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46th USSR Championship (1978) Tbilisi, Georgia, Soviet Union (1-27 Dec 1978) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Score ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— 1 Cseshkovsky • ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 11 2 Tal ½ • ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 11 3 Polugaevsky ½ ½ • ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 10 4 Giorgadze ½ ½ ½ • ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 9½ 5 Sveshnikov ½ ½ ½ ½ • 1 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 9 6 Geller ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 • 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 9 7 Romanishin ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 • 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 0 9 8 Beliavsky 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 • 0 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 1 9 9 Kasparov 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 • ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 1 1 8½ 10 Gulko 1 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 0 0 ½ • ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 8 11 Timoshchenko ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 1 ½ • ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 8 12 Bagirov ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ • ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 8 13 Makarichev 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ • ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 8 14 Razuvaev 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ • ½ ½ ½ 0 7½ 15 Tukmakov ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ • 1 ½ ½ 7½ 16 Mikhalchishin 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 • ½ ½ 7½ 17 Dorfman 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ • 1 6½ 18 Kuzmin ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 1 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 • 6 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Introduction Held in Tbilisi, Georgia, between 1st and 27th December 1978, the tournament was a joint triumph for Vitaly Tsheshkovsky who had become a GM three years prior in 1975, and former World Champion Mikhail Tal. Tal went undefeated in the competition. The 46th USSR Championship also saw the debut of Garry Kasparov (15 years old at the time) who finished 9th ahead of Boris Gulko but behind Romanishin and Beliavsky. Credit User: Open Defence Sources [rusbase-1]  page 1 of 1; 14 games    Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. G Kuzmin vs Bagirov 0-1 57 1978 46th USSR Championship B05 Alekhine's Defense, Modern 2. Bagirov vs Romanishin   0-1 23 1978 46th USSR Championship D20 Queen's Gambit Accepted 3. Romanishin vs Geller   0-1 59 1978 46th USSR Championship D37 Queen's Gambit Declined 4. Geller vs Polugaevsky 0-1 38 1978 46th USSR Championship B84 Sicilian, Scheveningen 5. Geller vs Sveshnikov 0-1 34 1978 46th USSR Championship B33 Sicilian 6. G Kuzmin vs Polugaevsky   0-1 63 1978 46th USSR Championship B91 Sicilian, Najdorf, Zagreb (Fianchetto) Variation 7. G Kuzmin vs Tal 0-1 43 1978 46th USSR Championship E55 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Gligoric System, Bronstein Variation 8. A Beliavsky vs Tal 0-1 41 1978 46th USSR Championship D63 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense 9. Razuvaev vs Tseshkovsky 0-1 42 1978 46th USSR Championship A57 Benko Gambit 10. G Timoscenko vs A Beliavsky 0-1 66 1978 46th USSR Championship C92 Ruy Lopez, Closed 11. S Makarichev vs Tseshkovsky 0-1 74 1978 46th USSR Championship B90 Sicilian, Najdorf 12. Dorfman vs Tseshkovsky 0-1 55 1978 46th USSR Championship A04 Reti Opening 13. Tukmakov vs A Beliavsky   0-1 29 1978 46th USSR Championship E15 Queen's Indian 14. G Kuzmin vs Dorfman 0-1 43 1978 46th USSR Championship C80 Ruy Lopez, Open   REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   May-25-23    King.Arthur.Brazil: I would like to say an important word about the winner of this tournament. Since not being a World Champion anymore, one could say that Tal stopped in time. This is an outrage! Looking at Tal's trajectory in the years 70, you will find: URSS Championships: (1971) 2nd/3rd with Smyslov 13,5/21 with +9 (wins), (1972) 1st with 15/21 with +9, (1973) bad, 9/12th 8/17 only +3; (1974) 1st/2nd with Beliavsky 9,5/16 with +6, (1975) 2nd/4th 9.5/15 +5; (1976) 6/7th with Smyslov 9/17; (1977) 5/7th 8/15 +4; (1978) 1st/2nd with Tseshkovsky 11/17 +5 and (1979) bad, only 14/15th (7.5/17) +3. However, other victories were added to his carreer: Tallin (1971) 1st/2nd with P. Keres (his idol and friend) ; Tallin (1973) 1st 12/13; Hastings 73/74: 1st/2nd/3rd with Szabo and Timman, 10/15 +5; Simultaneous Liverpool 1974 (20.5/23, +20); Alekhine memorial (1975) 1st 8.5/11 +4; Las Palmas (1975) 2nd/4th 10/14 +8; Chingorin memorial (1977) 1st 11/15 +8; Keres memorial (1977) 1st 11/15 +10; Tallin (1978) 2nd/3rd with Vaganian 11.5/16 +8; Riga Interzonal (1979) 1st 14/17 +11; World Chess in Montreal (1979) 1st/2nd with Karpov 12/18 +6 being one of the topmost World stronger tournament, with ELO above 2620. I guess these are impressive results of Mikhail Tal after being World Champion and show the special class of his great talent. More than being ex-Champion, he produced so much, on this decade. Just to remember that Bobby Fisher, after winning from Spassky (1972), produced nothing worthwhile. This must be more one reason for us to give our homage to this big player. Tal beat Fisher (+4 -2, 5 tied) in the World's memory of Chess and in career production, that's my point. Sep-09-23    An Englishman: Good Evening: It still sets my teeth to grinding that someone with a chronic medical condition would add chain smoking to his problems. Think of the games Tal might have produced. Couldn't help but notice that some kid named Kasparov only achieved an even score. He'll have to do better than that! Sep-09-23    perfidious: There is a school of thought which has opined that Tal may well have enjoyed his greatest results well after winning the title, with two long undefeated streaks in the 1970s (1973-74 and 1978-79). The morning in 1988 that I ate breakfast with him, then settled down to a sesh of blitz at odds of 5:2, Tal always had a lit cigarette and bottle of vodka near to hand. At the time, I was 2300, but he would have destroyed me at five-up. Aged fifty-one then, he looked well into his sixties. Sep-09-23    Sergio X Garcia: 46th USSR Championship (1978) Mar-31-24    FSR: Very strong fourth-place finish by the "local representative" Giorgadze, beating Gulko and Razuvaev and drawing the rest. He and Tal were the only undefeated players. Mar-31-24    FSR: <perfidious> That must have been an amazing experience, playing blitz against Tal, one of the greatest players, and greatest blitz players, of all time. And not disgracing yourself, though of course the odds helped a lot. Mar-31-24    perfidious: <FSR>, it remains one of my fondest memories. As noted below, Tal was one of the two brightest people I have met playing chess, and there has been no shortage of sharp cookies in that lot. Mikhail Tal Dec-11-24    Open Defence: This tournament needs a bio: Held in Tbilisi, Georgia, between 1st and 27th December 1978, the Tournament was a joint triumph for Vitaly Tsheshkovsky who had become a GM three years prior in 1975, and former World Champion Mikhail Tal. Tal went undefeated in the competition. The 46th USSR Championship also saw the debut of Garry Kasparov (15 years old at the time) who finished 9th ahead of Boris Gulko but behind Romanishin and Beliavsky. NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion. Please observe our posting guidelines: No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members. Nothing in violation of United States law. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members. No trolling. 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