The 35th USSR Championship was held in Kharkov from December 7-26, 1967, and was dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution which brought the Communist Party to power. For such an occasion, it was felt that a return to mass participation was in order, so the tournament was organized as a 13-round Swiss for 130 players.
Of course, there were other reasons. 1967 had been a very busy year for the top Soviet players, with major international tournaments in Leningrad and Moscow as well as the Sousse Interzonal (1967). Many were expected to skip the Championship to rest, so it seemed a good idea to open things up and see what kind of talent was out there.
Quite a few of the top stars did skip the tournament, and were probably not too disappointed. The Swiss System format proved very unpopular with complaints about the pairings starting in the very first round. By the end, several players had dropped out and the general opinion was that the Swiss System might work well enough in bourgeois nations like the United States, but the Soviet Union would henceforth stick to its elitist round robins. Tal summed up matters well by remarking: "The Swiss System is good: we should adopt it again for the one hundred year anniversary of the Revolution!"
Some future stars did make their debuts, such as Lev Alburt, Mark Dvoretsky, Boris Gulko, Gennady Sosonko, Evgeni Sveshnikov, and Rafael Vaganian. However, the co-champions were the experienced players <Mikhail Tal> and <Lev Polugaevsky>. See for yourself:
Kharkov, Soviet Union (Ukraine), 7-26 December 1967
10.0: 1. Lev Polugaevsky 2. Mikhail Tal
9.5: 3. Evgeni Vasiukov 4. Mark Taimanov 5. Igor Platonov
9.0: 6. Yuri Sakharov 7. Vladimir Antoshin
8.5: 8. Valerij Zhuravliov 9. Vladimir Bagirov 10. Semyon Furman 11. Ratmir Kholmov 12. Viktor Zheliandinov 13. Alexander Zaitsev 14. Alexander Izvozchikov 15. Mikhail Steinberg 16. Viacheslav Osnos 17. Vladimir Tukmakov
8.0: 18. Alexander Chistiakov 19. Eduard Bukhman 20. Lev Alburt 21. Vladimir Savon 22. Alexandr Sinyavsky 23. Anatoly Lein 24. Oleg Donchenko 25. Eduard Mnatsakanian 26. Anatoly Volovich
7.5: 27. Anatoly Lutikov 28. Sergey Krasnov 29. Vitaly Tseshkovsky 30. Bukhuti Gurgenidze 31. Naum L Levin 32. Oleg Pavlenko 33. Yuri Shilov 34. Vitaly Tarasov 35. Gennadi Sosonko 36. Mark Tseitlin 37. Alexander Cherepkov 38. Rashid Nezhmetdinov 39. Elizbar Ubilava 40. Gennady Kuzmin
7.0: 41. Vladimir V Arseniev 42. Viacheslav Dydyshko 43. Samuel Zhukhovitsky 44. Georgy Borisenko 45. Yuri Nikolaevsky 46. Vladimir Doroshkevich 47. Vladas Mikenas 48. L Gudim 49. Janis Klovans 50. Jacob Murey 51. Oleg Privorotsky 52. Ilya Mikliaev 53. Iivo Nei 54. Rudolf Kimelfeld 55. Oleg Chernikov 56. Evgeny Sveshnikov 57. Yuri Gusev
6.5: 58. Algimantas Butnorius 59. Aleksander Nikitin 60. Leonid Slutzky 61. Vanik Zakarian 62. Roman Pelts 63. Nikolay (Yury) Popov 64. Igor Zaitsev 65. Mark Dvoretzky 66. Vladlen Zurakhov 67. Rafael Vaganian 68. Dzhemal Beradze 69. Iosif Slepoy 70. Anatoly Shmit
6.0: 71. Valery Zilberstein 72. Igor Belov 73. Yosef Kagan 74. Valeri Korensky 75. Boris Rumiancevas 76. B Sorokin 77. Genrikh Chepukaitis 78. Alexander Shamis-Pavlov 79. Mikhail Shereshevsky 80. Vladimir Bykov 81. Anatoly Kremenietsky 82. Aleksander I Tuzovsky 83. Vladimir Alterman 84. V Voloshin 85. Boris Kalinkin 86. <V. Kozlov>; 87. Khanan Muchnik 88. Igor Sakovich
5.5: 89. Evgeny Gik 90. E Karkmazov 91. E Belokurov 92. Boris Gulko 93. Igor Kalinski 94. Valentin Kirilov 95. Yuri Kots 96. Vladimir Muratov 97. Arkady Polikarpov 98. V Selezniev 99. Alexander Vaisman 100. Vladimir Zagorovsky 101. <N. Razvalyaev>
5.0: 102. Evgeny Terpugov 103. Valery M Bykov 104. Roman Levit 105. Archil Tsereteli 106. <K. Cherskikh>; 107. Vladimir Voronov 108. Hillar Karner 109. Anatoly Smetanin 110. <V. Sazonov>; 111. Tonu Oim 112. Helmuth Luik 113. Robert Seoev
4.5: 114. Neron Valiev 115. Reinhardas Barstatis 116. Andrey Lukin 117. Anatolij Noskov 118. Anatoly Anokhin 119. Vakulenko 120. Rein Toomas Etruk
4.0: 121. <I. Evelnin>; 122. Vladimir Karasev 123. Valentin Sorokin 124. <Ya. Amakov>
3.0: 125. <V. Gureev>
1.5: 126. <M. Varzhepetian>
Did not finish: 127. Valery S Zhidkov (5.0/9); 128. Vladimir Simagin (2.5/4); 129. Oleg Moiseev (2.5/6); 130. Nikolai Kopilov 0.5/5
Crosstable: [rusbase-1]
Original collection: Game Collection: USSR Championship 1967, by User: Phony Benoni.