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USSR Championship (1955) The 22nd USSR Championship was held in Moscow from February 11 through March 15, 1955. It was certainly one of the strongest of the series, featuring four world champions and nine Soviet champions among its 20 players, and marked the final appearance of Mikhail Botvinnik in a Soviet championship. This tournament was also one of the Zonal events to select players eligible to play in the upcoming Gothenburg Interzonal (1955). 1 The illustrious cast of characters included: Vladimir Antoshin, Yuri Averbakh, Georgy Konstantinovich Borisenko, Mikhail Botvinnik, Salomon Flohr, Semyon Abramovich Furman, Efim Geller, Georgy Ilivitsky, Ilia Abramovich Kan, Paul Keres, Viktor Korchnoi, Alexander Kotov, Georgy Lisitsin, Vladas Mikenas, Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian, Vitaly Sergeevich Sherbakov, Vladimir Simagin, Vasily Smyslov, Boris Spassky, Mark Taimanov. Geller started quickly and stayed near the top all the way, but every time he got a bit of a lead he would lose, often through over-optimism. Botvinnik, Smyslov, and Spassky all took their turns, with Petrosian never far behind. Coming into the last round Geller had a half-point lead, but proceeded to lose yet one more time and produce the following crosstable: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 Smyslov * 1 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 1 12.0 2 Geller 0 * ½ 0 ½ 1 0 ½ 1 1 0 1 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 12.0 3 Ilivitsky 1 ½ * ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 11.5 4 Spassky ½ 1 ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 1 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 11.5 5 Petrosian ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 11.5 6 Botvinnik 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 11.5 7 Taimanov ½ 1 1 0 0 ½ * 0 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 1 ½ ½ 11.0 8 Keres 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 * 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 11.0 9 Mikenas 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 * ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 10.5 10 Furman ½ 0 0 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ * 0 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 10.0 11 Antoshin ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 * 0 1 ½ ½ 0 1 1 ½ 1 10.0 12 Kotov ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 * 1 ½ 0 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 9.5 13 Borisenko 0 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 0 0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 9.0 14 Flohr ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 9.0 15 Averbakh ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 8.5 16 Lisitsin 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ 0 1 1 8.5 17 Kan 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ * 0 1 ½ 7.0 18 Simagin ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 * 1 0 6.5 19 Korchnoi ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 * 1 6.0 20 Sherbakov 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 0 * 3.5 A play-off between Smyslov and Geller started with six straight draws before the latter prevailed in game seven, thus earning the gold medal. Those games have now been added. 1 Gino Di Felice, Chess Results 1951-1955, McFarland 2010, p. 480; Mark Weeks Zonal List at http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/zon... Original collection: Game Collection: USSR Championship 1955, by User: Phony Benoni.  page 1 of 8; games 1-25 of 197  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Botvinnik vs V Mikenas ½-½ 29 1955 USSR Championship D30 Queen's Gambit Declined 2. Spassky vs Keres ½-½ 28 1955 USSR Championship D38 Queen's Gambit Declined, Ragozin Variation 3. Geller vs V Sherbakov 1-0 53 1955 USSR Championship E64 King's Indian, Fianchetto, Yugoslav System 4. Flohr vs G Ilivitsky   ½-½ 42 1955 USSR Championship D59 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower 5. Simagin vs Korchnoi 1-0 61 1955 USSR Championship D77 Neo-Grunfeld, 6.O-O 6. Averbakh vs Lisitsin ½-½ 57 1955 USSR Championship A22 English 7. Furman vs Taimanov ½-½ 20 1955 USSR Championship A18 English, Mikenas-Carls 8. Smyslov vs G Borisenko 1-0 41 1955 USSR Championship A49 King's Indian, Fianchetto without c4 9. Kotov vs Antoshin   1-0 37 1955 USSR Championship D46 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 10. Petrosian vs Kan 1-0 32 1955 USSR Championship A08 King's Indian Attack 11. V Sherbakov vs Kotov ½-½ 99 1955 USSR Championship B85 Sicilian, Scheveningen, Classical 12. Keres vs Averbakh   ½-½ 26 1955 USSR Championship A07 King's Indian Attack 13. V Mikenas vs Spassky ½-½ 67 1955 USSR Championship E16 Queen's Indian 14. G Borisenko vs Furman   ½-½ 48 1955 USSR Championship D32 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch 15. Kan vs G Ilivitsky   ½-½ 30 1955 USSR Championship B52 Sicilian, Canal-Sokolsky (Rossolimo) Attack 16. Lisitsin vs Simagin 0-1 36 1955 USSR Championship A04 Reti Opening 17. Antoshin vs Botvinnik 0-1 49 1955 USSR Championship C18 French, Winawer 18. Korchnoi vs Smyslov ½-½ 17 1955 USSR Championship E17 Queen's Indian 19. Petrosian vs Geller   ½-½ 26 1955 USSR Championship A38 English, Symmetrical 20. Taimanov vs Flohr   ½-½ 28 1955 USSR Championship E56 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line with 7...Nc6 21. Smyslov vs Lisitsin 0-1 67 1955 USSR Championship A13 English 22. Averbakh vs V Mikenas   ½-½ 24 1955 USSR Championship A33 English, Symmetrical 23. Flohr vs G Borisenko   ½-½ 24 1955 USSR Championship A46 Queen's Pawn Game 24. G Ilivitsky vs Taimanov 0-1 45 1955 USSR Championship E65 King's Indian, Fianchetto, Yugoslav, 7.O-O 25. Geller vs Kan 1-0 44 1955 USSR Championship B28 Sicilian, O'Kelly Variation  page 1 of 8; games 1-25 of 197    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   Dec-17-13    Fusilli: Baby Korchnoi (24 at the time) got spanked in this one. Dec-17-13    perfidious: <Fusilli>: A result due in no small part to this fiasco from the fourth round: Korchnoi vs Flohr, 1955. Jan-27-14    Fusilli: <perfidious> Oh, yeah, I just looked at it. A blunder, but a pretty one. That would erode anybody's confidence. Nov-22-17    Fusilli: Amazing feat by Geller, winning the USSR championship even though he lost five games. Nov-22-17    Marmot PFL: Good result for 18 year old Spassky. Nov-26-17    rgr459: I wonder if smoking was allowed in the tournament hall. Nov-26-17    ughaibu: rgr459: <I wonder if smoking was allowed in the tournament hall.> Are you serious? Mar-04-18    Retireborn: This was to be Botvinnik's last Soviet championship. Perhaps there's a story as to how he came to be in it. Surely a unique occurence, for the reigning World Champion to play in a zonal tournament! NOTE: You need to pick a username and password to post a reply. 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