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USSR Championship (1959) The 26th Soviet Chess Championship took place in the city of Tbilisi from January 9th to February 11th, 1959. Twenty of the Soviet Union's best masters and grandmasters were invited to and qualified for the round robin tournament. Tigran Petrosian won his first of four USSR Championships here, undefeated against a field that included over 10 past and future winners of the Soviet crown. Tbilisi, Soviet Union (Georgia), 9 January - 11 February 1959 (1) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 Pts 1 Petrosian * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 13½ =2 Spassky ½ * ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 12½ =2 Tal ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 0 1 ½ 1 0 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 12½ =4 Taimanov ½ 1 ½ * 0 0 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 12 =4 Kholmov ½ ½ ½ 1 * ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 0 0 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 12 6 Polugaevsky ½ 1 0 1 ½ * ½ 0 1 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 11 =7 Averbakh 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 10½ =7 Keres ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ * 1 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 1 ½ 10½ 9 Korchnoi ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 0 0 0 * 1 1 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 10 =10 Geller ½ 0 0 0 0 1 ½ 1 0 * 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 9½ =10 Lutikov 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 * ½ 1 ½ 1 1 0 ½ 1 ½ 9½ =12 Bronstein ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 0 0 0 ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 1 9 =12 Gufeld 0 0 1 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 9 14 Yuchtman 0 ½ 1 0 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ * ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 1 8½ 15 Furman 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * 0 ½ ½ 1 1 8 =16 Vasiukov 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 1 * ½ ½ 1 ½ 7 =16 Gurgenidze ½ 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ * ½ 0 ½ 7 18 Krogius 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 6½ 19 Nezhmetdinov 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 0 0 1 ½ ½ 0 0 1 ½ * 1 6 20 Nikitin ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 * 5½ (1) Bernard Cafferty and Mark Taimanov, The Soviet Championships (Cadogan 1998), pp. 99-102. Original collection: Game Collection: USSR Championship 1959, by User: suenteus po 147.  page 1 of 8; games 1-25 of 190  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Bronstein vs Furman   ½-½ 19 1959 USSR Championship B31 Sicilian, Rossolimo Variation 2. Geller vs Krogius   ½-½ 24 1959 USSR Championship D42 Queen's Gambit Declined, Semi-Tarrasch, 7.Bd3 3. Keres vs Polugaevsky 1-0 54 1959 USSR Championship A48 King's Indian 4. R Nezhmetdinov vs Korchnoi 0-1 33 1959 USSR Championship C16 French, Winawer 5. Petrosian vs Kholmov ½-½ 53 1959 USSR Championship E11 Bogo-Indian Defense 6. Gufeld vs Spassky 0-1 74 1959 USSR Championship C64 Ruy Lopez, Classical 7. Tal vs Taimanov ½-½ 37 1959 USSR Championship B43 Sicilian, Kan, 5.Nc3 8. Lutikov vs J Yuchtman ½-½ 41 1959 USSR Championship C10 French 9. Vasiukov vs B Gurgenidze   ½-½ 20 1959 USSR Championship C75 Ruy Lopez, Modern Steinitz Defense 10. Averbakh vs A Nikitin   ½-½ 47 1959 USSR Championship D48 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav, Meran 11. Spassky vs Bronstein ½-½ 20 1959 USSR Championship B65 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer Attack, 7...Be7 Defense, 9...Nxd4 12. Geller vs Keres 1-0 38 1959 USSR Championship E45 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Bronstein (Byrne) Variation 13. Korchnoi vs Averbakh 0-1 43 1959 USSR Championship B47 Sicilian, Taimanov (Bastrikov) Variation 14. Kholmov vs R Nezhmetdinov ½-½ 63 1959 USSR Championship D25 Queen's Gambit Accepted 15. Taimanov vs Petrosian   ½-½ 26 1959 USSR Championship D16 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 16. Polugaevsky vs Lutikov   ½-½ 19 1959 USSR Championship A80 Dutch 17. J Yuchtman vs Tal 1-0 40 1959 USSR Championship C44 King's Pawn Game 18. Furman vs Vasiukov 0-1 40 1959 USSR Championship E94 King's Indian, Orthodox 19. Krogius vs B Gurgenidze   ½-½ 34 1959 USSR Championship E80 King's Indian, Samisch Variation 20. A Nikitin vs Gufeld   ½-½ 51 1959 USSR Championship B32 Sicilian 21. Bronstein vs A Nikitin 1-0 30 1959 USSR Championship C83 Ruy Lopez, Open 22. Lutikov vs Geller   1-0 55 1959 USSR Championship B88 Sicilian, Fischer-Sozin Attack 23. Keres vs Krogius 0-1 80 1959 USSR Championship B48 Sicilian, Taimanov Variation 24. Gufeld vs Korchnoi   ½-½ 41 1959 USSR Championship C00 French Defense 25. R Nezhmetdinov vs Taimanov   ½-½ 42 1959 USSR Championship B43 Sicilian, Kan, 5.Nc3  page 1 of 8; games 1-25 of 190    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing> May-13-16    perfidious: <plang> Till 1963, that is hardly surprising; for Botvinnik was constantly preparing for his title matches when not actually playing them. May-13-16    Dionysius1: That must have been a strange chess career once he was world champion. He could probably guess within 2 or 3 who his challenger was going to be so he knew his games were going to be limited to 2 or 3 opponents. A very dry kind of chess life that - would have been a kind of prison I would think! May-13-16    Olavi: After Botvinnik in 1955, the only reigning World Champions to play the Soviet ch were Karpov in 1976 and 1983 and Kasparov in 1988. May-13-16    plang: <That must have been a strange chess career > I doubt he complained about the right to a rematch in 1958 and 1961. May-13-16    keypusher: <Dionysius1: That must have been a strange chess career once he was world champion. He could probably guess within 2 or 3 who his challenger was going to be so he knew his games were going to be limited to 2 or 3 opponents. A very dry kind of chess life that - would have been a kind of prison I would think!> True, but (i) he played lots of fascinating games in his world championship matches, as winner, loser, or drawer (ii) he seemed to enjoy life after his parole, viz. Botvinnik vs Portisch, 1968 May-13-16    perfidious: <plang: I doubt (Botvinnik) complained about the right to a rematch in 1958 and 1961.> Me either, but Botvinnik was certainly unhappy when FIDE failed to grant his 'divine right' to a rematch after he lost to Petrosian. May-14-16    keypusher: FIDE decided to abolish the rematch in 1960 or 1961, though the decision didn't take effect until 1963. Here's Botvinnik's substantive defense of the rematch clause, given at a press conference after he dethroned Tal. <The point is young players are primarily interested in the play of the world champion. Perhaps this should not be so significant, since it is quite clear that nowadays there is a whole group of international grandmasters who play roughly equally strongly, but the battle for the title of world champion forces these grandmasters to try and improve in the field of chess, and, in addition, the battle for the world championship assists the growth of the popularity of chess. For these reasons, conditions should be created, in order if possible to exclude the accidental possession of this title, and in any event to ensure this: if a player begins to study chess less seriously after a victory, he should be punished for this. Thus the return match is an additional verification, which is very useful. Now it no longer exists.> He said Tal had also supported the rematch clause. Incidentally, <Howard>, as you can see Botvinnik didn't consider himself the best player in the world at this point. May-14-16    perfidious: <keypusher> The 1965 FIDE Congress failed, at the proposal of West Germany, to give Botvinnik the right to a rematch. May-15-16    Howard: True, keypusher, but I was thinking more of the late 1950's rather than 1961. Botvinnik probably still thought of himself as #1 during then. An interesting fact about Botvinnik's being denied a rematch was that Geller and Keres tied for 2nd-3rd at Curacao, so they had to have a playoff to see which one of them would get seeded into the 1965 Candiates. But, since Botvinnik (a la Fischer in 1977) passed up his seeded spot in 1965, the playoff--in retrospect--turned out to have been unnecessary. Thus, both Geller and Keres got seeded. And they were both eliminated by no other than Spassky. May-15-16    keypusher: <Howard: True, keypusher, but I was thinking more of the late 1950's rather than 1961. Botvinnik probably still thought of himself as #1 during then.> It's extremely unlikely that he felt any differently in 1959 than in 1961. Given that he scored two draws, one loss and one win in WC matches in the 1950s, failed to win any international tournaments outright, and won one Soviet championship while failing to win two others, he had no justification for thinking he was #1. In fact I'm pretty sure the <primus inter pares> quote dates from the 1950s. May-15-16    Howard: You probably know about Botvinnik than I do---personally, he's never been of much interest to me. May-15-16    plang: <failed to win any international tournaments outright, and won one Soviet championship while failing to win two others,> I don't think Botvinnik put a lot of emphasis on tournaments after he became WC. But I think most see his peak play as having been in the 40s before he became champion May-15-16    perfidious: There is a wealth of evidence for that opinion of Botvinnik's zenith, despite Alekhine being the reigning champion most of the time. May-17-16    Howard: But, then Alekhine had a "free ride" on the title from 1939-45, for obvious reasons---and he was clearly NOT the best player in the world anymore by 1938. Nov-02-16    ughaibu: "undefeated against a field that included over 10 past and future winners of the Soviet crown" Incorrect. Petrosian "won [ ] undefeated against a field that included [exactly nine] past and future winners of the Soviet crown". Had petrosian played against himself and had Kholmov not lost the playoff with Spassky and Stein, then the number would have been "over 10", it would have been eleven, but in that case, why the hell write "over 10"? Why not write "11"? Nov-02-16    John Abraham: Great result for Petrosian! very proud of him! Nov-10-19    ewan14: Petrosian 8 wins Tal. 9 wins Spassky. 8 wins Oct-05-21    kingscrusher: This tournament should have shut everyone up about Petrosian drawing too much :) Oct-05-21    fabelhaft: <This tournament should have shut everyone up about Petrosian drawing too much :)> Well he drew early against Keres and Geller, but that was only to stop Fischer from winning :-) Oct-05-21    Dionysius1: Well, he had more draws than nearly everybody else. But it's terrific he didn't lose a game out of 19 - no-one else achieved that. Or maybe that's your point? He drew more than nearly everybody else and still won the tournament! Oct-05-21    RookFile: Not sure if this tournament was strong enough. Only kidding, it's ridiculous to see somebody like Bronstein in 12th place. Oct-06-21    kingscrusher: Hi Guys, Just to clarify - I meant that Petrosian also had a lot of wins here. I meant to the effect "not mostly draws this time". But yes he did still have a lot of draws!. I was excited by the number of wins and him winning the tournament with that relatively risk-less style of play he had. Oct-06-21    fabelhaft: Kholmov is a comparatively unknown player in the west, but he sure did well especially against the top half here, even compared to Petrosian. Oct-06-21    fabelhaft: <it's ridiculous to see somebody like Bronstein in 12th place> Not often you see a tournament with Keres, Geller, Korchnoi and Bronstein all outside the top six. The next year Korchnoi and Geller were top two! Bronstein was 12th again though :-) Oct-06-21    Dionysius1: Thanks <kingscrusher>. I'll play the games over - maybe he got a bit more adventurous than usual in the games he won. search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing> 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! 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