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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  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. S Belavenets vs Flohr 1-0 46 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training B15 Caro-Kann 2. V Makogonov vs Keres 1-0 35 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training E00 Queen's Pawn Game 3. Panov vs Levenfish   ½-½ 28 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training A07 King's Indian Attack 4. Ragozin vs Lilienthal 0-1 49 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training C91 Ruy Lopez, Closed 5. Smyslov vs I Kan   ½-½ 31 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training C43 Petrov, Modern Attack 6. Reshevsky vs Tolush 1-0 30 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training E40 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3 7. A Konstantinopolsky vs Bondarevsky   ½-½ 31 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training C00 French Defense 8. V Goglidze vs P Romanovsky   1-0 72 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training D71 Neo-Grunfeld 9. Alatortsev vs I Rabinovich   ½-½ 41 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training A14 English 10. Flohr vs Ragozin ½-½ 43 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training D51 Queen's Gambit Declined 11. Keres vs S Belavenets   ½-½ 49 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training E43 Nimzo-Indian, Fischer Variation 12. Levenfish vs V Goglidze   ½-½ 53 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training D63 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense 13. Lilienthal vs Panov   ½-½ 92 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training A54 Old Indian, Ukrainian Variation, 4.Nf3 14. Smyslov vs A Konstantinopolsky 1-0 57 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training C77 Ruy Lopez 15. P Romanovsky vs Reshevsky 0-1 51 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training C84 Ruy Lopez, Closed 16. I Rabinovich vs V Makogonov 1-0 62 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training B18 Caro-Kann, Classical 17. Bondarevsky vs Alatortsev ½-½ 61 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training D11 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 18. I Kan vs Tolush   ½-½ 93 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training E32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical 19. Ragozin vs Keres 1-0 44 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training C90 Ruy Lopez, Closed 20. Reshevsky vs Levenfish ½-½ 35 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training E56 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line with 7...Nc6 21. Alatortsev vs Smyslov 0-1 40 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training E47 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 22. V Makogonov vs Bondarevsky   ½-½ 54 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training A40 Queen's Pawn Game 23. A Konstantinopolsky vs I Kan   ½-½ 13 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training C43 Petrov, Modern Attack 24. V Goglidze vs Lilienthal   ½-½ 31 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training D95 Grunfeld 25. S Belavenets vs I Rabinovich   ½-½ 41 1939 Leningrad / Moscow training C72 Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defense, 5.O-O  page 1 of 6; games 1-25 of 147    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   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    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    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    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    offramp: Why was Reshevsky playing? Oct-30-16    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    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    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    perfidious: <goser: If I'm not mistaken, it was the first strong tournament for Smyslov!> Sure was. 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. Nothing in violation of United States law. 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