chessgames.com
Members · Prefs · Laboratory · Collections · Openings · Endgames · Sacrifices · History · Search Kibitzing · Kibitzer's Café · Chessforums · Tournament Index · Players · Kibitzing

🏆
TOURNAMENT STANDINGS
USSR Championship Tournament

Mikhail Tal14/21(+9 -2 =10)[games]
Paul Keres13.5/21(+8 -2 =11)[games]
David Bronstein13.5/21(+9 -3 =9)[games]
Boris Spassky13/21(+7 -2 =12)[games]
Alexander Tolush13/21(+10 -5 =6)[games]
Ratmir Kholmov12.5/21(+6 -2 =13)[games]
Viktor Korchnoi12/21(+6 -3 =12)[games]
Tigran Petrosian12/21(+7 -4 =10)[games]
Isaac Boleslavsky11.5/21(+4 -2 =15)[games]
Lev Aronin11/21(+6 -5 =10)[games]
Mark Taimanov11/21(+5 -4 =12)[games]
Semyon Furman10/21(+5 -6 =10)[games]
Rashid Nezhmetdinov9.5/21(+5 -7 =9)[games]
Anatolij Bannik9.5/21(+3 -5 =13)[games]
Konstantin Klaman9.5/21(+6 -8 =7)[games]
Vladimir Antoshin9/21(+5 -8 =8)[games]
Efim Stoliar8.5/21(+3 -7 =11)[games]
Vladas Mikenas8/21(+5 -10 =6)[games]
Bukhuti Gurgenidze7.5/21(+5 -11 =5)[games]
Abram Khasin7.5/21(+3 -9 =9)[games]
Vitaly Tarasov7.5/21(+3 -9 =9)[games]
Lev Aronson7.5/21(+4 -10 =7)[games]
*

Chessgames.com Chess Event Description
USSR Championship (1957)

The 24th Soviet Chess Championship took place in Moscow from January 20th to February 22nd, 1957. (1) The championship was held in a theater attended by hundreds, and followed by radio. The championship was significant due in large part to the emergence of 20-year-old Mikhail Tal. His "sacrificial style" made a strong impression not only on the grandmasters at the event but around the world. The success of his style of play earned him first place among the very best in the Soviet Union with 14/21 at the finish.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 Pts 1 Tal * 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 14 =2 Keres 0 * ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 13½ =2 Bronstein 0 ½ * ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 13½ =4 Spassky ½ 1 ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 13 =4 Tolush 0 0 1 ½ * 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 13 6 Kholmov ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 * ½ 1 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 12½ =7 Korchnoi ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 1 0 1 1 1 ½ 12 =7 Petrosian 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ * ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 0 1 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 12 9 Boleslavsky 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 11½ =10 Aronin ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 1 1 ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 0 1 11 =10 Taimanov 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 0 ½ 11 12 Furman ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ * ½ 1 ½ 1 1 0 0 1 ½ ½ 10 =13 Nezhmetdinov 1 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ 0 1 1 0 1 0 ½ 0 9½ =13 Bannik 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ * 1 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 9½ =13 Klaman 0 ½ 0 1 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 ½ 1 0 * 0 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 9½ 16 Antoshin ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ 1 * 0 1 1 ½ ½ 1 9 17 Stoliar ½ ½ 0 0 1 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 8½ 18 Mikenas ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 1 1 0 0 ½ * 1 0 0 0 8 =19 Gurgenidze 0 0 1 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 ½ 0 * 1 1 0 7½ =19 Khasin ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 0 * 1 0 7½ =19 Tarasov ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 0 * ½ 7½ =19 Aronson 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½ * 7½

(1) Bernard Cafferty and Mark Taimanov, The Soviet Championships (Cadogan 1998), pp. 92-95.

Original collection: Game Collection: USSR Championship 1957, by User: suenteus po 147.

 page 1 of 10; games 1-25 of 231  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Tolush vs Bronstein 1-0381957USSR ChampionshipA40 Queen's Pawn Game
2. Keres vs V Mikenas  ½-½381957USSR ChampionshipD56 Queen's Gambit Declined
3. V Tarasov vs Korchnoi 0-1301957USSR ChampionshipB29 Sicilian, Nimzovich-Rubinstein
4. B Gurgenidze vs R Nezhmetdinov 0-1281957USSR ChampionshipC77 Ruy Lopez
5. Petrosian vs Furman 0-1441957USSR ChampionshipA46 Queen's Pawn Game
6. K Klaman vs Spassky 1-0761957USSR ChampionshipC84 Ruy Lopez, Closed
7. Boleslavsky vs Taimanov  ½-½151957USSR ChampionshipE39 Nimzo-Indian, Classical, Pirc Variation
8. L Aronson vs Tal 0-1361957USSR ChampionshipA97 Dutch, Ilyin-Genevsky
9. Aronin vs Antoshin  ½-½641957USSR ChampionshipC92 Ruy Lopez, Closed
10. Kholmov vs A Bannik  ½-½221957USSR ChampionshipB07 Pirc
11. E Stoliar vs A Khasin  1-0321957USSR ChampionshipA26 English
12. Bronstein vs L Aronson 1-0401957USSR ChampionshipD02 Queen's Pawn Game
13. Spassky vs Keres 1-0461957USSR ChampionshipE31 Nimzo-Indian, Leningrad, Main line
14. Korchnoi vs Kholmov  ½-½211957USSR ChampionshipA33 English, Symmetrical
15. V Mikenas vs Aronin 0-1331957USSR ChampionshipB99 Sicilian, Najdorf, 7...Be7 Main line
16. R Nezhmetdinov vs V Tarasov  ½-½201957USSR ChampionshipC77 Ruy Lopez
17. Boleslavsky vs Petrosian ½-½201957USSR ChampionshipE56 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line with 7...Nc6
18. Taimanov vs Tal 0-1311957USSR ChampionshipE56 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Main line with 7...Nc6
19. Antoshin vs B Gurgenidze 1-0781957USSR ChampionshipE11 Bogo-Indian Defense
20. A Khasin vs K Klaman  ½-½401957USSR ChampionshipA55 Old Indian, Main line
21. A Bannik vs Tolush  ½-½511957USSR ChampionshipB97 Sicilian, Najdorf
22. Furman vs E Stoliar  1-0411957USSR ChampionshipE55 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Gligoric System, Bronstein Variation
23. Tal vs Bronstein 1-0461957USSR ChampionshipD15 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
24. Keres vs A Khasin  ½-½581957USSR ChampionshipB43 Sicilian, Kan, 5.Nc3
25. Tolush vs Korchnoi ½-½821957USSR ChampionshipD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
 page 1 of 10; games 1-25 of 231  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)  

Kibitzer's Corner
May-11-14  notyetagm: USSR Championship (1957)

Tal's last round (21) win that secured the championship for him:

Tal vs Tolush, 1957

May-11-14  waustad: Can you really picture getting this many players this good to play a 21 round tournament? Not this century.
May-12-14  notyetagm: <waustad: Can you really picture getting this many players this good to play a 21 round tournament? Not this century.>

Yeah, that's a *lot* of games. ;-)

May-12-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: What a lineup! Maybe not so voluntary, as certain obligations must be met to keep one's stipend from the state. Break the rules, and you could lose your apartment too, back in the day.
May-12-14  Petrosianic: Actually, there was no requirement to compete in the national championship until after Fischer became world champion. That's when they decided that maybe top players skipping the championship was making them too soft.
May-12-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: Ok, nothing "official", but a nudge from a local party apparatchik meant you play, or you might have stuff taken away from you.
May-12-14  Petrosianic: But no evidence that it happened. Pre-Fischer, a lot of top players did skip out on the big one. In all the years the Soviets held the title, a reigning world champion only won three times. But if you look at the early 70's tournaments, you'll start to see names that hadn't been around in a while, because they were starting to crack down.

Actually, a lot of top players have this disease. Anand hasn't won the Indian Championship since the 1980's. Larsen went years without playing in a Danish Championship. I'm not sure if Kramnik has ever been Russian Champion, or when Topalov last played in the Bulgarian Championship.

Apr-05-15  A.T PhoneHome: Yes, many times Soviet Union's best skipped USSR Championships in order to rest and prepare for international tournaments, but not until mid 60's. I think that up to mid 60's the very best Soviet players competed regularly in their national championships. Notable is Botvinnik's absence starting from 1952 USSR Championship victory after which he participated in 1955 USSR Championship, but his next (and last) participation would be 12 years later in 1967. As it is, he had to play World Championship matches in 1954, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1961 and finally in 1963 which obviously lowered his participation rate.

The introduction of Candidates Matches in 1965 is when top-flight Soviets started to skip USSR Championships for obvious reasons as many of them reached those said matches. Considering how strong field Soviets had always had, it would've been absurd for Soviet government to decline their entries in favour of USSR Championships.

- Amsterdam Interzonal (1964) produced five(!) Soviet entries to Candidates Matches and this cycle lasted from 1964 to 1966

- Sousse Interzonal (1967) produced four(!) Soviet entries to Candidates Matches, including last cycle's finalists Boris Spassky and Mikhail Tal and this cycle lasted from 1967 to 1969

- Palma Interzonal (1970) produced four(!) Soviet entries to Candidates Matches, including last cycle's final runner-up Viktor Korchnoi and dethroned World Champion Tigran Petrosian

Next was 1973 USSR Championship; the first to mandate participation. However, even when it was "strongly advised" to participate, I think that it didn't differ much from previous USSR Championships mainly because the field was pretty much the same, with the young blood of course so the effect of forced participation may be a bit exaggerated.

It would be really nice to pin medals on Fischer's chest but this one he won't receive. Mind you, he might be relieved due to excessive breathing difficulty stemming from carrying lots of medals on his chest!

Apr-06-15  Howard: The 1964 interzonal actually could have resulted in seven Soviets (and Larsen) making the Candidates, except for a rule back then limiting the number of players from one country (i.e., the Soviet Union !) to five.

That rule also came into play in the 1962 interzonal, in Stockholm. In that event, six Soviets normally would have made the Candidates...but there was only room for five.

Apr-06-15  A.T PhoneHome: For some reason I don't think that having five out of eight Candidates as Soviets in place of seven out of eight was much of a comfort for Western chess nations. :P But I didn't consider those facts, thank you for sharing <Howard>!

The introduction of those matches is the main reason for top-level absentees which just meant that there were more debutants and it presented a great opportunity to bring in more young and new Soviet stars. I don't think this new situation was perceived in negative light in Soviet Union and "being forced to play" only applied for 1973 and maybe 1991 USSR Championship.

Apr-06-15  Howard: Back in the day when the Soviet Union ruled over chess, the quip was sometimes made that for any Soviet grandmaster who wanted to become world champion, the "hardest" part was qualifying from the Soviet zonal tournament, every three years. After that, it'd be a "downhill" road from there as far as becoming world champion.

Translated, that means....the Soviet zonal every three years was such a super-strong tournament that even some of the very top Soviet players simply couldn't advance to the interzonal from that point---there was only room for a limited number of Soviet qualfiers. Thus, many exceptionally strong Soviet players had to watch the interzonal and Candidates competition from the sidelines.

Spassky, for example, made it to the 1956 Candidates tournament, at the age of only 19....but then the next two cycles after that, he slipped at crucial moments in the Soviet zonal, and didn't make the interzonal again until 1964.

Apr-06-15  A.T PhoneHome: Leonid Stein is someone I would've loved to see playing for the title. His USSR Championship debut was remarkable! He certainly took no favours from others, playing with confidence and strong will.

As for Spassky I think it's good he had those slips just so he would listen to someone and do some studying. Obviously it worked for him even though it never meant he was going to eat books for breakfast. :P but he worked a bit for his mid-60's successes and I don't think he regrets that decision today.

Of course it was hard; if you failed, another three years. And there was no way there wouldn't be a new bunch of Soviet youngsters pressing you 100%. And, three years waiting may put one in doubt which I think happened more than once because it's natural.

Oct-14-15  Howard: Tal's victory in this event was one of the reasons why FIDE awarded him the grandmaster title even though Tal had technically not made any grandmaster norms in international tournaments yet. In other words, FIDE made an exception in his case.

If anyone thought that that exception was not warranted, they probably would have reconsidered when Tal won the 1958 Soviet championship the following year--and that tournament was tougher than the 1958 edition !

Apr-05-16  Howard: Oops---slight typo on my part. I meant that the 1958 edition was tougher than the 1957 one, not the "1958".

Little wonder--1958 was a zonal year.

Apr-14-17  Benzol: Is the book that Peter Clarke wrote on this Championship available somewhere?
Apr-14-17  zanzibar: <Benzol> UC-Los Angeles Library has a copy:

http://www.worldcat.org/title/24th-...

Not even Amazon has a copy:

https://www.amazon.com/U-S-S-R-Ches...

Not looking good otherwise:

https://www.kuenzigbooks.com/pages/...

Maybe time to brush up on your Russian in order to read the original?

(I'm assuming such an original exists)

.

Apr-14-17  zanzibar: Maybe here (for $36):

http://www.chessbookstore.com/home/...

.

Apr-14-17  zanzibar: https://picclick.de/PH-Clarke-24th-...

(White to move after 30...Kh8-h7)


click for larger view

1q4r1 /3Q1Npk/p6p/1p5N/8/7P/Pn3PP1/6K1 w - - 0 1

<Tal, Mikhail -- Antoshin, Vladimir S
Moskou ch-URS (1) Moskou ch-URS
1957.01 1/2-1/2 C92e>

Apr-14-17  zanzibar: <Benzol> aren't you in Australia?

http://www.metrochessclub.org.au/In...

.

Apr-15-17  Benzol: <zanzibar> I'm across "The Ditch" in New Zealand.
Apr-15-17  Benzol: <zanzibar> Thanks for your efforts in trying to find it. Maybe Ray Keene will do a reissue sometime in the future.

:)

Apr-15-17  zanzibar: <Benzol> I wonder if we can find the Russian version of the tb somewhere online. Hmmm.

NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion.

Please observe our posting guidelines:

  1. No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language.
  2. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts.
  3. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members.
  4. Nothing in violation of United States law.
  5. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members.
  6. No trolling.
  7. The use of "sock puppet" accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by moderators, create a false impression of consensus or support, or stage conversations, is prohibited.
  8. Do not degrade Chessgames or any of it's staff/volunteers.

Please try to maintain a semblance of civility at all times.

Blow the Whistle

See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a moderator.


NOTE: Please keep all discussion on-topic. This forum is for this specific tournament only. To discuss chess or this site in general, visit the Kibitzer's Café.

Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors.
All moderator actions taken are ultimately at the sole discretion of the administration.

Spot an error? Please suggest your correction and help us eliminate database mistakes!

Copyright 2001-2025, Chessgames Services LLC