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.
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page 1 of 8; games 1-25 of 190 |
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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. 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 |
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page 1 of 8; games 1-25 of 190 |
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