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USSR Championship (1960) The 27th USSR Championship was held at the Chigorin Chess Club in Leningrad from January 26th to February 26th, 1960. Twenty of the Soviet Union's best grandmasters and masters participated in the event. Mikhail Tal was absent because of his preparation for the coming world championship match with Mikhail Botvinnik. Tigran Petrosian and Vasily Smyslov were exempted into the championship, but the remaining eighteen competitors all qualified from semi-finals. The tournament was the first of four Soviet final wins for Viktor Korchnoi. Here he dominated with 14/19, earning wins against over half the field. However, he only edged out Efim Geller and Petrosian by half a point at the end with a stellar three win streak in the final rounds. This tournament also saw the famous King's Gambit game between Boris Spassky and David Bronstein in the sixteenth round that would later be featured in the James Bond film, From Russia With Love. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Pts 1 Korchnoi * 1 ½ 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 0 ½ 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 14 =2 Geller 0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 13½ =2 Petrosian ½ ½ * ½ 0 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 13½ 4 Bagirov 1 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 0 ½ 12 5 Polugaevsky 0 ½ 1 ½ * 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 11½ 6 Averbakh ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 11 =7 Smyslov 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 10½ =7 Taimanov ½ 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 0 1 1 1 10½ =9 Krogius 0 1 0 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ * ½ 1 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 10 =9 Spassky 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 10 11 Simagin 1 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ * ½ 0 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 9½ =12 Bronstein ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * 1 1 1 1 0 1 ½ ½ 9 =12 Lutikov 1 0 ½ ½ 0 1 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 * ½ ½ ½ 1 0 1 ½ 9 =14 Gufeld 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 0 ½ * ½ 1 0 0 0 1 7½ =14 Nei 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ * 0 1 1 0 1 7½ =16 Liberzon 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 0 1 * 1 0 1 0 6½ =16 Shamkovich 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 1 0 0 * 0 0 1 6½ =18 Gurgenidze 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 * 0 ½ 6 =18 Sakharov 0 ½ 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 1 0 1 1 * 0 6 =18 Suetin 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 1 0 ½ 1 * 6 Original collection: Game Collection: USSR Championship 1960, by User: suenteus po 147.  page 1 of 8; games 1-25 of 190  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Bagirov vs Averbakh   ½-½ 23 1960 USSR Championship B77 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack 2. Geller vs Petrosian ½-½ 25 1960 USSR Championship B13 Caro-Kann, Exchange 3. Lutikov vs Korchnoi 1-0 66 1960 USSR Championship B44 Sicilian 4. Spassky vs Polugaevsky ½-½ 24 1960 USSR Championship B96 Sicilian, Najdorf 5. Smyslov vs Simagin   ½-½ 51 1960 USSR Championship E46 Nimzo-Indian 6. Suetin vs Bronstein ½-½ 78 1960 USSR Championship C92 Ruy Lopez, Closed 7. Taimanov vs V Liberzon 1-0 30 1960 USSR Championship A56 Benoni Defense 8. I Nei vs Shamkovich   1-0 56 1960 USSR Championship A16 English 9. Y Sakharov vs Gufeld   1-0 29 1960 USSR Championship D16 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 10. Krogius vs B Gurgenidze   ½-½ 24 1960 USSR Championship A49 King's Indian, Fianchetto without c4 11. Spassky vs Bagirov 0-1 41 1960 USSR Championship D15 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 12. Bronstein vs Lutikov 1-0 29 1960 USSR Championship B01 Scandinavian 13. B Gurgenidze vs Geller 0-1 41 1960 USSR Championship B62 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer 14. Korchnoi vs Taimanov   ½-½ 29 1960 USSR Championship E46 Nimzo-Indian 15. Petrosian vs Suetin 1-0 24 1960 USSR Championship D32 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch 16. Polugaevsky vs Simagin 1-0 42 1960 USSR Championship D99 Grunfeld Defense, Smyslov 17. Shamkovich vs Smyslov   ½-½ 65 1960 USSR Championship D25 Queen's Gambit Accepted 18. Gufeld vs I Nei   ½-½ 18 1960 USSR Championship C44 King's Pawn Game 19. V Liberzon vs Y Sakharov 1-0 50 1960 USSR Championship B62 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer 20. Averbakh vs Krogius   ½-½ 74 1960 USSR Championship D42 Queen's Gambit Declined, Semi-Tarrasch, 7.Bd3 21. Bagirov vs Polugaevsky   ½-½ 29 1960 USSR Championship B96 Sicilian, Najdorf 22. Geller vs Averbakh   ½-½ 26 1960 USSR Championship E59 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line 23. Y Sakharov vs Korchnoi 0-1 45 1960 USSR Championship B99 Sicilian, Najdorf, 7...Be7 Main line 24. Smyslov vs Gufeld ½-½ 38 1960 USSR Championship B76 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack 25. Suetin vs B Gurgenidze   ½-½ 25 1960 USSR Championship B36 Sicilian, Accelerated Fianchetto  page 1 of 8; games 1-25 of 190    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   Mar-02-14    Everett: From 59-61, Bronstein's results went significantly south, this tournament being but one example. From 62-65, buoyed perhaps by a last gasp at the WC cycle before getting up in age, he played some strong and inventive chess. Mar-02-14    waustad: 19 rounds in an era with adjournments. It is hard to imagine that many rounds for anything other than a blitz tournament now. Sep-07-16    ughaibu: Have reasons been mooted for Spassky's poor result in this championship? Sep-07-16    Troller: <ughaibu: Have reasons been mooted for Spassky's poor result in this championship?> In his early career, Spassky was known to finish poorly, Korchnoi had a remark that he would lose against Spassky in the first half of a tournament, but win in the second. Korchnoi attributes this to tiredness resulting from overambitious play, but I think also he was viewed as getting nervous towards final rounds. However, I have not checked the order of the rounds if this explanation fits this particular tournament. It was the case for USSR Championship 1961a (1961) though. Sep-07-16    plang: USSR championships in this era were brutal - really tough competition - +1 is not a bad score Sep-07-16    ughaibu: Troller and Plang: I don't think that general considerations, such as those, can account for his result. He first played in the Soviet Championship in 1955, this is said to have been one of the strongest, and finished equal third to fourth, half a point behind the winners. Here are his full results, place and distance behind winner: 1955: 3/4 -0.5 1956: 1/3 1957: 4/5 -1 1958: 5/6 -2 1959: 2/3 -1 1960: 9/10 -4 1961a: 5/6 -2.5 1961b: 1 1962: 5 -1.5 1963: 1/3 1973: 1 Sep-07-16    perfidious: Whilst one would could hardly refer to it as his annus horribilis, the year 1960 was not the kindest to Spassky, given his performance here, as well as the loss to Lombardy at Leningrad and the retribution which followed. Jan-30-17    offramp: I just saw this post at Smyslov vs Petrosian, 1960, made at a time when this tournament did not have its own page. <ughaibu: Players names followed by number of draws in this tournament and average number of moves in those draws: Korchnoi: 4-28 Geller: 7-39 Petrosian: 7-33 Bagirov: 10-31 Polugaevsky: 9-40 Averbakh: 14-48 Smyslov: 15-48 Taimanov: 9-41 Spassky: 10-46 Krogius: 10-39 Simagin: 7-35 Lutikov: 8-31 Bronstein: 8-40 Gufeld: 5-30 Nei: 9-36 Shamkovich: 5-46 Liberzon: 7-41 Gurgenidze: 4-36 Suetin: 8-37 Sakharov: 2-53 Total number of draws: 69, overall mean length: 44...> Jan-30-17    perfidious: Bit surprising really to see Korchnoi with the shortest average of moves in his draws and not Petrosian, but matters would have been different but for Iron Tigran's 105-mover with Smyslov, which offset all his usual brevities. Sep-21-17    ewan14: I think Boris Spassky was getting divorced Feb-28-18    offramp: Smyslov had the most draws: 15. Five of those were of 20-29 moves. The other 10 were obviously long games, so as to bring the average up to that 48 moves/game. So it is not as if he just banged out 15 draws so he could go home early. He was putting in a full days's work. Feb-28-18    Petrosianic: <perfidious: Bit surprising really to see Korchnoi with the shortest average of moves in his draws and not Petrosian, but matters would have been different but for Iron Tigran's 105-mover with Smyslov, which offset all his usual brevities.> One game can only offsent a whole tournament so much. For example, suppose you play 18 games, and they're all 20 moves draws. Then in the 19th game you go 105 moves. That raises your move average from 20 to only 24. Feb-28-18    offramp: Petrosian only had 7 draws in 19 games. It's hardly a surfeit. NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. 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