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USSR Championship (1949) 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.  page 1 of 8; games 1-25 of 190  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Kotov vs Petrosian 1-0 13 1949 USSR Championship D35 Queen's Gambit Declined 2. N Kopilov vs Levenfish ½-½ 54 1949 USSR Championship C54 Giuoco Piano 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. Geller vs Keres 0-1 38 1949 USSR Championship C78 Ruy Lopez 6. Ragozin vs G Goldberg   1-0 35 1949 USSR Championship E00 Queen's Pawn Game 7. Furman vs Kholmov   ½-½ 31 1949 USSR Championship D54 Queen's Gambit Declined, Anti-Neo-Orthodox Variation 8. V Liublinsky vs V Mikenas   ½-½ 49 1949 USSR Championship B02 Alekhine's Defense 9. Taimanov vs Bronstein ½-½ 30 1949 USSR Championship D48 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav, Meran 10. Sokolsky vs Boleslavsky   ½-½ 22 1949 USSR Championship E32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical 11. Lilienthal vs Geller 1-0 43 1949 USSR Championship E92 King's Indian 12. G Goldberg vs V Liublinsky ½-½ 43 1949 USSR Championship A56 Benoni Defense 13. Boleslavsky vs N Kopilov 1-0 25 1949 USSR Championship B03 Alekhine's Defense 14. Levenfish vs Taimanov   ½-½ 31 1949 USSR Championship D61 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox, Rubinstein Attack 15. Kholmov vs Keres   ½-½ 40 1949 USSR Championship C78 Ruy Lopez 16. Petrosian vs Smyslov 0-1 46 1949 USSR Championship B84 Sicilian, Scheveningen 17. Furman vs Sokolsky   ½-½ 25 1949 USSR Championship E41 Nimzo-Indian 18. Bronstein vs Ragozin 1-0 72 1949 USSR Championship B68 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer Attack, 7...a6 Defense, 9...Be7 19. V Mikenas vs Kotov 1-0 42 1949 USSR Championship A80 Dutch 20. Aronin vs Flohr   ½-½ 32 1949 USSR Championship B10 Caro-Kann 21. Ragozin vs Levenfish   ½-½ 41 1949 USSR Championship C52 Evans Gambit 22. Kotov vs G Goldberg 1-0 41 1949 USSR Championship A90 Dutch 23. Smyslov vs V Mikenas ½-½ 27 1949 USSR Championship B03 Alekhine's Defense 24. Flohr vs Petrosian 1-0 43 1949 USSR Championship A54 Old Indian, Ukrainian Variation, 4.Nf3 25. V Liublinsky vs Bronstein ½-½ 26 1949 USSR Championship B60 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer  page 1 of 8; games 1-25 of 190    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   Aug-06-13    GrahamClayton: Bronstein started the tournament with 6/11, but a run of 7/8 propelled him to the title. Jul-25-16    Sally Simpson: Small error in the text. "While this championship was Smyslov's first and last Soviet crown." Smyslov shared it again in 1955. Game Collection: USSR Championship 1955 Jul-26-16    ughaibu: But Smyslov lost the play-off, in 1955. How did Bronstein come closer to being world champion, without succeeding, than Schlechter or Leko? Jul-27-16    whiteshark: Fair question! Jul-27-16    Sally Simpson: 'Smyslov lost the play-off' Then the small error is in the Smyslov Bio. USSR Championship (1949) Soviet champion in 1955 sharing the first place with Efim Geller. (no mention of a play-off.) Apr-26-17    Chessical: Petrosian's first Soviet Championship, he qualified from the semi-final held in Tiflis. Apr-26-17    Nosnibor: This was Geller`s debut and he scored 10 wins which exceeded both of the joint winners decisive games.Also noticeable is that he scored 4.5 points against the first six without losing a single game. Sep-02-17    Arconax: Goldberg got lost in all the variations. Sep-02-18    fiercebadger: Petrosian lost five games Sep-02-18    Check It Out: <fiercebadger: Petrosian lost five games> Not eight as listed here? Sep-02-18    siimens: Well, closest probably because Bronstein didn't lose Botvinnik but tied the 1951 title match Feb-16-19    perfidious: <fiercebadger: Petrosian lost five games> He lost the first five. NOTE: You need to pick a username and password to post a reply. Getting your account takes less than a minute, is totally anonymous, and 100% free—plus, it entitles you to features otherwise unavailable. Pick your username now and join the chessgames community! If you already have an account, you should login now. Please observe our posting guidelines: No obscene, racist, sexist, profane, raunchy, or disgusting language. No spamming, advertising, duplicate or nonsense posts. 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