| USSR Championship (1976) |
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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.
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| page 6 of 7; games 126-150 of 153 |
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| Game |
| Result | Moves |
Year | Event/Locale | Opening |
| 126. Tseshkovsky vs A I Zakharov |
 | 1-0 | 62 | 1976 | USSR Championship | C91 Ruy Lopez, Closed |
| 127. Dorfman vs Balashov |
| ½-½ | 22 | 1976 | USSR Championship | B44 Sicilian |
| 128. Smyslov vs Geller |
| ½-½ | 37 | 1976 | USSR Championship | E67 King's Indian, Fianchetto |
| 129. Kupreichik vs Vaganian |
| ½-½ | 52 | 1976 | USSR Championship | C02 French, Advance |
| 130. Romanishin vs Petrosian |
 | 0-1 | 74 | 1976 | USSR Championship | E60 King's Indian Defense |
| 131. Karpov vs Polugaevsky |
| ½-½ | 17 | 1976 | USSR Championship | D47 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav |
| 132. Tal vs Taimanov |
| ½-½ | 35 | 1976 | USSR Championship | B46 Sicilian, Taimanov Variation |
| 133. Sveshnikov vs Tseshkovsky |
| ½-½ | 42 | 1976 | USSR Championship | C41 Philidor Defense |
| 134. A I Zakharov vs N Rashkovsky |
| 1-0 | 45 | 1976 | USSR Championship | E24 Nimzo-Indian, Samisch |
| 135. Gulko vs K Grigorian |
| 0-1 | 35 | 1976 | USSR Championship | A57 Benko Gambit |
| 136. Balashov vs Smyslov |
| ½-½ | 21 | 1976 | USSR Championship | D18 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Dutch |
| 137. Geller vs Tal |
| ½-½ | 23 | 1976 | USSR Championship | B84 Sicilian, Scheveningen |
| 138. Tseshkovsky vs Gulko |
| 0-1 | 38 | 1976 | USSR Championship | C19 French, Winawer, Advance |
| 139. K Grigorian vs Karpov |
| 0-1 | 39 | 1976 | USSR Championship | D31 Queen's Gambit Declined |
| 140. Kupreichik vs Romanishin |
| 0-1 | 22 | 1976 | USSR Championship | C45 Scotch Game |
| 141. Petrosian vs Dorfman |
| ½-½ | 44 | 1976 | USSR Championship | D30 Queen's Gambit Declined |
| 142. Vaganian vs Polugaevsky |
| ½-½ | 41 | 1976 | USSR Championship | E10 Queen's Pawn Game |
| 143. Taimanov vs A I Zakharov |
| 1-0 | 58 | 1976 | USSR Championship | A13 English |
| 144. N Rashkovsky vs Sveshnikov |
| 0-1 | 40 | 1976 | USSR Championship | E04 Catalan, Open, 5.Nf3 |
| 145. Tal vs Balashov |
| ½-½ | 15 | 1976 | USSR Championship | B08 Pirc, Classical |
| 146. A I Zakharov vs Geller |
| ½-½ | 38 | 1976 | USSR Championship | B97 Sicilian, Najdorf |
| 147. Gulko vs N Rashkovsky |
| ½-½ | 30 | 1976 | USSR Championship | E21 Nimzo-Indian, Three Knights |
| 148. Karpov vs Tseshkovsky |
| 1-0 | 29 | 1976 | USSR Championship | C78 Ruy Lopez |
| 149. Dorfman vs Kupreichik |
| 1-0 | 46 | 1976 | USSR Championship | A11 English, Caro-Kann Defensive System |
| 150. Smyslov vs Petrosian |
| ½-½ | 16 | 1976 | USSR Championship | E17 Queen's Indian |
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| page 6 of 7; games 126-150 of 153 |
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| Jun-17-18 | | ughaibu: Half of Karpov's wins were with black, I thought that wasn't meant to happen. |
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| 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. |
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| Mar-22-19 | | morphynoman2: USSR Chess Championship, 1976:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eja... |
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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 ? |
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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... |
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May-12-20
| | Open Defence: <keypusher> thanks! for some reason I thought he migrated in the 1980s! now its clear! |
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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>. |
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| 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. |
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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 |
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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... |
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| Oct-23-20 | | Chessdreamer: Wrong game here?
Tseshkovsky vs Geller, 1976, I think it should be: Tseshkovsky vs Geller, 1976. |
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