All-Russian Tournament in Memory of M. I. Chigorin

Mikhail Ivanovich Chigorin wrote: “Organization and activity — this is the watchword and slogan of the struggle for the future flourishing of chess in our fatherland” (Shakhmatny Vestnik, 1885, p. 173).

These words of the remarkable Russian chess player inevitably come to mind when one analyzes material about the tournaments in memory of M. I. Chigorin, organized by the All-Russian Committee for Physical Culture and Sport.

The following comparison suggests itself. More than seventy years ago, after Chigorin’s death, an international chess congress in memory of the great Russian master was organized in St. Petersburg. At that time many wishes were expressed about the need to continue developing chess art, for, as was stated in the tournament collection, “Chigorin, with his whole life and activity, justified chess in Russia, and now this is becoming a broad propagation of interest in the game among all strata of Russian society.”

Alas, the police-bureaucratic barriers that at every step created such a government weakness in the material base of chess culture could lead only to “chess societies” of various private individuals.

The great historical changes that occurred in our country after the victory of the October Socialist Revolution, thanks to the tireless care of the Party and the Government, made Soviet culture advance far ahead and surpass the culture of capitalist countries. In the field of chess in particular, these successes brought Soviet chess art and the Soviet chess organization to first place in the world.

A vivid testimony to the mass character and popular nature of chess is the All-Russian tournament dedicated to the memory of M. I. Chigorin.

Under the competition rules, the tournament was held in advance within a precisely fixed time frame simultaneously throughout the entire territory of the Russian Federation — from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok, from Arkhangelsk to Stavropol. First, tournaments were held in grassroots collectives: at enterprises, collective farms, institutions, universities, schools, and clubs. Then came competitions in districts, cities, regions, territories, and autonomous republics, and finally the concluding All-Russian competitions: the semi-finals and the final.

The basis of the competitions up to the final stage was the so-called Olympic system: a player who lost one game or made two draws was eliminated.

All chess players were invited to participate in the tournaments, regardless of sex, age, or category — including those without a category.

To popularize the competitions, the periodical press, radio, leaflets, and brochures were used. In several regions, numerous lectures were held in the collectives of public instructors and judges.

The Republican Section developed plans for participation in mass tournaments for chess players of all regions, territories, autonomous republics, Moscow and Leningrad. Local committees for physical culture and sport, in turn, drew up plans for districts, voluntary sports societies, and grassroots collectives.

The number of competitors in the tournaments was: in Leningrad — 76,760 people; in Moscow — 72,000; in Stavropol Territory — 40,000; in Rostov Region — 35,700; in Voronezh Region — 28,900; in Chelyabinsk Region — 26,100; in Krasnodar Territory — 18,800, and so on.

The total number of participants in the Chigorin competitions exceeded 720,000 people. It was rightly noted by Sovetsky Sport that chess history had never before known such a mass competition.

Unfortunately, this did not happen without would-be organizers for whom love of chess was expressed not in example-setting Chigorin-style energy, but only in collecting points and scores in competitions of chess “paper-pushers” from various staffs. Thus, in the Kuybyshev and Orel regions, the local chess sections derailed the Chigorin tournaments and provided no assistance to grassroots collectives in organizing competitions.

On January 15, 1951, the hall of the Leningrad House of Composers was ceremonially decorated, when 84 envoys of chess organizations of the RSFSR — winners of regional, territorial, and republican tournaments, representatives of Moscow and Leningrad, grandmasters and masters — gathered there. That evening the opening of the All-Russian Chigorin semi-final competitions took place.

One cannot fail to recall the heartfelt words of tournament participant comrade Lisitsyn from Oskaya Region. In his speech he said:

“I live far away, in a rural locality, 400 kilometers from the railway. In our collective farms people love the chess game and willingly play in their leisure hours. I managed to raise my chess qualification to the second category. But, of course, I did not think that, as a participant, I would ever get to such a large tournament, where I would meet masters. The Chigorin tournament has given me such a happy opportunity. For this I sincerely thank the Soviet government.”

Comrade Lisitsyn’s final words were met with stormy applause from the entire hall.

The arbiters’ panel of the Chigorin tournament had to do a great deal of work in order to distribute the participants among 14 approximately equal groups. In view of some local sports committees’ poor work, not all of the strongest chess players of the RSFSR were able to take part in the Leningrad tournament. Nevertheless, the struggle in the groups was intense.

On a free day, the participants of the All-Russian chess tournament visited the Novodevichy Cemetery and laid wreaths on the grave of Mikhail Ivanovich Chigorin.

Here are the results of the semi-final meetings.

Group No. 1. Flor (Moscow) — 4; Slepov (Grozny) and Ulyanov (Sochi) — 2½ each; Grigoriev (Tomsk), Efimov (Yakutsk), and Poletaev (Chelyabinsk) — ½ point each.

Group No. 2. Estrin (Moscow) — 4; Avtonomov (Leningrad) — 3; Shestopalov (Moscow Region) — 2½; Bakulin (Moscow) and Tiberikov (Orel) — 2 each; Levitsky (Nalchik) — 1½ points.

Group No. 3. Simagin (Moscow) — 4½; Volodin (Vladimir) and Nikitin (Cheboksary) — 3 each; Barakin (Arkhangelsk) — 2; Yamshchikov (Tyumen) — 1½; Tutin (Kostroma) — 1 point.

Group No. 4. Aronin (Moscow Region) and Korchnoi (Leningrad) — 4½ each; Kushelman (Vladivostok) — 2; Golovin (Khabarovsk) and Permyakov (Molotov) — 1½ each; Tarakanov (Leningrad) — 1 point.

Group No. 5. Lutikov (Leningrad) — 5; Chistyakov (Moscow) — 3½; Gambet (Leningrad) — 3; Honivsky (Omsk) — 2; Kaufman (Rostov-on-Don) — 1; Inozemtsev (Ivanovo Region) — ½ point.

Group No. 6. Alatortsev (Moscow) — 4½; Berger (Leningrad Region) — 3½; Plazhek (Bryansk Region) and Charushnikov (Rostov-on-Don) — 2 each; Kursky (Crimea Region) and Saveliev (Velikiye Luki) — 1½ each.

Group No. 7. Shamkovich (Dzaudzhikau) — 4; Terpugov (Moscow) — 3½; Kirillov (Leningrad) — 3; Schneider (Chelyabinsk Region) — 2½; Teterev (Saratov) and Shapiro (Kuybyshev) — 1 point each.

Group No. 8. Kamyshov (Moscow) — 5; Vinogradov (Leningrad) — 3½; Arseniev (Yaroslavl) and Lyosha (Tambov) — 2½ each; Kozlov (Leningrad Region) — 1½; Kushinov (Novgorod Region) — 0.

Group No. 9. Tolush (Leningrad) — 4½; Stefanov (Kazan) — 3; Kreslev (Sverdlovsk), Kitaygorodsky (Moscow), and Yurikov (Krasnodar) — 2½ each; Ulanov (Rostov-on-Don) — 0.

Group No. 10. Taimanov (Leningrad) — 5; Vein (Moscow) — 4; Novikov (Kaliningrad) — 3; Klyachko (Leningrad) — 2; Novikov (Rostov Region) — 1; Ignatiev (Sverdlovsk Region) — 0.

Group No. 11. Stolyar (Leningrad Region) — 4½; Chekhover (Leningrad) — 3; Berkutov (Ufa) — 2½; Lyubavsky (Pskov) — 2; Mashkov (Moscow Region) and Pressman (Penza) — 1½ each.

Group No. 12. Klaman (Leningrad) — 4½; Spassky (Leningrad) — 4; Aizenstadt (Leningrad) — 3; Unkovsky (Vologda) — 2½; Lyatkov (Stalingrad Region) and Botashev (Molotov Region) — ½ point each.

Group No. 13. Kopylov (Leningrad) — 5; Zaretsky (Chkalov Region) and Kovalenko (Leningrad) — 3½ each; Belev (Kirov) — 2; Lisitsyn (Omsk Region) — 1; Gozman (Ulyanovsk) — 0.

Group No. 14. Byshev (Leningrad) — 4; Buriev (Astrakhan) — 3½; Bubnov (Voronezh) — 3; Cheraskov (Leningrad) — 2½; Melnikov (Mari ASSR) — 1½; Petropavlovsky (Kursk) — ½ point.

If one does not count the failure of the honored master Chistiakov and Chekhover, the semi-final results were in general natural. Among individual results, one should note Poletaev’s victory over Flor in the “modest” debut of grandmaster Salo Flohr; Pressman’s victory over Chekhover; and the fighting draw in the rook ending by first-category player Stefanov against Tolush.

Grandmaster S. Flohr could not take part in the final stage because he fell ill and had to withdraw from the tournament; his games were not counted.

On January 26, in the hall of the Leningrad State Conservatory, the final of the tournament in memory of M. I. Chigorin began. It included the winners of the 14 groups, as well as the RSFSR champion, grandmaster V. Smyslov.

By lot, the participants were assigned the following numbers: 1. Smyslov, 2. Shamkovich, 3. Lutikov, 4. Taimanov, 5. Stolyar, 6. Byshev, 7. Aronin, 8. Estrin, 9. Klaman, 10. Kamyshov, 11. Kopylov, 12. Tolush, 13. Simagin, 14. Korchnoi.

The final competitions aroused great interest. The tournament hall was always packed. The newspapers Leningradskaya Pravda and Smena covered the course of the competition systematically in a special chess issue of Posledniye Izvestiya.

As a result of intense struggle, the final tournament ended with the deserved victory of V. Smyslov, who scored 10 points out of 13.

A close look at the games of the Moscow grandmaster played in the Chigorin tournament further convinces one that Smyslov possesses rare depth of understanding and brilliant technique. From this point of view, his wins over Byshev and Taimanov are especially characteristic.

In the 11th round, Smyslov unexpectedly lost to Kopylov in a position where, even after the loss of material, he still had good counterchances. Losing to Kopylov did not discourage the tournament leader. In decisive encounters with Tolush and Simagin, the outcome of which was of decisive importance for the struggle for first place, Smyslov demonstrated high tactical mastery and will to win. His exchange sacrifice in the game with Tolush and the whole subsequent play do honor to the tournament winner.

Master L. Aronin of Moscow Region also performed well in the final tournament. At present, he is one of the strongest chess players in the USSR, with extensive knowledge in the field of opening theory. His result, shared second and third places with Taimanov, could have been even higher if not for a certain complacency, which led to his loss in the last round to Klaman.

Alongside Aronin stood the champion of Leningrad, master M. Taimanov. There was a moment when Leningrad chess players had already lost hope of seeing their champion among the prizewinners. Having lost a difficult game to Klaman, Taimanov was pushed back to a distant place. However, thanks to three consecutive wins at the finish, including one over Tolush, Taimanov eventually scored 8½ points and achieved major success in the tournament.

The game Taimanov–Aronin was played interestingly. It is known that master Aronin is an expert in the Sicilian Defence, which he almost always chooses in reply to 1.e4.

After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 Be7 8.O-O-O h6 9.Bf4 Qc7 10.Ng3, Black, suspecting nothing, played 10...b5?

Taimanov replied 11.Bxd6! and after 11...Bxd6 12.Ndxb5 Qb8 13.Nxd6+ Bxd6 14.Rxd6, the unexpected blow 15.Nxe4! Nxe4 16.Rd8+ decided the outcome of the battle. The continuation was 16...Nxd8 17.Bb5+ Ke7 18.Re1 Ra6 19.Bxa6, and White soon won.

It should be added that the idea of the sacrifice on b5 has its predecessor in the game Averbakh–Sustyn, USSR Championship, 1949; for the first time it was indicated in notes to that game.

V. Simagin of Moscow took fourth place, having played several games excellently. Special mention should be made of his original opening system used against Shamkovich, as well as his successful duels with Kopylov and Klaman.

Young Leningrader V. Korchnoi had to make great efforts to share fifth to seventh places with A. Tolush and N. Kopylov. Korchnoi played this tournament with great enthusiasm and achieved the master-norm score of 7½ points. His result against the four tournament winners is noteworthy: 2½ out of 4.

The All-Russian tournament in memory of M. I. Chigorin has entered chess history as a major public event in our chess life. Nearly every tournament held in regions, territories, and autonomous republics of the RSFSR was accompanied by chess evenings at which reports were read about the national chess school and about the successes and achievements of Soviet chess players.

The tournament once again showed how great the inexhaustible possibilities are for the creative growth of the Soviet person, in whose interests the whole many-sided cultural life of our country is being built.

After the organizational forms of the All-Russian competitions have been carefully studied, the Chigorin tournaments, as traditional reviews of national talents, will be held in the Russian Federation once every two years.

One may express confidence that the number of participants in these traditional mass competitions will grow from year to year and will correspond to the broadest scope of the million-strong chess movement in the Soviet Union.

Ya. Rokhlin