# USSR Chess Championship

The USSR Chess Championship was played from 1920 to 1991. Organized by the USSR Chess Federation, it was the strongest national chess championship ever held, with eight world chess champions and four world championship finalists among its winners. It was held as a round-robin tournament with the exception of the 35th and 58th championships, which were of the Swiss system.

## Most wins

* Six titles: Mikhail Botvinnik, Mikhail Tal
* Four titles: Tigran Petrosian, Viktor Korchnoi, Alexander Beliavsky
* Three titles: Paul Keres, Leonid Stein, Anatoly Karpov

## List of winners

    EditionDatePlaceWinnerScoreNotes 14–24 Oct 1920Moscow Alexander Alekhine12/15 (+9−0=6) Known as the All-Russian Chess Olympiad at the time, this tournament was later recognized as the first USSR championship. 28–24 Jul 1923Petrograd Peter Romanovsky10/12 (+9−1=2) 323 Aug–15 Sep 1924Moscow Efim Bogoljubov15/17 (+13−0=4) 411 Aug–6 Sep 1925Leningrad Efim Bogoljubov14/19 (+11−2=6) 526 Sep–25 Oct 1927Moscow Fedor Bogatyrchuk Peter Romanovsky 14½/20 (+10−1=9) 14½/20 (+12−3=5) All of Bogatyrchuk's tournament results were erased from Soviet records after he emigrated to Canada and was declared a nonperson. 62–20 Sep 1929Odessa Boris Verlinsky5½/8 (+4−1=3), 4/5 (+4−1=0), and 3½/4 (+3−0=1) The tournament was conducted in three stages. 710 Oct–11 Nov 1931Moscow Mikhail Botvinnik13½/17 (+12−2=3) 816 Aug–9 Sep 1933Leningrad Mikhail Botvinnik14/19 (+11−2=6) 97 Dec 1934–2 Jan 1935Leningrad Grigory Levenfish Ilya Rabinovich 12/19 (+8−3=8) 12/19 (+9−4=6) 1012 Apr–14 May 1937Tbilisi Grigory Levenfish12½/19 (+9−3=7) 1115 Apr–16 May 1939Leningrad Mikhail Botvinnik12½/17 (+8−0=9) 125 Sep–3 Oct 1940Moscow Andor Lilienthal Igor Bondarevsky 13½/19 (+8−0=11) 13½/19 (+10−2=7) Mikhail Botvinnik won the Absolute Championship, 23 Mar–29 Apr 1941, Leningrad/Moscow, 13½/20 (+9−2=9) 1321 May–17 Jun 1944Moscow Mikhail Botvinnik12½/16 (+11−2=3) 141 Jun–3 Jul 1945Moscow Mikhail Botvinnik15/17 (+13−0=4) 152 Feb–8 Mar 1947Leningrad Paul Keres14/19 (+10−1=8) 1610 Nov–13 Dec 1948Moscow David Bronstein Alexander Kotov 12/18 (+7−1=10) 12/18 (+10−4=4) 1716 Oct–20 Nov 1949Moscow Vasily Smyslov David Bronstein 13/19 (+9−2=8) 13/19 (+8−1=10) 1810 Nov–12 Dec 1950Moscow Paul Keres11½/17 (+8−2=7) 1911 Nov–14 Dec 1951Moscow Paul Keres12/17 (+9−2=6) 2029 Nov–29 Dec 1952Moscow Mikhail Botvinnik13½/19 (+9−1=9) Botvinnik defeated Mark Taimanov in a playoff +2−1=3. 217 Jan–7 Feb 1954Kiev Yuri Averbakh14½/19 (+10−0=9) 2211 Feb–15 Mar 1955Moscow Efim Geller12/19 (+10−5=4) Geller defeated Vasily Smyslov in a playoff +1=6. 2310 Jan–15 Feb 1956Leningrad Mark Taimanov11½/17 (+8−2=7) Taimanov defeated Boris Spassky and Yuri Averbakh in a playoff. 2420 Jan–22 Feb 1957Moscow Mikhail Tal14/21 (+9−2=10) 2512 Jan–14 Feb 1958Riga Mikhail Tal12½/18 (+10−3=5) 269 Jan–11 Feb 1959Tbilisi Tigran Petrosian13½/19 (+8−0=11) 2726 Jan–26 Feb 1960Leningrad Viktor Korchnoi14/19 (+12−3=4) 2811 Jan–11 Feb 1961Moscow Tigran Petrosian13½/19 (+9−1=9) 2916 Nov–12 Dec 1961Baku Boris Spassky14½/20 (+10−1=9) 3021 Nov–20 Dec 1962Yerevan Viktor Korchnoi14/19 (+10−1=8) 3123 Nov–27 Dec 1963Leningrad Leonid Stein12/19 (+6−1=12) Stein defeated Boris Spassky and Ratmir Kholmov in a playoff. 3225 Dec 1964–27 Jan 1965Kiev Viktor Korchnoi15/19 (+11−0=8) 3321 Nov–24 Dec 1965Tallinn Leonid Stein14/19 (+10−1=8) 3428 Dec 1966 – 2 Feb 1967Tbilisi Leonid Stein13/20 (+8−2=10) 357–26 Dec 1967Kharkiv Lev Polugaevsky Mikhail Tal10/13 10/13 The tournament was a 126-player Swiss. 3630 Dec 1968–1 Feb 1969Alma-Ata Lev Polugaevsky Alexander Zaitsev 12½/19 (+7−1=11) 12½/19 (+6=13) Polugaevsky defeated Zaitsev in a playoff +2−1=3. 376 Sep–12 Oct 1969Moscow Tigran Petrosian14/22 (+6−0=16) Petrosian defeated Polugaevsky in a playoff held in Feb 1970 by +2=3. 3825 Nov–28 Dec 1970Riga Viktor Korchnoi16/21 (+12−1=8) 3915 Sep–17 Oct 1971Leningrad Vladimir Savon15/21 (+9−0=12) 4016 Nov–19 Dec 1972Baku Mikhail Tal15/21 (+9−0=12) 411–27 Oct 1973Moscow Boris Spassky11½/17 (+7−1=9) 4230 Nov–23 Dec 1974Leningrad Alexander Beliavsky Mikhail Tal9½/15 (+6−2=7) 9½/15 (+6−2=7) 4328 Nov–22 Dec 1975Yerevan Tigran Petrosian10/15 (+6−1=8) 44 26 Nov–24 Dec 1976Moscow Anatoly Karpov12/17 (+8−1=8) 4528 Nov–22 Dec 1977Leningrad Boris Gulko Iosif Dorfman9½/15 (+4−0=11) 9½/15 (+4−0=11) A playoff, held in 1978, was drawn +1−1=4. 461–28 Dec 1978Tbilisi Mikhail Tal Vitaly Tseshkovsky 11/17 (+5−0=12) 11/17 (+6−1=10) 4729 Nov–27 Dec 1979Minsk Efim Geller11½/17 (+6−0=11) 4825 Dec 1980–21 Jan 1981Vilnius Lev Psakhis Alexander Beliavsky 10½/17 (+8−4=5) 10½/17 (+6−2=9) 4927 Nov–22 Dec 1981Frunze Garry Kasparov Lev Psakhis 12½/17 (+10−2=5) 12½/17 (+9−1=7) 502–28 Apr 1983Moscow Anatoly Karpov9½/15 (+5−1=9) 512–28 Apr 1984Lviv Andrei Sokolov12½/17 (+8−0=9) 5222 Jan–19 Feb 1985Riga Viktor Gavrikov Mikhail Gurevich Alexander Chernin 11/19 (+4−1=14) 11/19 (+6−3=10) 11/19 (+5−2=12) 534–28 Feb 1986Kiev Vitaly Tseshkovsky11/17 (+6−1=10) 544–29 Mar 1987Minsk Alexander Beliavsky11/17 (+7−2=8) Beliavsky defeated Valery Salov in a playoff +2=2. 5525 Jul–19 Aug 1988Moscow Anatoly Karpov Garry Kasparov 11½/17 (+6−0=11) 11½/17 (+6−0=11) 5622 Sep–16 Oct 1989Odessa Rafael Vaganian9/15 (+5−2=8) 5718 Oct–3 Nov 1990Leningrad Alexander Beliavsky Leonid Yudasin Evgeny Bareev Alexey Vyzmanavin 8½/13 (+5−1=7) 8½/13 (+4−0=9) 8½/13 (+6−2=5) 8½/13 (+5−1=7) 581–13 Nov 1991Moscow Artashes Minasian8½/11 (+7−1=3) Minasian won this Swiss-style tournament on tiebreak over Elmar Magerramov.