| USSR Championship (1956) |
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The 23rd USSR Championship was held in Leningrad from January 10 through February 15, 1956. While not as strong at the previous year's edition, it did feature the first appearance of perennial contenders Tal and Polugaevsky as part of this cast of characters: Vladimir Antoshin;
Yuri Averbakh;
Anatolij Bannik;
Isaac Boleslavsky;
Georgy Konstantinovich Borisenko;
Vasily Byvshev;
Abram Khasin; Ratmir Kholmov;
Viktor Korchnoi;
Georgy Lisitsin;
Lev Polugaevsky;
Viacheslav Ragozin;
Vladimir Simagin;
Boris Spassky;
Mark Taimanov;
Mikhail Tal;
Alexander Kazimirovich Tolush;
Vladlen Yakovlevich Zurakhov. Though both newcomers did well, Averbakh and Spassky spent most of the tournament conducting the major battle for the crown. Kholmov, Korchnoi, Taimanov, and Tal stayed close, but were not able to maintain themselves in the top places. By round 14, Averbakh and Spassky had 10 points, a full point ahead of Kholmov and 1 1/2 ahead of Korchnoi, Polugaevsky, Taimanov and Tal. Averbakh then drew his remaining three games to reach 11.5. Spassky reached the same score more adventurously with a win over Lisitsin followed by a loss to Korchnoi and a last round draw. Thus, Averbakh and Spassky shared first - with a hard-charging Taimanov, who did what he had to do by winning his last three games. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 Spassky * 1 1 0 = 1 = 1 = = = = 1 = = 1 = 1 11.5
2 Taimanov 0 * = = = = 1 1 1 1 = 1 0 = 1 1 1 = 11.5
3 Averbakh 0 = * = = = 1 = = 1 = 1 = 1 = 1 1 1 11.5
4 Korchnoi 1 = = * = = 1 = 1 = 1 1 0 = 1 = = = 11.0
5 Kholmov = = = = * = = 0 = 1 1 1 = = 1 1 = = 10.5
6 Tal 0 = = = = * = = 0 = 1 = 1 1 1 = 1 1 10.5
7 Polugaevsky = 0 0 0 = = * 1 1 1 1 = = 1 1 0 1 1 10.5
8 Boleslavsky 0 0 = = 1 = 0 * = = = 0 1 = = 1 1 1 9.0
9 Zurakhov = 0 = 0 = 1 0 = * = = = 0 1 1 1 = = 8.5
10 Antoshin = 0 0 = 0 = 0 = = * = = 0 1 1 1 1 = 8.0
11 Bannik = = = 0 0 0 0 = = = * = 1 1 0 = = 1 7.5
12 Byvshev = 0 0 0 0 = = 1 = = = * = 0 0 1 1 1 7.5
13 Ragozin 0 1 = 1 = 0 = 0 1 1 0 = * 0 0 0 0 1 7.0
14 Tolush = = 0 = = 0 0 = 0 0 0 1 1 * = 0 1 = 6.5
15 Simagin = 0 = 0 0 0 0 = 0 0 1 1 1 = * = 0 1 6.5
16 Borisenko 0 0 0 = 0 = 1 0 0 0 = 0 1 1 = * = = 6.0
17 Khasin = 0 0 = = 0 0 0 = 0 = 0 1 0 1 = * = 5.5
18 Lisitsin 0 = 0 = = 0 0 0 = = 0 0 0 = 0 = = * 4.0
Taimanov's momentum carried over into the play-off match. This was marred by Spassky's illness, which prevented him from playing his second game with Averbakh. However, it made no difference as Taimanov had clinched the gold medal by that point.1 Taimanov ** == 11 3.0
2 Averbakh == ** =1 2.5
3 Spassky 00 =0 ** 0.5
Original collection: Game Collection: USSR Championship 1956, by User: Phony Benoni.
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| page 1 of 3; games 1-25 of 53 |
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| Game |
| Result | Moves |
Year | Event/Locale | Opening |
| 1. Taimanov vs Spassky |
  | 1-0 | 57 | 1956 | USSR Championship | A49 King's Indian, Fianchetto without c4 |
| 2. Korchnoi vs V Byvshev |
| 1-0 | 62 | 1956 | USSR Championship | E62 King's Indian, Fianchetto |
| 3. Polugaevsky vs A Bannik |
| 1-0 | 44 | 1956 | USSR Championship | E48 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 d5 |
| 4. Spassky vs Ragozin |
| 1-0 | 41 | 1956 | USSR Championship | E80 King's Indian, Samisch Variation |
| 5. Tal vs Simagin |
| 1-0 | 45 | 1956 | USSR Championship | B07 Pirc |
| 6. Averbakh vs V Byvshev |
| 1-0 | 33 | 1956 | USSR Championship | A16 English |
| 7. Kholmov vs Antoshin |
| 1-0 | 60 | 1956 | USSR Championship | A14 English |
| 8. A Khasin vs Simagin |
| 1-0 | 41 | 1956 | USSR Championship | A10 English |
| 9. G Borisenko vs Polugaevsky |
| 1-0 | 41 | 1956 | USSR Championship | A61 Benoni |
| 10. Polugaevsky vs Lisitsin |
| 1-0 | 55 | 1956 | USSR Championship | E00 Queen's Pawn Game |
| 11. Averbakh vs G Borisenko |
| 1-0 | 74 | 1956 | USSR Championship | E62 King's Indian, Fianchetto |
| 12. Ragozin vs Taimanov |
| 1-0 | 42 | 1956 | USSR Championship | A15 English |
| 13. Spassky vs Tal |
| 1-0 | 38 | 1956 | USSR Championship | E80 King's Indian, Samisch Variation |
| 14. Kholmov vs Simagin |
| 1-0 | 41 | 1956 | USSR Championship | A46 Queen's Pawn Game |
| 15. Taimanov vs V Zurakhov |
| 1-0 | 70 | 1956 | USSR Championship | E52 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line with ...b6 |
| 16. G Borisenko vs Ragozin |
| 1-0 | 40 | 1956 | USSR Championship | E00 Queen's Pawn Game |
| 17. Korchnoi vs Polugaevsky |
| 1-0 | 34 | 1956 | USSR Championship | D31 Queen's Gambit Declined |
| 18. Ragozin vs Lisitsin |
| 1-0 | 100 | 1956 | USSR Championship | B74 Sicilian, Dragon, Classical |
| 19. Tal vs A Bannik |
| 1-0 | 50 | 1956 | USSR Championship | C75 Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defense |
| 20. V Zurakhov vs G Borisenko |
| 1-0 | 42 | 1956 | USSR Championship | C16 French, Winawer |
| 21. Polugaevsky vs A Khasin |
| 1-0 | 47 | 1956 | USSR Championship | D35 Queen's Gambit Declined |
| 22. Boleslavsky vs Kholmov |
| 1-0 | 22 | 1956 | USSR Championship | C97 Ruy Lopez, Closed, Chigorin |
| 23. G Borisenko vs Tolush |
| 1-0 | 54 | 1956 | USSR Championship | E53 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3 |
| 24. Taimanov vs Antoshin |
| 1-0 | 38 | 1956 | USSR Championship | E60 King's Indian Defense |
| 25. Spassky vs Boleslavsky |
| 1-0 | 41 | 1956 | USSR Championship | E87 King's Indian, Samisch, Orthodox |
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| page 1 of 3; games 1-25 of 53 |
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| Aug-07-16 | | RookFile: Taimanov's effort has to be considered one of the great come from behind tournament wins in chess history. |
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| Nov-10-17 | | ZonszeinP: A great succes of the young Spassky. If the S.Berger system was used here, he would have been champion of the USSR at only 19! |
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| Dec-03-17 | | ZonszeinP: Not even Botvinnik did that |
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May-12-24
 | | perfidious: While this was a near miss for Korchnoi, it was a great improvement on the disastrous result of 1955. |
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