| USSR Championship 1966/67 |
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The 34th Soviet Chess Championship, which doubled as a world championship zonal qualifier, was held in the city of Tbilisi from December 28th, 1966 to February 2nd, 1967. Twenty-one of the Soviet Union's strongest grandmasters and masters competed in the round robin event. The 32-year-old Leonid Stein won the championship, his second straight Soviet crown and his third and final overall. Even more remarkable was that all three of his Soviet championship victories came in just a three year period (of which four tournaments were held). Tragically, this brilliant grandmaster's career was cut short when he died only six years later. (1) Aivars Gipslis, Viktor Korchnoi and Mark Taimanov engaged in a three-way playoff for the final two Interzonal spots later in 1967, with Taimanov being eliminated on tiebreak after the playoff ended with all three players scoring 2-2. (1) Tbilisi, Soviet Union (Georgia), 28 December 1966 - 2 February 1967 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 Pts
1 Stein * 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 13
2 Geller 1 * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 12½
=3 Gipslis ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 12
=3 Korchnoi ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 12
=3 Taimanov 0 ½ 0 ½ * ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 12
6 Lein 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 0 1 1 ½ 1 0 ½ 11½
7 Krogius 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ * 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 1 1 11
=8 Bronstein 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 * 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 10½
=8 Polugaevsky 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 * ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 0 0 1 1 1 1 10½
=10 Savon ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 10
=10 Smyslov ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 * 1 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 10
=10 Kholmov 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 10
13 Gufeld ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 0 ½ * 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 9½
=14 Vasiukov ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 0 1 ½ 0 * 1 ½ 0 1 ½ 0 ½ 9
=14 Gurgenidze 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 * 1 ½ ½ 0 1 1 9
=14 Osnos ½ 1 0 0 ½ 0 1 1 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 * ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 9
17 Suetin ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ * 0 ½ ½ ½ 8½
=18 Liberzon 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 * ½ 0 ½ 8
=18 Nei ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ * 1 0 8
20 Nikolaevsky ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 1 ½ 1 0 * 0 7½
21 Doroshkievich 0 0 1 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 * 6½
(1) Bernard Cafferty and Mark Taimanov, The Soviet Championships (Cadogan 1998), pp. 120-136.Original collection: Game Collection: USSR Championship 1966/67, by User: suenteus po 147.
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| page 9 of 9; games 201-210 of 210 |
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| Game |
| Result | Moves |
Year | Event/Locale | Opening |
| 201. Korchnoi vs Y Nikolaevsky |
| ½-½ | 41 | 1967 | USSR Championship 1966/67 | D10 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav |
| 202. Bronstein vs Kholmov |
| ½-½ | 15 | 1967 | USSR Championship 1966/67 | D56 Queen's Gambit Declined |
| 203. Smyslov vs Geller |
| ½-½ | 14 | 1967 | USSR Championship 1966/67 | D58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst |
| 204. Gipslis vs Polugaevsky |
| ½-½ | 11 | 1967 | USSR Championship 1966/67 | B90 Sicilian, Najdorf |
| 205. Suetin vs Stein |
| ½-½ | 10 | 1967 | USSR Championship 1966/67 | D79 Neo-Grunfeld, 6.O-O, Main line |
| 206. A Lein vs Taimanov |
| ½-½ | 33 | 1967 | USSR Championship 1966/67 | B28 Sicilian, O'Kelly Variation |
| 207. I Nei vs Savon |
| 0-1 | 50 | 1967 | USSR Championship 1966/67 | B43 Sicilian, Kan, 5.Nc3 |
| 208. V Liberzon vs Vasiukov |
| 0-1 | 53 | 1967 | USSR Championship 1966/67 | A10 English |
| 209. N Krogius vs V Osnos |
| 0-1 | 51 | 1967 | USSR Championship 1966/67 | A39 English, Symmetrical, Main line with d4 |
| 210. B Gurgenidze vs V Doroshkievich |
| 1-0 | 38 | 1967 | USSR Championship 1966/67 | C19 French, Winawer, Advance |
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| page 9 of 9; games 201-210 of 210 |
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| Dec-30-12 | | Kikoman: First!
The last USSR Championship of the great GM Leonid Stein. |
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Apr-18-17
 | | offramp: It is odd, possibly unique, to see Korchnoi unbeaten in a USSR Ch. 4 wins and 16 (count them) draws. |
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Apr-18-17
 | | HeMateMe: hard people to beat? |
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| Apr-11-18 | | Howard: Petrosian probably could have done likewise, if he'd played. But, since he was WC at the time, he apparently felt there'd be little to prove if he won this tournament. If that's, indeed, what he was thinking, I'd respectfully disagree. His track record for the last three years he was WC was medicore for a WC. |
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| Apr-11-18 | | ewan14: Remember , it was a USSR W.C. zonal tournament |
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| Apr-12-18 | | ewan14: Petrosian's record for his first 3 years was not that brilliant |
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Apr-12-18
 | | perfidious: From Petrosian's angle: why play in a world title qualifier when there was nothing in it for him, whereas his opponents had everything at stake? The conditions seem unequal to me; perhaps they struck him the same way. |
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| Apr-12-18 | | Olavi: A reigning Champion of the World only played six times in the USSR ch: 1951, 1952, 1955, 1976, 1983, 1988. |
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| Apr-12-18 | | Retireborn: To my mind it makes very little sense for a reigning World Champion to play in a zonal tournament. The one time this happened (Botvinnik in 1955) possibly caused enough irritation and embarassment to rule out a repeat. |
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| Apr-12-18 | | Petrosianic: Most Soviet Championships were not Zonals, yet it was still very rare for a World Champion to play in one. Botvinnik played in two, both with undesirable results. He won the first one, but only after a (clasical) playoff match with Taimanov. Had he lost a match, even a short one, it would have looked bad. In 1955, he lost three games (including losses to the two winners, Smyslov and Geller) en route to a tie for 3-6th, and never bothered with it again. Neither did any other world champion until Karpov in 1976. |
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| Apr-12-18 | | Olavi: Botvinnik's comparatively bad result in 1951 was part of the reason why he was left out of the 1952 Olympiad team. |
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