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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 3 of 7; games 51-75 of 153  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 51. A I Zakharov vs Smyslov   ½-½ 52 1976 USSR Championship A21 English 52. N Rashkovsky vs Taimanov   1-0 66 1976 USSR Championship E00 Queen's Pawn Game 53. Vaganian vs Tal ½-½ 56 1976 USSR Championship A04 Reti Opening 54. Sveshnikov vs Dorfman   1-0 53 1976 USSR Championship B22 Sicilian, Alapin 55. Balashov vs Tseshkovsky   1-0 43 1976 USSR Championship B09 Pirc, Austrian Attack 56. Geller vs N Rashkovsky   ½-½ 20 1976 USSR Championship B92 Sicilian, Najdorf, Opocensky Variation 57. Dorfman vs Gulko 1-0 36 1976 USSR Championship C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense 58. Romanishin vs Karpov ½-½ 41 1976 USSR Championship C91 Ruy Lopez, Closed 59. Kupreichik vs Polugaevsky   0-1 41 1976 USSR Championship B51 Sicilian, Canal-Sokolsky (Rossolimo) Attack 60. Petrosian vs K Grigorian   ½-½ 36 1976 USSR Championship D32 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch 61. Smyslov vs Sveshnikov   ½-½ 65 1976 USSR Championship A13 English 62. Taimanov vs Vaganian   0-1 34 1976 USSR Championship A11 English, Caro-Kann Defensive System 63. Tal vs A I Zakharov   ½-½ 57 1976 USSR Championship C84 Ruy Lopez, Closed 64. N Rashkovsky vs Balashov   ½-½ 25 1976 USSR Championship A32 English, Symmetrical Variation 65. Taimanov vs Geller   1-0 48 1976 USSR Championship A14 English 66. Gulko vs Smyslov   ½-½ 20 1976 USSR Championship E54 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Gligoric System 67. Karpov vs Dorfman 1-0 50 1976 USSR Championship B81 Sicilian, Scheveningen, Keres Attack 68. Tseshkovsky vs Petrosian 0-1 30 1976 USSR Championship C16 French, Winawer 69. Polugaevsky vs Romanishin   0-1 41 1976 USSR Championship A29 English, Four Knights, Kingside Fianchetto 70. Sveshnikov vs Tal ½-½ 29 1976 USSR Championship B22 Sicilian, Alapin 71. Vaganian vs A I Zakharov   0-1 53 1976 USSR Championship A15 English 72. K Grigorian vs Kupreichik   1-0 28 1976 USSR Championship E44 Nimzo-Indian, Fischer Variation, 5.Ne2 73. Balashov vs Taimanov   ½-½ 33 1976 USSR Championship A26 English 74. Geller vs Vaganian 1-0 28 1976 USSR Championship C07 French, Tarrasch 75. Tal vs Gulko   ½-½ 27 1976 USSR Championship E19 Queen's Indian, Old Main line, 9.Qxc3  page 3 of 7; games 51-75 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. 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