| USSR Championship (1949) |
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The 17th USSR chess championship took place in the Soviet capital of Moscow from October 16th to November 20th, 1949. Twenty of the Soviet Union's best grandmasters and masters qualified or received invitations to participate in the round robin event. Twelve players qualified from semi-final tournaments held earlier in the year: Igor Bondarevsky, Mark Taimanov, and Grigory Levenfish qualified from Leningrad; Vladas Mikenas, Alexey Sokolsky, and Semyon Furman qualified from Vilnius; Lev Aronin, Grigory Goldberg, and Victor Liublinsky qualified from Moscow; and Efim Geller, Tigran Petrosian, and Ratmir Kholmov qualified from Tbilisi. Bondarevsky could not attend the final, so he was replaced by Leningrad fourth place Nikolai Kopilov. The eight remaining players were invited to fill out the field were: David Bronstein and Alexander Kotov as returning champions from the 16th championship; previous Soviet champions Andre Lilienthal and Paul Keres; and four previous final participants Isaac Boleslavsky, Salomon Flohr, Viacheslav Ragozin, and Vasily Smyslov. This tournament saw two of Mikhail Botvinnik 's greatest rivals finish shared first with thirteen points out of nineteen rounds. It was Bronstein's second consecutive Soviet crown, and his last. He would face Botvinnik two years later for the world crown, coming closer than anyone else to being world champion without succeeding. While this championship was Smyslov's first and last Soviet crown, he too would go on to face Botvinnik, but unlike his fellow shared first, he would defeat Botvinnik in their second of three encounters, earning the highest of all chess honors: the champion of the world. The final standings and crosstable:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Pts
=1 Smyslov * 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 0 1 1 13
=1 Bronstein 0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 13
=3 Geller ½ ½ * ½ 1 1 1 0 ½ 0 1 0 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 12½
=3 Taimanov ½ ½ ½ * 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 12½
=5 Furman 1 ½ 0 1 * 1 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 11½
=5 Boleslavsky ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 * ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 11½
=5 Kotov ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ * ½ 0 ½ 1 0 ½ 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 11½
8 Keres ½ 0 1 0 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 0 ½ 11
=9 Aronin 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 1 ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 10
=9 Kholmov 0 0 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ 0 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 10
11 Flohr 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 0 ½ 9
12 Sokolsky ½ 0 1 0 ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 1 ½ * ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 8½
=13 Lilienthal 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ * ½ 1 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 8
=13 Mikenas ½ 0 ½ 0 1 0 1 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ * 0 0 1 ½ ½ 1 8
=13 Kopilov ½ 0 0 0 1 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 0 1 * ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 8
16 Petrosian 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 1 ½ * 0 1 1 0 7½
17 Ragozin 0 0 0 ½ 1 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 1 * ½ ½ 1 6½
=18 Levenfish 1 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * 1 0 6
=18 Liublinsky 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 1 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 * ½ 6
=18 Goldberg 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 1 0 1 ½ * 6
This collection would not have been possible without the efforts of <Phony Benoni>.Original collection: Game Collection: USSR Championship 1949, by User: suenteus po 147.
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| page 1 of 3; games 1-25 of 66 |
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| Game |
| Result | Moves |
Year | Event/Locale | Opening |
| 1. Kotov vs Petrosian |
  | 1-0 | 13 | 1949 | USSR Championship | D35 Queen's Gambit Declined |
| 2. Ragozin vs G Goldberg |
| 1-0 | 35 | 1949 | USSR Championship | E00 Queen's Pawn Game |
| 3. Smyslov vs Aronin |
| 1-0 | 35 | 1949 | USSR Championship | A14 English |
| 4. Flohr vs Lilienthal |
| 1-0 | 55 | 1949 | USSR Championship | D72 Neo-Grunfeld, 5.cd, Main line |
| 5. V Mikenas vs Kotov |
| 1-0 | 42 | 1949 | USSR Championship | A80 Dutch |
| 6. Lilienthal vs Geller |
| 1-0 | 43 | 1949 | USSR Championship | E92 King's Indian |
| 7. Boleslavsky vs N Kopilov |
| 1-0 | 25 | 1949 | USSR Championship | B03 Alekhine's Defense |
| 8. Bronstein vs Ragozin |
| 1-0 | 72 | 1949 | USSR Championship | B68 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer Attack, 7...a6 Defense, 9...Be7 |
| 9. Kotov vs G Goldberg |
| 1-0 | 41 | 1949 | USSR Championship | A90 Dutch |
| 10. N Kopilov vs Furman |
| 1-0 | 42 | 1949 | USSR Championship | A24 English, Bremen System with ...g6 |
| 11. A Sokolsky vs Kholmov |
| 1-0 | 24 | 1949 | USSR Championship | B10 Caro-Kann |
| 12. Flohr vs Petrosian |
| 1-0 | 43 | 1949 | USSR Championship | A54 Old Indian, Ukrainian Variation, 4.Nf3 |
| 13. Keres vs Lilienthal |
| 1-0 | 68 | 1949 | USSR Championship | C14 French, Classical |
| 14. Furman vs Taimanov |
| 1-0 | 52 | 1949 | USSR Championship | D46 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav |
| 15. Boleslavsky vs Ragozin |
| 1-0 | 49 | 1949 | USSR Championship | C74 Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defense |
| 16. Levenfish vs V Lyublinsky |
| 1-0 | 41 | 1949 | USSR Championship | A56 Benoni Defense |
| 17. Kholmov vs Lilienthal |
| 1-0 | 47 | 1949 | USSR Championship | E16 Queen's Indian |
| 18. Ragozin vs Furman |
| 1-0 | 78 | 1949 | USSR Championship | C77 Ruy Lopez |
| 19. Kotov vs Levenfish |
| 1-0 | 41 | 1949 | USSR Championship | D11 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav |
| 20. Keres vs Petrosian |
| 1-0 | 39 | 1949 | USSR Championship | E60 King's Indian Defense |
| 21. Taimanov vs A Sokolsky |
| 1-0 | 40 | 1949 | USSR Championship | E09 Catalan, Closed |
| 22. Smyslov vs Bronstein |
| 1-0 | 93 | 1949 | USSR Championship | A54 Old Indian, Ukrainian Variation, 4.Nf3 |
| 23. Petrosian vs Lilienthal |
 | 1-0 | 44 | 1949 | USSR Championship | C49 Four Knights |
| 24. Furman vs V Lyublinsky |
| 1-0 | 34 | 1949 | USSR Championship | D41 Queen's Gambit Declined, Semi-Tarrasch |
| 25. Levenfish vs Smyslov |
| 1-0 | 34 | 1949 | USSR Championship | D98 Grunfeld, Russian |
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| page 1 of 3; games 1-25 of 66 |
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