| USSR Championship 1961b |
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The 29th Soviet Chess Championship was the second of two championships held in the calendar year 1961. Twenty-one of the Soviet Union's strongest masters and grandmasters participated, many of whom had participated in the previous championship earlier in the year, which had also been counted as a zonal tournament. In particular were Boris Spassky and Vasily Smyslov, who had both barely lost seats to the Stockholm interzonal to be played in 1962. Spassky had had an amazing run until he was derailed by a loss to Lev Polugaevsky, then lost his last two games of the previous championship to finish sixth behind Smyslov. In this championship, with the absence of Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian, Viktor Korchnoi, Leonid Stein, and Efim Geller (who had all respectively finished in the top four, securing their participation at Stockholm), Spassky and Smyslov dominated from the start by leading 3½/4 after the first four rounds. Spassky then defeated Smyslov in their head-to-head encounter in round five, securing his lead for the rest of the tournament. Another significant victory on his road to the crown was his rematch with Polugaevsky, who had put a stop to his previous run. This time Spassky defeated Polugaevsky, which ended up being the decisive game of the tournament, as Polugaevsky went 7/8 in the final rounds, but was not enough to overcome Spassky's superb play. The future world champion won his first of two career Soviet crowns with an impressive 14½/20, having scored wins against half the field. Spassky's success was credited in part to his taking on Igor Bondarevsky as his trainer after his disappointing result at the Moscow championship. Spassky would eventually triumph at the next Soviet zonal and begin his journey to becoming champion of the world. Baku, Soviet Union (Azerbaijan), 16 November - 20 December 1961 (1) S P B V T A T G K S K S K V K S L S N B G Pts
1 Spassky * 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 14½
2 Polugaevsky 0 * ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 14
3 Bronstein ½ ½ * 0 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 12½
=4 Vasiukov ½ 0 1 * ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 12
=4 Tal 0 ½ 0 ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 0 ½ 1 12
=6 Averbakh ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ * ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 0 11½
=6 Taimanov ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ * ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 0 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 11½
=8 Gipslis 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ * ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 11
=8 Keres ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 0 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 11
=8 Smyslov 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ * 1 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ 11
=8 Kholmov ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 * 0 1 1 0 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 11
12 Shamkovich 1 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 0 1 * 0 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 1 10½
13 Khasin ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 1 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 1 * 0 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 9½
=14 Vladimirov 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 0 0 1 * ½ ½ 1 1 1 0 1 8
=14 Kots 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 0 ½ * 1 0 0 0 1 1 8
=14 Shiyanovsky 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 * ½ ½ 1 1 0 8
=17 Lein ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ * 0 1 ½ ½ 7½
=17 Savon 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 0 0 0 ½ ½ 1 0 1 ½ 1 * ½ ½ ½ 7½
19 Nezhmetdinov ½ 0 ½ 0 1 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 1 ½ 0 1 0 0 ½ * 1 0 7
=20 Bagirov 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 1 0 0 ½ ½ 0 * ½ 6
=20 Gurgenidze 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 0 0 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ * 6
(1) Bernard Cafferty and Mark Taimanov, The Soviet Championships (Cadogan 1998), pp. 112-115.Original collection: Game Collection: USSR Championship 1961 b, by User: suenteus po 147.
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| page 7 of 9; games 151-175 of 210 |
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| Game |
| Result | Moves |
Year | Event/Locale | Opening |
| 151. Bagirov vs R Nezhmetdinov |
 | 0-1 | 41 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | C72 Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defense, 5.O-O |
| 152. Vasiukov vs Bronstein |
| 1-0 | 64 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | B10 Caro-Kann |
| 153. Gipslis vs Smyslov |
| 1-0 | 51 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | B07 Pirc |
| 154. Savon vs Keres |
| 0-1 | 68 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | C49 Four Knights |
| 155. Averbakh vs Polugaevsky |
| 0-1 | 25 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | E70 King's Indian |
| 156. Shamkovich vs Spassky |
| 1-0 | 62 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | C87 Ruy Lopez |
| 157. Tal vs B Gurgenidze |
| 1-0 | 35 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | C97 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin |
| 158. B Vladimirov vs A Khasin |
| 1-0 | 66 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | A30 English, Symmetrical |
| 159. Y Kots vs Kholmov |
| 1-0 | 36 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | C92 Ruy Lopez, Closed |
| 160. V Shiyanovsky vs A Lein |
| ½-½ | 47 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | B01 Scandinavian |
| 161. B Gurgenidze vs Bagirov |
| ½-½ | 15 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | B10 Caro-Kann |
| 162. Bronstein vs Y Kots |
| 1-0 | 33 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | A48 King's Indian |
| 163. Kholmov vs Gipslis |
| ½-½ | 24 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | A48 King's Indian |
| 164. R Nezhmetdinov vs V Shiyanovsky |
| 0-1 | 39 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | C74 Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defense |
| 165. Polugaevsky vs Vasiukov |
| 1-0 | 57 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | A57 Benko Gambit |
| 166. A Khasin vs Shamkovich |
| 1-0 | 44 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | B03 Alekhine's Defense |
| 167. Smyslov vs Savon |
| 1-0 | 33 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | A49 King's Indian, Fianchetto without c4 |
| 168. Spassky vs Tal |
 | 1-0 | 35 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | E66 King's Indian, Fianchetto, Yugoslav Panno |
| 169. Taimanov vs B Vladimirov |
| 1-0 | 42 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | D91 Grunfeld, 5.Bg5 |
| 170. A Lein vs Averbakh |
| 0-1 | 55 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | B56 Sicilian |
| 171. Bagirov vs Spassky |
| 0-1 | 72 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | C73 Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defense |
| 172. Gipslis vs Bronstein |
| 0-1 | 26 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | C12 French, McCutcheon |
| 173. Keres vs Smyslov |
| ½-½ | 73 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | B42 Sicilian, Kan |
| 174. Averbakh vs R Nezhmetdinov |
| 1-0 | 29 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | A49 King's Indian, Fianchetto without c4 |
| 175. Y Kots vs Polugaevsky |
| ½-½ | 71 | 1961 | USSR Championship 1961b | B28 Sicilian, O'Kelly Variation |
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| page 7 of 9; games 151-175 of 210 |
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