The 35th USSR Championship was held in Kharkov from December 7-26, 1967, and was dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution which brought the Communist Party to power. For such an occasion, it was felt that a return to mass participation was in order, so the tournament was organized as a 13-round Swiss for 130 players.
Of course, there were other reasons. 1967 had been a very busy year for the top Soviet players, with major international tournaments in Leningrad and Moscow as well as the Sousse Interzonal (1967). Many were expected to skip the Championship to rest, so it seemed a good idea to open things up and see what kind of talent was out there.
Quite a few of the top stars did skip the tournament, and were probably not too disappointed. The Swiss System format proved very unpopular with complaints about the pairings starting in the very first round. By the end, several players had dropped out and the general opinion was that the Swiss System might work well enough in bourgeois nations like the United States, but the Soviet Union would henceforth stick to its elitist round robins. Tal summed up matters well by remarking: "The Swiss System is good: we should adopt it again for the one hundred year anniversary of the Revolution!"
Some future stars did make their debuts, such as Lev Alburt, Mark Dvoretsky, Boris Gulko, Gennady Sosonko, Evgeni Sveshnikov, and Rafael Vaganian. However, the co-champions were the experienced players <Mikhail Tal> and <Lev Polugaevsky>. See for yourself:
Kharkov, Soviet Union (Ukraine), 7-26 December 1967
10.0: 1. Lev Polugaevsky 2. Mikhail Tal
9.5: 3. Evgeni Vasiukov 4. Mark Taimanov 5. Igor V Platonov
9.0: 6. Yuri Nikolaevich Sakharov 7. Vladimir Antoshin
8.5: 8. Valerij Ivanovich Zhuravliov 9. Vladimir Bagirov 10. Semyon Abramovich Furman 11. Ratmir Kholmov 12. Viktor Savelievich Zheliandinov 13. Alexander Zaitsev 14. Alexander Izvozchikov 15. Mikhail Steinberg 16. Viacheslav Osnos 17. Vladimir Borisovich Tukmakov
8.0: 18. Alexander Chistiakov 19. Eduard Izrailovich Bukhman 20. Lev Alburt 21. Vladimir Savon 22. Alexandr Sinyavsky 23. Anatoly Lein 24. Oleg Ivanovich Donchenko 25. Eduard A Mnatsakanian 26. Anatoly Volovich
7.5: 27. Anatoly S Lutikov 28. Sergey Krasnov 29. Vitaly Tseshkovsky 30. Bukhuti Gurgenidze 31. Naum L Levin 32. Oleg Pavlenko 33. Yuri Shilov 34. Vitaly Georgievich Tarasov 35. Gennadi Sosonko 36. Mark Danilovich Tseitlin 37. Alexander Cherepkov 38. Rashid Gibiatovich Nezhmetdinov 39. Elizbar Ubilava 40. Gennadi Kuzmin
7.0: 41. Vladimir V Arseniev 42. Viacheslav Dydyshko 43. Samuel Markovich Zhukhovitsky 44. Georgy Konstantinovich Borisenko 45. Yuri V Nikolaevsky 46. Vladimir Konstantinovich Doroshkievich 47. Vladas Mikenas 48. <L. Gudim>; 49. Janis Yanovich Klovans 50. Yacov Isaakovich Murey 51. Oleg Privorotsky 52. Ilya Mikliaev 53. Iivo Nei 54. bad player ID 55. Oleg L Chernikov 56. Evgeni Ellinovich Sveshnikov 57. Yuri S Gusev
6.5: 58. Algimantas Ionovich Butnorius 59. Aleksander S Nikitin 60. <L. Slutsky>; 61. Vanik Zakharian 62. Roman Pelts 63. Nikolay Sergeevich Popov 64. Igor Arkadievich Zaitsev 65. Mark Izrailovich Dvoretsky 66. Vladlen Yakovlevich Zurakhov 67. Rafael Vaganian 68. Dzhemal Beradze 69. Iosif Slepoy 70. Anatoly Shmit
6.0: 71. Valery I Zilberstein 72. Igor Gennadyevich Belov 73. Yosef Kagan 74. Valeri S Korensky 75. Boris Rumiantsev 76. <B. Sorokin>; 77. Genrikh Chepukaitis 78. Alexander Shamis-Pavlov 79. Mikhail Shereshevsky 80. Vladimir Savelyevich Bykov 81. <A. Kremenetsky>; 82. Alexander I Tuzovsky 83. Vladimir I Alterman 84. V Voloshin 85. Boris Kalinkin 86. Vladimir N Kozlov 87. Khanan Lvovich Muchnik 88. bad player ID
5.5: 89. Evgeny Gik 90. E Karkmazov 91. <E. Belokurov>; 92. Boris Gulko 93. <I. Kalinsky>; 94. Valentin Kirilov 95. Yury Isakovich Kots 96. Vladimir A Muratov 97. <A. Polikarpov>; 98. V Seleznev 99. Alexander N Vaisman 100. Vladimir Zagorovsky 101. <N. Razvalyaev>
5.0: 102. Evgeny Terpugov 103. Valery N Bykov 104. Roman Izrailevich Levit 105. Archil Tsereteli 106. <K. Cherskikh>; 107. Vladimir Voronov 108. Hillar Karner 109. <A. Smetanin>; 110. <V. Sazonov>; 111. Tonu Oim 112. <Kh. Lyuk>; 113. Robert Seoev
4.5: 114. Neron Valiev 115. bad player ID 116. Andrey Lukin 117. Anatolij Noskov 118. Anatoly Anokhin 119. Vakulenko 120. Rein Toomas Etruk
4.0: 121. <I. Evelnin>; 122. Vladimir I Karasev 123. Valentin Sorokin 124. <Ya. Amakov>
3.0: 125. <Y. Gureev>
1.5: 126. <M. Varzhepetian>
Did not finish: 127. Valery Zhidkov (5.0/9); 128. Vladimir Simagin (2.5/4); 129. Oleg Leonidovich Moiseev (2.5/6); 130. Nikolai Georgiyevich Kopilov 0.5/5
Unfortunately, this is about all the information available; no crosstable of the event can be found, and only about one-fourth of the games are available.
Original collection: Game Collection: USSR Championship 1967, by User: Phony Benoni.
Kibitzing
