Evgeni Sveshnikov (2510), Viktor Kupreichik (2490), Karen Grigorian (2485), Nukhim Rashkovsky (2485), Alexander Zakharov (2435), and Josif Dorfman (2405). The world champion Karpov dominated the event, earning wins against almost half the field, and finished with a score of 12/17. Moscow, Soviet Union (Russia), 27 November - 23 December 1976 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pts 1 Karpov * 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 12 2 Balashov 0 * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 11 =3 Petrosian ½ ½ * ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 10½ =3 Polugaevsky ½ 0 ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 10½ 5 Dorfman 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 0 0 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 0 1 9½ =6 Tal ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 9 =6 Smyslov ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 0 9 =8 Geller 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ * 0 0 ½ 1 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 8½ =8 Sveshnikov ½ 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 * 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 8½ =8 Romanishin ½ 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 * 0 ½ 1 0 ½ 1 0 1 8½ 11 Gulko 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 * ½ 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 8 =12 Vaganian 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 0 0 ½ ½ 7½ =12 Grigorian 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 0 0 0 0 1 ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 7½ =14 Taimanov ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 0 0 ½ * 0 1 ½ 0 7 =14 Rashkovsky ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 * 0 ½ ½ 7 =16 Zakharov 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 1 0 0 1 * 0 1 6½ =16 Tseshkovsky 0 0 0 ½ 1 0 0 ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 * 0 6½ 18 Kupreichik 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 0 1 * 6 Original collection: Game Collection: USSR Championship 1976, by User: suenteus po 147.  page 2 of 7; games 26-50 of 153  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 26. Tseshkovsky vs Vaganian   ½-½ 14 1976 USSR Championship C07 French, Tarrasch 27. N Rashkovsky vs K Grigorian   ½-½ 17 1976 USSR Championship D79 Neo-Grunfeld, 6.O-O, Main line 28. Karpov vs Balashov 1-0 43 1976 USSR Championship C92 Ruy Lopez, Closed 29. Polugaevsky vs Geller   ½-½ 18 1976 USSR Championship D83 Grunfeld, Grunfeld Gambit 30. Gulko vs Petrosian 0-1 39 1976 USSR Championship B94 Sicilian, Najdorf 31. Sveshnikov vs Kupreichik   0-1 34 1976 USSR Championship E15 Queen's Indian 32. A I Zakharov vs Romanishin   0-1 34 1976 USSR Championship C03 French, Tarrasch 33. Vaganian vs Smyslov 1-0 40 1976 USSR Championship A15 English 34. K Grigorian vs Taimanov   ½-½ 22 1976 USSR Championship A54 Old Indian, Ukrainian Variation, 4.Nf3 35. Tal vs Dorfman   ½-½ 41 1976 USSR Championship C67 Ruy Lopez 36. Tseshkovsky vs N Rashkovsky   ½-½ 19 1976 USSR Championship B92 Sicilian, Najdorf, Opocensky Variation 37. Balashov vs Polugaevsky   1-0 55 1976 USSR Championship E15 Queen's Indian 38. Geller vs K Grigorian 1-0 37 1976 USSR Championship B84 Sicilian, Scheveningen 39. Petrosian vs Karpov ½-½ 63 1976 USSR Championship E19 Queen's Indian, Old Main line, 9.Qxc3 40. Kupreichik vs Gulko   0-1 30 1976 USSR Championship C02 French, Advance 41. Romanishin vs Sveshnikov   1-0 84 1976 USSR Championship A13 English 42. Smyslov vs Tal   ½-½ 31 1976 USSR Championship A05 Reti Opening 43. Taimanov vs Tseshkovsky   ½-½ 34 1976 USSR Championship B02 Alekhine's Defense 44. N Rashkovsky vs Vaganian   1-0 39 1976 USSR Championship A32 English, Symmetrical Variation 45. Dorfman vs A I Zakharov   ½-½ 41 1976 USSR Championship D63 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense 46. K Grigorian vs Balashov   ½-½ 42 1976 USSR Championship E00 Queen's Pawn Game 47. Tseshkovsky vs Geller   ½-½ 32 1976 USSR Championship C82 Ruy Lopez, Open 48. Gulko vs Romanishin   1-0 49 1976 USSR Championship C10 French 49. Karpov vs Kupreichik 1-0 41 1976 USSR Championship C61 Ruy Lopez, Bird's Defense 50. Polugaevsky vs Petrosian   ½-½ 26 1976 USSR Championship A28 English  page 2 of 7; games 26-50 of 153    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   Jun-17-18    ughaibu: Half of Karpov's wins were with black, I thought that wasn't meant to happen. Aug-29-18    Joseph Blackcape: Karpov was really determined to win this one. A Soviet World Champion would not be taken seriously in Soviet Russia unless he would also win the Soviet Championship (which Karpov has never managed before), much less a WC that has not won the title in a match. Mar-22-19    morphynoman2: USSR Chess Championship, 1976: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eja... May-11-20    Open Defence: Karpov managing to do a +8 -1 against this field and Balashov managing +6 -1 to finish ahead of Petrosian and Polugaevsky… but any idea what happened to Spassky ? Why didn't he play in this edition ? May-11-20    keypusher: <Open Defence> <Karpov managing to do a +8 -1 against this field and Balashov managing +6 -1 to finish ahead of Petrosian and Polugaevsky… but any idea what happened to Spassky ? Why didn't he play in this edition ?> Might have been a bit awkward. :-) <In 1976, Spassky emigrated to France with his third wife; he became a French citizen in 1978, and has competed for France in the Chess Olympiads.> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris... May-12-20    Open Defence: <keypusher> thanks! for some reason I thought he migrated in the 1980s! now its clear! May-12-20    keypusher: <Open Defence: <keypusher> thanks! for some reason I thought he migrated in the 1980s! now its clear!> And that's understandable on your part, because Spassky didn't totally sever ties with the USSR until after he thought they mistreated him for finishing ahead of Karpov at some event in the early 80s...was it this one? Linares (1983) For example, Spassky played the '77-'78 match against Korchnoi under the Soviet flag. Korchnoi called him a <one-legged defector>. May-12-20    Damenlaeuferbauer: This was Tolya Karpov's first and deserved win of altogether three Soviet championships (1976, 1983, and 1988), but the undisputed best game of this tournament played Efim Geller in the third round against the champion. May-12-20    Sally Simpson: Not only the best game of the tournament, the Geller v Karpov game was voted best game in the Informator Vol 22. Geller vs Karpov, 1976 May-12-20    perfidious: Out of curiosity, I checked to see how often Karpov tried the French and was surprised to see the frequency with which it appeared, with the loss to Geller being the first time he responded with 1....e6 to 1.e4 in his mature praxis (a 1973 draw with Hecht transposing via 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 etc): https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che... Oct-23-20    Chessdreamer: Wrong game here? Tseshkovsky vs Geller, 1976, I think it should be: Tseshkovsky vs Geller, 1976. NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion. Please observe our posting guidelines: No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members. Nothing in violation of United States law. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members. No trolling. The use of "sock puppet" accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by moderators, create a false impression of consensus or support, or stage conversations, is prohibited. Do not degrade Chessgames or any of it's staff/volunteers. Please try to maintain a semblance of civility at all times. See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a moderator. NOTE: Please keep all discussion on-topic. This forum is for this specific tournament only. To discuss chess or this site in general, visit the Kibitzer's Café. Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors. All moderator actions taken are ultimately at the sole discretion of the administration. Spot an error? Please suggest your correction and help us eliminate database mistakes! Home | About | Login | Logout | F.A.Q. | Profile | Preferences | Premium Membership | Kibitzer's Café | Biographer's Bistro | New Kibitzing | Chessforums | Tournament Index | Player Directory | Notable Games | World Chess Championships | Opening Explorer | Guess the Move | Game Collections | ChessBookie Game | Chessgames Challenge | Store | Privacy Notice | Contact Us Copyright 2001-2025, Chessgames Services LLC