| USSR Championship (1956) |
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The 23rd USSR Championship was held in Leningrad from January 10 through February 15, 1956. While not as strong at the previous year's edition, it did feature the first appearance of perennial contenders Tal and Polugaevsky as part of this cast of characters: Vladimir Antoshin;
Yuri Averbakh;
Anatolij Bannik;
Isaac Boleslavsky;
Georgy Konstantinovich Borisenko;
Vasily Byvshev;
Abram Khasin; Ratmir Kholmov;
Viktor Korchnoi;
Georgy Lisitsin;
Lev Polugaevsky;
Viacheslav Ragozin;
Vladimir Simagin;
Boris Spassky;
Mark Taimanov;
Mikhail Tal;
Alexander Kazimirovich Tolush;
Vladlen Yakovlevich Zurakhov. Though both newcomers did well, Averbakh and Spassky spent most of the tournament conducting the major battle for the crown. Kholmov, Korchnoi, Taimanov, and Tal stayed close, but were not able to maintain themselves in the top places. By round 14, Averbakh and Spassky had 10 points, a full point ahead of Kholmov and 1 1/2 ahead of Korchnoi, Polugaevsky, Taimanov and Tal. Averbakh then drew his remaining three games to reach 11.5. Spassky reached the same score more adventurously with a win over Lisitsin followed by a loss to Korchnoi and a last round draw. Thus, Averbakh and Spassky shared first - with a hard-charging Taimanov, who did what he had to do by winning his last three games. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 Spassky * 1 1 0 = 1 = 1 = = = = 1 = = 1 = 1 11.5
2 Taimanov 0 * = = = = 1 1 1 1 = 1 0 = 1 1 1 = 11.5
3 Averbakh 0 = * = = = 1 = = 1 = 1 = 1 = 1 1 1 11.5
4 Korchnoi 1 = = * = = 1 = 1 = 1 1 0 = 1 = = = 11.0
5 Kholmov = = = = * = = 0 = 1 1 1 = = 1 1 = = 10.5
6 Tal 0 = = = = * = = 0 = 1 = 1 1 1 = 1 1 10.5
7 Polugaevsky = 0 0 0 = = * 1 1 1 1 = = 1 1 0 1 1 10.5
8 Boleslavsky 0 0 = = 1 = 0 * = = = 0 1 = = 1 1 1 9.0
9 Zurakhov = 0 = 0 = 1 0 = * = = = 0 1 1 1 = = 8.5
10 Antoshin = 0 0 = 0 = 0 = = * = = 0 1 1 1 1 = 8.0
11 Bannik = = = 0 0 0 0 = = = * = 1 1 0 = = 1 7.5
12 Byvshev = 0 0 0 0 = = 1 = = = * = 0 0 1 1 1 7.5
13 Ragozin 0 1 = 1 = 0 = 0 1 1 0 = * 0 0 0 0 1 7.0
14 Tolush = = 0 = = 0 0 = 0 0 0 1 1 * = 0 1 = 6.5
15 Simagin = 0 = 0 0 0 0 = 0 0 1 1 1 = * = 0 1 6.5
16 Borisenko 0 0 0 = 0 = 1 0 0 0 = 0 1 1 = * = = 6.0
17 Khasin = 0 0 = = 0 0 0 = 0 = 0 1 0 1 = * = 5.5
18 Lisitsin 0 = 0 = = 0 0 0 = = 0 0 0 = 0 = = * 4.0
Taimanov's momentum carried over into the play-off match. This was marred by Spassky's illness, which prevented him from playing his second game with Averbakh. However, it made no difference as Taimanov had clinched the gold medal by that point.1 Taimanov ** == 11 3.0
2 Averbakh == ** =1 2.5
3 Spassky 00 =0 ** 0.5
Original collection: Game Collection: USSR Championship 1956, by User: Phony Benoni.
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| page 1 of 7; games 1-25 of 158 |
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| Game |
| Result | Moves |
Year | Event/Locale | Opening |
| 1. Taimanov vs Spassky |
  | 1-0 | 57 | 1956 | USSR Championship | A49 King's Indian, Fianchetto without c4 |
| 2. Averbakh vs Spassky |
| ½-½ | 73 | 1956 | USSR Championship | E75 King's Indian, Averbakh, Main line |
| 3. Spassky vs Taimanov |
| 0-1 | 48 | 1956 | USSR Championship | C77 Ruy Lopez |
| 4. Taimanov vs Averbakh |
| ½-½ | 115 | 1956 | USSR Championship | E46 Nimzo-Indian |
| 5. Averbakh vs Taimanov |
| ½-½ | 42 | 1956 | USSR Championship | B31 Sicilian, Rossolimo Variation |
| 6. Korchnoi vs V Byvshev |
| 1-0 | 62 | 1956 | USSR Championship | E62 King's Indian, Fianchetto |
| 7. Polugaevsky vs A Bannik |
| 1-0 | 44 | 1956 | USSR Championship | E48 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 d5 |
| 8. Ragozin vs Kholmov |
| ½-½ | 42 | 1956 | USSR Championship | C90 Ruy Lopez, Closed |
| 9. Tolush vs Simagin |
| ½-½ | 34 | 1956 | USSR Championship | B61 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer, Larsen Variation, 7.Qd2 |
| 10. Averbakh vs Spassky |
| 0-1 | 41 | 1956 | USSR Championship | A15 English |
| 11. Lisitsin vs Taimanov |
| ½-½ | 63 | 1956 | USSR Championship | A05 Reti Opening |
| 12. Antoshin vs Tal |
| ½-½ | 42 | 1956 | USSR Championship | A61 Benoni |
| 13. G Borisenko vs A Khasin |
| ½-½ | 52 | 1956 | USSR Championship | E58 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line with 8...Bxc3 |
| 14. V Zurakhov vs Boleslavsky |
| ½-½ | 21 | 1956 | USSR Championship | C11 French |
| 15. Taimanov vs Korchnoi |
| ½-½ | 25 | 1956 | USSR Championship | D41 Queen's Gambit Declined, Semi-Tarrasch |
| 16. V Byvshev vs Polugaevsky |
| ½-½ | 74 | 1956 | USSR Championship | B56 Sicilian |
| 17. Spassky vs Ragozin |
| 1-0 | 41 | 1956 | USSR Championship | E80 King's Indian, Samisch Variation |
| 18. Simagin vs Antoshin |
| 0-1 | 58 | 1956 | USSR Championship | A30 English, Symmetrical |
| 19. A Khasin vs Tal |
| 0-1 | 36 | 1956 | USSR Championship | B88 Sicilian, Fischer-Sozin Attack |
| 20. G Borisenko vs Lisitsin |
| ½-½ | 22 | 1956 | USSR Championship | E21 Nimzo-Indian, Three Knights |
| 21. A Bannik vs Averbakh |
| ½-½ | 28 | 1956 | USSR Championship | B56 Sicilian |
| 22. Kholmov vs V Zurakhov |
| ½-½ | 69 | 1956 | USSR Championship | A10 English |
| 23. Boleslavsky vs Tolush |
| ½-½ | 29 | 1956 | USSR Championship | A70 Benoni, Classical with 7.Nf3 |
| 24. Korchnoi vs G Borisenko |
| ½-½ | 41 | 1956 | USSR Championship | D50 Queen's Gambit Declined |
| 25. Polugaevsky vs Taimanov |
| 0-1 | 57 | 1956 | USSR Championship | D45 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav |
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| page 1 of 7; games 1-25 of 158 |
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| Aug-07-16 | | RookFile: Taimanov's effort has to be considered one of the great come from behind tournament wins in chess history. |
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| Nov-10-17 | | ZonszeinP: A great succes of the young Spassky. If the S.Berger system was used here, he would have been champion of the USSR at only 19! |
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| Dec-03-17 | | ZonszeinP: Not even Botvinnik did that |
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May-12-24
 | | perfidious: While this was a near miss for Korchnoi, it was a great improvement on the disastrous result of 1955. |
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