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TOURNAMENT STANDINGS
USSR Championship Tournament

Anatoly Karpov12/17(+8 -1 =8)[games]
Yuri Balashov11/17(+6 -1 =10)[games]
Tigran Petrosian10.5/17(+6 -2 =9)[games]
Lev Polugaevsky10.5/17(+6 -2 =9)[games]
Iossif Dorfman9.5/17(+6 -4 =7)[games]
Mikhail Tal9/17(+3 -2 =12)[games]
Vasily Smyslov9/17(+4 -3 =10)[games]
Efim Geller8.5/17(+4 -4 =9)[games]
Evgeny Sveshnikov8.5/17(+4 -4 =9)[games]
Oleg Romanishin8.5/17(+7 -7 =3)[games]
Boris Gulko8/17(+5 -6 =6)[games]
Rafael Vaganian7.5/17(+3 -5 =9)[games]
Karen Grigorian7.5/17(+4 -6 =7)[games]
Mark Taimanov7/17(+3 -6 =8)[games]
Nukhim Rashkovsky7/17(+2 -5 =10)[games]
Alexander I Zakharov6.5/17(+3 -7 =7)[games]
Vitaly Tseshkovsky6.5/17(+3 -7 =7)[games]
Viktor Kupreichik6/17(+5 -10 =2)[games]
*

Chessgames.com Chess Event Description
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 5 of 7; games 101-125 of 153  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
101. Geller vs Kupreichik 0-1331976USSR ChampionshipC61 Ruy Lopez, Bird's Defense
102. Vaganian vs Gulko  ½-½481976USSR ChampionshipA04 Reti Opening
103. Karpov vs Sveshnikov ½-½411976USSR ChampionshipE04 Catalan, Open, 5.Nf3
104. Polugaevsky vs A I Zakharov  1-0421976USSR ChampionshipD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
105. Taimanov vs Romanishin  1-0421976USSR ChampionshipE41 Nimzo-Indian
106. Tseshkovsky vs Smyslov  0-1331976USSR ChampionshipC16 French, Winawer
107. K Grigorian vs Tal  1-0741976USSR ChampionshipE32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical
108. N Rashkovsky vs Dorfman  0-1401976USSR ChampionshipE95 King's Indian, Orthodox, 7...Nbd7, 8.Re1
109. Kupreichik vs Balashov 0-1391976USSR ChampionshipB90 Sicilian, Najdorf
110. Romanishin vs Geller  1-0421976USSR ChampionshipA15 English
111. Gulko vs Karpov 0-1661976USSR ChampionshipB44 Sicilian
112. Petrosian vs Vaganian 0-1301976USSR ChampionshipA34 English, Symmetrical
113. Sveshnikov vs Polugaevsky  ½-½261976USSR ChampionshipB22 Sicilian, Alapin
114. Smyslov vs N Rashkovsky  1-0521976USSR ChampionshipA28 English
115. Dorfman vs Taimanov 1-0431976USSR ChampionshipB30 Sicilian
116. Tal vs Tseshkovsky  1-0421976USSR ChampionshipA34 English, Symmetrical
117. A I Zakharov vs K Grigorian  0-1371976USSR ChampionshipB83 Sicilian
118. Balashov vs Romanishin 1-0351976USSR ChampionshipA17 English
119. Geller vs Dorfman 1-0391976USSR ChampionshipC78 Ruy Lopez
120. Polugaevsky vs Gulko 1-0411976USSR ChampionshipE19 Queen's Indian, Old Main line, 9.Qxc3
121. Vaganian vs Karpov 0-1531976USSR ChampionshipE19 Queen's Indian, Old Main line, 9.Qxc3
122. Petrosian vs Kupreichik 1-0231976USSR ChampionshipD10 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
123. Taimanov vs Smyslov ½-½211976USSR ChampionshipA14 English
124. N Rashkovsky vs Tal  ½-½191976USSR ChampionshipA37 English, Symmetrical
125. K Grigorian vs Sveshnikov  0-1481976USSR ChampionshipA13 English
 page 5 of 7; games 101-125 of 153  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)  

Kibitzer's Corner
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
Premium Chessgames Member
  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
Premium Chessgames Member
  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
Premium Chessgames Member
  Open Defence: <keypusher> thanks! for some reason I thought he migrated in the 1980s! now its clear!
May-12-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  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
Premium Chessgames Member
  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
Premium Chessgames Member
  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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