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TOURNAMENT STANDINGS
Leningrad / Moscow training Tournament

Salomon Flohr12/17(+8 -1 =8)[games]
Samuel Reshevsky10.5/17(+7 -3 =7)[games]
Andre Lilienthal10/17(+4 -1 =12)[games]
Vladimir Makogonov10/17(+4 -1 =12)[games]
Grigory Levenfish10/17(+5 -2 =10)[games]
Viacheslav Ragozin10/17(+8 -5 =4)[games]
Ilya Rabinovich9.5/17(+6 -4 =7)[games]
Sergey Belavenets9.5/17(+5 -3 =9)[games]
Vladimir Alatortsev9/17(+4 -3 =10)[games]
Ilia Kan9/17(+5 -4 =8)[games]
Alexander Konstantinopolsky8.5/17(+5 -5 =7)[games]
Vasily Smyslov8/17(+4 -5 =8)[games]
Paul Keres8/17(+3 -4 =10)[games]
Viktor Goglidze7.5/17(+3 -5 =9)[games]
Alexander Tolush7/17(+5 -8 =4)[games]
Peter Romanovsky6/17(+3 -8 =6)[games]
Igor Bondarevsky5/17(+2 -9 =6)[games]
Vasily Panov3.5/17(+0 -10 =7)[games]
*

Chessgames.com Chess Event Description
Leningrad / Moscow training (1939)

The Leningrad / Moscow tournament appears to have been pulled together on fairly short notice. Chess Review wrote: "The Soviet press spoke of the event as a training tournament. They considered it a preliminary to the regular Russian Championship Tournament!"

The first half was held in Leningrad and the second half was held in Moscow. Gordon's book on Reshevsky gives the tournament dates as 3 Jan - 1 Feb 1939, but no dates for individual rounds.

The surprising news was that Flohr won so convincingly over a very strong field, especially after finishing last at AVRO 1938, and being virtually "written off" as a top-flight player.

Panov had a missing game against Flohr in Round 2, and missing games against Kan, Goglidze, Reshevsky, Tolush and Romanovsky in Rounds 13-17, suggesting an early forfeit and eventual withdrawal.

F R L M L R R B A K K S K G T R B P Flohr X = = = 1 = 1 0 1 1 = = = = 1 1 1 1 12.0 Reshevsky = X = 0 = 0 = 1 = = 0 1 = 1 1 1 1 1 10.5 Lilienthal = = X = = 1 = = = 1 1 = = = 0 = 1 = 10.0 Makogonov = 1 = X = 1 0 = = = = = 1 = = = = 1 10.0 Levenfish 0 = = = X 1 1 = = = 1 = 0 = 1 = 1 = 10.0 Ragozin = 1 0 0 0 X 0 = 1 0 1 1 1 = 1 1 1 = 10.0 Rabinovich 0 = = 1 0 1 X = = 1 0 = = 1 0 1 1 = 9.5 Belavenets 1 0 = = = = = X = 0 1 0 = = 1 1 = 1 9.5 Alatortsev 0 = = = = 0 = = X = = 0 1 1 1 1 = = 9.0 Kan 0 = 0 = = 1 0 1 = X = = = 0 = 1 1 1 9.0 Konstantinopolsky = 1 0 = 0 0 1 0 = = X 0 1 1 = = = 1 8.5 Smyslov = 0 = = = 0 = 1 1 = 1 X 0 1 0 = 0 = 8.0 Keres = = = 0 1 0 = = 0 = 0 1 X = 1 = = = 8.0 Goglidze = 0 = = = = 0 = 0 1 0 0 = X = 1 = 1 7.5 Tolush 0 0 1 = 0 0 1 0 0 = = 1 0 = X 0 1 1 7.0 Romanovsky 0 0 = = = 0 0 0 0 0 = = = 0 1 X 1 1 6.0 Bondarevsky 0 0 0 = 0 0 0 = = 0 = 1 = = 0 0 X 1 5.0 Panov 0 0 = 0 = = = 0 = 0 0 = = 0 0 0 0 X 3.5

Original collection by User: crawfb5.

 page 1 of 6; games 1-25 of 147  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. S Belavenets vs Flohr 1-0461939Leningrad / Moscow trainingB15 Caro-Kann
2. V Makogonov vs Keres 1-0351939Leningrad / Moscow trainingE00 Queen's Pawn Game
3. Panov vs Levenfish  ½-½281939Leningrad / Moscow trainingA07 King's Indian Attack
4. Ragozin vs Lilienthal 0-1491939Leningrad / Moscow trainingC91 Ruy Lopez, Closed
5. Smyslov vs I Kan  ½-½311939Leningrad / Moscow trainingC43 Petrov, Modern Attack
6. Reshevsky vs Tolush 1-0301939Leningrad / Moscow trainingE40 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3
7. A Konstantinopolsky vs Bondarevsky  ½-½311939Leningrad / Moscow trainingC00 French Defense
8. V Goglidze vs P Romanovsky  1-0721939Leningrad / Moscow trainingD71 Neo-Grunfeld
9. Alatortsev vs I Rabinovich  ½-½411939Leningrad / Moscow trainingA14 English
10. Flohr vs Ragozin ½-½431939Leningrad / Moscow trainingD51 Queen's Gambit Declined
11. Keres vs S Belavenets  ½-½491939Leningrad / Moscow trainingE43 Nimzo-Indian, Fischer Variation
12. Levenfish vs V Goglidze  ½-½531939Leningrad / Moscow trainingD63 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense
13. Lilienthal vs Panov  ½-½921939Leningrad / Moscow trainingA54 Old Indian, Ukrainian Variation, 4.Nf3
14. Smyslov vs A Konstantinopolsky 1-0571939Leningrad / Moscow trainingC77 Ruy Lopez
15. P Romanovsky vs Reshevsky 0-1511939Leningrad / Moscow trainingC84 Ruy Lopez, Closed
16. I Rabinovich vs V Makogonov 1-0621939Leningrad / Moscow trainingB18 Caro-Kann, Classical
17. Bondarevsky vs Alatortsev ½-½611939Leningrad / Moscow trainingD11 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
18. I Kan vs Tolush ½-½931939Leningrad / Moscow trainingE32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical
19. Ragozin vs Keres 1-0441939Leningrad / Moscow trainingC90 Ruy Lopez, Closed
20. Reshevsky vs Levenfish ½-½351939Leningrad / Moscow trainingE56 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line with 7...Nc6
21. Alatortsev vs Smyslov 0-1401939Leningrad / Moscow trainingE47 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3
22. V Makogonov vs Bondarevsky  ½-½541939Leningrad / Moscow trainingA40 Queen's Pawn Game
23. A Konstantinopolsky vs I Kan  ½-½131939Leningrad / Moscow trainingC43 Petrov, Modern Attack
24. V Goglidze vs Lilienthal  ½-½311939Leningrad / Moscow trainingD95 Grunfeld
25. S Belavenets vs I Rabinovich  ½-½411939Leningrad / Moscow trainingC72 Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defense, 5.O-O
 page 1 of 6; games 1-25 of 147  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)  

Kibitzer's Corner
Feb-08-13  IndigoViolet: From <Grandmaster of Chess: The Early Years of Paul Keres>:

<It was often said that, in the earliest part of my career, I conducted single, decisive games with an inadequate sense of responsibility and earnestness. But my participation in the training tournament at Leningrad and Moscow showed that this was also the case with me in whole events. It was naturally my desire to make acquaintance with the chess-masters of the Soviet Union and measure my strength with them over the board and, finally, get to know their method of play and their various researches into the game of chess. But I should not in any way have undertaken this in the sort of form I found myself after the AVRO Tournament. I should have copied the example of Botvinnik who quite rightly refrained from taking part in this training tournament.

Naturally, the consequences of my thoughtless behaviour were not long in coming, especially when one takes into consideration the good playing calibre of the tournament participants. I lost two games in the very first rounds and had to make a vastly concentrated effort in order not to collapse completely. I succeeded in winning three good games in the middle part of the tournament, these being a highly complicated struggle with Tolush, one with an interesting exchange sacrifice against Levenfish and a well carried-out kingside attack against Smyslov. But in a whole series of games I conducted play in a style beneath criticism, as for example in easily won endings against Reshevsky and Rabinovich, or in my encounter in the last round with Alatortsev. I stood well for quite a long time, but in the end my physical reserves were exhausted. I lost the last two games and finished up in the lower half of the table.

The result of the tournament was indeed bitter for me, but also extremely instructive. Shortly after the Leningrad-Moscow Tournament I was invited to take part in a fine international tournament at Kemeri, but this time I did not repeat my mistake.>

I suspect that by <the sort of form I found myself after the AVRO Tournament>, Keres is referring to his physical condition rather than his chess form.

Feb-08-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: <The surprising news was that Flohr won so convincingly over a very strong field, especially after finishing last at AVRO in Nov 1938, and being virtually "written off" as a top-flight player.>

One wonders who 'wrote off' Flohr thus-ancestors of some modern-day CG kibitzers, perhaps, who go into paroxysms of ecstasy when the latest young 2700 player has a strong result, and conversely inform us that someone such as Anand is 'done' or 'over the hill', ad infinitum.

Feb-08-13  IndigoViolet: <Salomon Flohr beat Emanuel Lasker 2 to 0, with 3 draws.>

Maybe Lasker should have stuck to playing bridge.

Feb-08-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: Oh, yes-further proof of Lasker's status as tin god extraordinaire.
Feb-08-13  IndigoViolet: My tin-god beats your strawman.
Feb-08-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: <Indigo> As to your contention of 'strawman', one need only review recent kibitzes on Lasker's page to comprehend the falsity of your statement.
Feb-08-13  IndigoViolet: Yes, witness my characterisation of Lasker (the racist) as an all-time great. How will his reputation ever recover from that denunciation?
Jun-17-14  jerseybob: If Reshevsky scored a point against Panov - whether by forfeit or from actual play - why is that omitted from the tournament standings at the top of the page but included in the crosstable?
Jul-22-14  Shams: <jerseybob> The tournament standings at the top of the page are built programmatically from the game pages; since there's no game page for Reshevsky - Panov, the result cannot be included in those standings. Some sites create dummy game pages from blank PGN files to compensate for missing game scores but <cg> has, wisely in my opinion, declined to do so.
Jul-22-14  jerseybob: Shams: OK,I see now that Flohr's total doesn't include a Panov forfeit point either. My only point was that Reshevsky officially finished second, but I guess inclusion of the crosstable covers that. It would be interesting to know why Panov dropped out; if he was sick, so was Reshevsky. In his game collection, Sammy speaks of being ill and playing several of the games in his hospital room.
Dec-20-15  cunctatorg: A strange decision from the part of Sammy Reshevsky to participate in a tournament in Soviet Union at 1939, being the only western player there. Salo Flohr and and Andre Lilienthal had good reasons after the political events of 1938 and perhaps Paul Keres desired to be in contact with chess events in the Soviet Union for similar reasons. However no other player from the West participated in tournaments in Soviet Union after 1936 and the echo of the Moscow Trials of 1936-1938, thus I wonder under what circumstances Reshevsky took that decision...
Jan-08-16  visayanbraindoctor: <IndigoViolet: I suspect that by <the sort of form I found myself after the AVRO Tournament>, Keres is referring to his physical condition rather than his chess form.>

I think Keres just got sick. It happens. I don't think it was the players that bothered him. He would meet most of them again and again in future tournaments in the USSR and he would later score heavily against them as a whole. Only Reshevsky among the players here has a definitive positive lifetime score against Keres.

<perfidious: <The surprising news was that Flohr won so convincingly over a very strong field, especially after finishing last at AVRO in Nov 1938, and being virtually "written off" as a top-flight player.>

One wonders who 'wrote off' Flohr thus-ancestors of some modern-day CG kibitzers, perhaps, who go into paroxysms of ecstasy when the latest young 2700 player has a strong result, and conversely inform us that someone such as Anand is 'done' or 'over the hill', ad infinitum.>

What's so surprising about Czech Flohr winning the tournament, and if one talks about foreigners, Polish-American Reshevsky placing second, and Hungarian Lilienthal placing third?

Nothing. They were all extremely strong masters, even if they were foreigners in this tournament.

I believe that the organizers may have chosen the foreigners based on their being born in the old Russian Empire or provinces associated with it. (Flohr was born in Ukraine. Reshevsky in Poland. Lilienthal in Moscow. Keres in Estonia. All were part of the Russian Empire.) All of them could probably comprehend Russian or even fluently speak it. So maybe the organizers regarded them as 'Soviet born'.

Jan-09-16  Olavi: <<the sort of form I found myself after the AVRO Tournament>, >

Keres writes (same book, previous chapter) that AVRO had cost him a colossal amount of energy, both physical and nervous fitness. And in the few weeks between the tournaments he had no rest at all, travelling from one celebration to another in his native Estonia.

Oct-29-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: Why was Reshevsky playing?
Oct-30-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  Retireborn: <offramp> I think this was normal practice in the 30s, recall Euwe playing in Leningrad 1934 and Fine in 1937.

After WWII not so much, of course.

Oct-30-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: We have to face the possibility that Reshevky, Fine and Lasker were Soviet agents. <When sorrows come, they come not single spies. But in battalions.>
Oct-30-16  ZonszeinP: I've never heard of this tournament before.
I always thought that Reshevsky was afraid of travelling to the USSR
Oct-31-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: <Divine Miss S (aka <IndigoViolet> et al).... We have to face the possibility that Reshevky (sic), Fine and Lasker were Soviet agents. <When sorrows come, they come not (as) single spies. But in battalions.>>

Which is, of course, why Lasker exited USSR for gentler climes after Krylenko fell victim to his very own bete noire.

Aug-28-18  whiteshark: <Panov had a missing game against Flohr in Round 2, and missing games against Kan, Goglidze, Reshevsky, Tolush and Romanovsky in Rounds 13-17, suggesting an early forfeit and eventual withdrawal.> Panov had to leave prematurely due to illness.

source: https://de.chessbase.com/post/der-u...

Sep-16-18  goser: If I'm not mistaken, it was the first strong tournament for Smyslov!
Oct-15-18  SChesshevsky: Looks like 9 of the top 10 in the tourney have opening variations named after them. Wonder if any other event can match that?
Mar-31-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: <goser: If I'm not mistaken, it was the first strong tournament for Smyslov!>

Sure was.

Jun-29-23  Caissanist: <SChessshevsky> It's likely this would be true of most top 19th century tournaments, when the game was still new and it was not hard to find a path not explored by others. I did a quick search of the standings for Hastings 1895 and found that 9 of those 10 also had variations named after them, some well known, others quite obscure.

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