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USSR Championship (1960) The 27th USSR Championship was held at the Chigorin Chess Club in Leningrad from January 26th to February 26th, 1960. Twenty of the Soviet Union's best grandmasters and masters participated in the event. Mikhail Tal was absent because of his preparation for the coming world championship match with Mikhail Botvinnik. Tigran Petrosian and Vasily Smyslov were exempted into the championship, but the remaining eighteen competitors all qualified from semi-finals. The tournament was the first of four Soviet final wins for Viktor Korchnoi. Here he dominated with 14/19, earning wins against over half the field. However, he only edged out Efim Geller and Petrosian by half a point at the end with a stellar three win streak in the final rounds. This tournament also saw the famous King's Gambit game between Boris Spassky and David Bronstein in the sixteenth round that would later be featured in the James Bond film, From Russia With Love. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Pts 1 Korchnoi * 1 ½ 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 0 ½ 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 14 =2 Geller 0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 13½ =2 Petrosian ½ ½ * ½ 0 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 13½ 4 Bagirov 1 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 0 ½ 12 5 Polugaevsky 0 ½ 1 ½ * 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 11½ 6 Averbakh ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 11 =7 Smyslov 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 10½ =7 Taimanov ½ 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 0 1 1 1 10½ =9 Krogius 0 1 0 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ * ½ 1 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 10 =9 Spassky 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 10 11 Simagin 1 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ * ½ 0 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 9½ =12 Bronstein ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * 1 1 1 1 0 1 ½ ½ 9 =12 Lutikov 1 0 ½ ½ 0 1 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 * ½ ½ ½ 1 0 1 ½ 9 =14 Gufeld 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 0 ½ * ½ 1 0 0 0 1 7½ =14 Nei 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ * 0 1 1 0 1 7½ =16 Liberzon 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 0 1 * 1 0 1 0 6½ =16 Shamkovich 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 1 0 0 * 0 0 1 6½ =18 Gurgenidze 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 * 0 ½ 6 =18 Sakharov 0 ½ 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 1 0 1 1 * 0 6 =18 Suetin 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 1 0 ½ 1 * 6 Original collection: Game Collection: USSR Championship 1960, by User: suenteus po 147.  page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 43  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Spassky vs Bagirov 0-1 41 1960 USSR Championship D15 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 2. B Gurgenidze vs Geller 0-1 41 1960 USSR Championship B62 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer 3. I Nei vs V Liberzon   0-1 31 1960 USSR Championship E92 King's Indian 4. Y Sakharov vs Korchnoi 0-1 45 1960 USSR Championship B99 Sicilian, Najdorf, 7...Be7 Main line 5. Bagirov vs N Krogius 0-1 40 1960 USSR Championship E46 Nimzo-Indian 6. Smyslov vs Korchnoi 0-1 54 1960 USSR Championship D79 Neo-Grunfeld, 6.O-O, Main line 7. I Nei vs Bronstein 0-1 55 1960 USSR Championship C01 French, Exchange 8. Suetin vs Spassky 0-1 46 1960 USSR Championship B96 Sicilian, Najdorf 9. Y Sakharov vs Petrosian 0-1 39 1960 USSR Championship C50 Giuoco Piano 10. Korchnoi vs Simagin 0-1 33 1960 USSR Championship E21 Nimzo-Indian, Three Knights 11. B Gurgenidze vs Y Sakharov   0-1 36 1960 USSR Championship C74 Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defense 12. Shamkovich vs Korchnoi 0-1 51 1960 USSR Championship E25 Nimzo-Indian, Samisch 13. Y Sakharov vs Averbakh 0-1 49 1960 USSR Championship B60 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer 14. Bronstein vs Shamkovich 0-1 43 1960 USSR Championship A13 English 15. Lutikov vs Geller 0-1 71 1960 USSR Championship C36 King's Gambit Accepted, Abbazia Defense 16. V Liberzon vs Korchnoi 0-1 28 1960 USSR Championship B43 Sicilian, Kan, 5.Nc3 17. Gufeld vs Bronstein 0-1 43 1960 USSR Championship B27 Sicilian 18. Shamkovich vs Petrosian 0-1 60 1960 USSR Championship C19 French, Winawer, Advance 19. Polugaevsky vs Korchnoi 0-1 38 1960 USSR Championship D97 Grunfeld, Russian 20. V Liberzon vs Petrosian 0-1 73 1960 USSR Championship D18 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Dutch 21. Gufeld vs B Gurgenidze   0-1 65 1960 USSR Championship B27 Sicilian 22. Lutikov vs Polugaevsky 0-1 34 1960 USSR Championship B95 Sicilian, Najdorf, 6...e6 23. N Krogius vs Smyslov 0-1 41 1960 USSR Championship B51 Sicilian, Canal-Sokolsky (Rossolimo) Attack 24. Simagin vs N Krogius   0-1 67 1960 USSR Championship B31 Sicilian, Rossolimo Variation 25. Y Sakharov vs Lutikov   0-1 50 1960 USSR Championship E32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical  page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 43    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   Mar-02-14    Everett: From 59-61, Bronstein's results went significantly south, this tournament being but one example. From 62-65, buoyed perhaps by a last gasp at the WC cycle before getting up in age, he played some strong and inventive chess. Mar-02-14    waustad: 19 rounds in an era with adjournments. It is hard to imagine that many rounds for anything other than a blitz tournament now. Sep-07-16    ughaibu: Have reasons been mooted for Spassky's poor result in this championship? Sep-07-16    Troller: <ughaibu: Have reasons been mooted for Spassky's poor result in this championship?> In his early career, Spassky was known to finish poorly, Korchnoi had a remark that he would lose against Spassky in the first half of a tournament, but win in the second. Korchnoi attributes this to tiredness resulting from overambitious play, but I think also he was viewed as getting nervous towards final rounds. However, I have not checked the order of the rounds if this explanation fits this particular tournament. It was the case for USSR Championship 1961a (1961) though. Sep-07-16    plang: USSR championships in this era were brutal - really tough competition - +1 is not a bad score Sep-07-16    ughaibu: Troller and Plang: I don't think that general considerations, such as those, can account for his result. He first played in the Soviet Championship in 1955, this is said to have been one of the strongest, and finished equal third to fourth, half a point behind the winners. Here are his full results, place and distance behind winner: 1955: 3/4 -0.5 1956: 1/3 1957: 4/5 -1 1958: 5/6 -2 1959: 2/3 -1 1960: 9/10 -4 1961a: 5/6 -2.5 1961b: 1 1962: 5 -1.5 1963: 1/3 1973: 1 Sep-07-16    perfidious: Whilst one would could hardly refer to it as his annus horribilis, the year 1960 was not the kindest to Spassky, given his performance here, as well as the loss to Lombardy at Leningrad and the retribution which followed. Jan-30-17    offramp: I just saw this post at Smyslov vs Petrosian, 1960, made at a time when this tournament did not have its own page. <ughaibu: Players names followed by number of draws in this tournament and average number of moves in those draws: Korchnoi: 4-28 Geller: 7-39 Petrosian: 7-33 Bagirov: 10-31 Polugaevsky: 9-40 Averbakh: 14-48 Smyslov: 15-48 Taimanov: 9-41 Spassky: 10-46 Krogius: 10-39 Simagin: 7-35 Lutikov: 8-31 Bronstein: 8-40 Gufeld: 5-30 Nei: 9-36 Shamkovich: 5-46 Liberzon: 7-41 Gurgenidze: 4-36 Suetin: 8-37 Sakharov: 2-53 Total number of draws: 69, overall mean length: 44...> Jan-30-17    perfidious: Bit surprising really to see Korchnoi with the shortest average of moves in his draws and not Petrosian, but matters would have been different but for Iron Tigran's 105-mover with Smyslov, which offset all his usual brevities. Sep-21-17    ewan14: I think Boris Spassky was getting divorced Feb-28-18    offramp: Smyslov had the most draws: 15. Five of those were of 20-29 moves. The other 10 were obviously long games, so as to bring the average up to that 48 moves/game. So it is not as if he just banged out 15 draws so he could go home early. He was putting in a full days's work. Feb-28-18    Petrosianic: <perfidious: Bit surprising really to see Korchnoi with the shortest average of moves in his draws and not Petrosian, but matters would have been different but for Iron Tigran's 105-mover with Smyslov, which offset all his usual brevities.> One game can only offsent a whole tournament so much. For example, suppose you play 18 games, and they're all 20 moves draws. Then in the 19th game you go 105 moves. That raises your move average from 20 to only 24. Feb-28-18    offramp: Petrosian only had 7 draws in 19 games. It's hardly a surfeit. Dec-13-23    HeMateMe: Shamkovich won 4 and lost 10 in this event, must have been some wild games. Dec-11-24    perfidious: <plang: USSR championships in this era were brutal - really tough competition - +1 is not a bad score> Far from it, and even world title challengers could experience great variance in their results from year to year; at USSR Championship (1964/65), Korchnoi won, two points clear of the field, then finished minus in USSR Championship (1965). Dec-11-24    Open Defence: Krogius finished joint 9th with Spassky... he could play... 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. 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