Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
�
Red Letters
Soviet Union
The right of Timothy David Harding and Sergey Yakovlevich Grodzensky to be identified
as the joint authors of this work has been asserted under the laws of the Republic of Ireland
and the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, Internet, magnetic tape,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher.
Printed and bound in Ireland by Leinster Leader Ltd., Naas, Co. Kildare
CD Production by Saturn Fulfilment Services Ltd., Dublin.
Roll of Honour
The photographs are to be found in an 8-page art paper section in the centre of the book.
For information about the players see the appendix on pages 1 5 1 - 1 56.
Additional photographs of these and other personalities are on the CD-ROM.
Acknowledgments
During the five years we have worked on this book, countless people have assisted Sergey
and me in collecting games and information about these championships.
A special mention must be made of CC-GM Hermann Heemsoth who gave us the bul
letins of the 4th Championship and many scrapbooks, in which over long years he had col
lected press cuttings and manuscript games from numerous USSR correspondence events.
In the early stages, also, we received useful advice from GM Alexander Baburin and from
Michail Melts, who had collected the games of Championships 1 6- 1 9 before he emigrated
to the USA.
Many of the players in the championships were of considerable assistance. In particular,
we wish to mention Mikhail Umansky (who provided the crosstable and all his games from
the 13th Championship), Gennady Nesis and Alik Zilberberg who also provided games.
Sergey particularly wishes to thank the following for their help: Vladimir Filippov, Albert
Latash, Vasily Malinin, Lev Omelchenko, Nikolai Poleshchuk, Grigory Sanakoev, Vladimir
Semenyuk, Anatoly Sychyov, Evgeny Tyulin, and Vladimir Zaitsev.
Additionally, we wish to thank GM Paul Motwani for permission to include his annot
ations to the Estrin-Sadomsky game from the 5th Championship, originally written by him
fo r 'Chess Mail' magazine. Some of the comments on the early opening moves had to be
cut for reasons of space.
A special mention is due to Ken Neat for his meticulously professional translation and
checking of Sergey's original manuscript, and for suggesting many analytical corrections.
Thanks also go to Philip Penny for his cover design, to Joe Cooke for adapting Philip 's de
sign for the CD face and to Seamus O'Byme for proof-reading.
Finally, we both wish to thank our families for their support and understanding.
Sergey Grodzensky, Moscow Tim Harding, Dublin
July 2003
Preface by Tim Harding
THIS book is the culmination of many years that they had hundreds, if not thousands, of
research by its two authors, revealing a active players who were the equal of all but
wealth of forgotten chess masterpieces and a the very elite of western masters.
part of chess history which has hitherto been Playing through the games in the month
unrecorded. This is the story of the Corre ly magazine 'Shakhmatny Byulleten' was a
spondence Chess Championships of the So revelation. After a few pages of games by
viet Union, many of which were among the famous players in the major international
greatest chess tournaments played by post tournaments, the reader would find a hun
- stronger, even, than some of the World dred or more games from internal Soviet
Championships. events - quite a few of these played by
Several grandmasters, famous masters post - in which highly original opening
and noted chess writers competed in the 2 1 ideas, deeply-calculated combinations and
USSR C C Finals. Four o f them - Konstan fantastic complications often occurred.
tinopolsky, Estrin, Simagin and Yudovich However, this is a history book and
- succeeded in becoming USSR Champion. a practical chess book, not a book about
Yet in most of these events the well-known politics. It is about the 2 1 stories of the 21
names were eclipsed by talented players for championships, and the people who played
whom chess was not their principal career. in them, told principally by a man - my
One of these - Umansky - went on to even colleague, grandmaster Sergey Grodzensky
greater successes; the names of some of the - who was personally involved in some of
others are probably still unknown to most the later championships and knew many of
chess players in the West. the people involved.
Correspondence chess is a form of the
game ideally suited to those who are pre
vented by career or family responsibilities, What is C C?
by geographical separation, by age or by
health difficulties from competing "over the Correspondence chess (CC) is basically
board" against their peers in normal club the game of chess played between oppo
and tournament competitions. However, it nents at a distance over a period of weeks,
also has a strong appeal to many players months, even years sometimes. The trans
for whom research and analysis - the intel mission of the moves until comparatively
lectual challenge of chess - is as important, recent times was almost always done by
or more important, than "sporting" elements post, although as early as the 1 9th cen
like the race to beat the clock in a time tury the telegraph was sometimes used. The
scramble. Such are often the people who terms "correspondence chess" and "postal
become the champions of correspondence chess" have never quite been synonymous
chess. - and they certainly are not today, when
Growing up as a young western chess the majority of CC is played by email or on
player in the 1 960s, I soon learned that the World Wide Web servers.
USSR was the greatest chess-playing coun CC tournaments began to be played in
try on the planet. Such was the strength in several countries in the last third of the
depth of the Soviet Union' s chess culture 1 9th century. By the 1 930s, a wide range of
postal chess events and even national cham pened which was probably unexpected by
pionships and international team matches almost everyone who lived through those
were being played. In the 1 930s the IFSB times. The communist system suddenly
(precursor of today's ICCF) attracted large collapsed and each of the (hitherto only
numbers of European players including such partially self-governing) 'Soviet socialist re
famous names as Eliskases, Keres, Vidmar publics' soon became an independent state.
and the artist/chess master Marchel Duch The political issues involved are no con
amp. However, at that period the USSR cern of this book, but from a sporting view
was undergoing major political and socio point there was a problem to be resolved,
economic changes and CC players there had which Sergey discusses in the chapter on
fewer opportunities. the 1 9th championship. The Russian chess
The Second World War forced a break federation decided to continue to their end
in the development of international CC ac the championships which had begun, even if
tivities. However, but by the late 1 940s the only the preliminaries were under way.
game had become a truly global phenom I doubt if they foresaw that 1 1 further
enon, aided by the arrival of affordable air years would be required to bring the series
mail. Intercontinental competitions became to its final conclusion. So the player who
feasible at last. Also in the USSR, this form won the 2 1 st and last of the USSR CC
of the game grew very rapidly after the war, Championships probably has the distinction
as Sergey describes in this book. of being the last person to win a Soviet title
in any kind of sporting or cultural activity !
+ check
# checkmate
good move
!! brilliant move
? bad move
?? blunder
!? interesting move
?! dubious move
+- White is winning
± large White advantage
;I; small White advantage
-+ Black is winning
+ large Black advantage
:j: small Black advantage
00 unclear position
/:::,. intending/ threatening/ with the idea
Ch championship
Cht team championship
EU European event
WT World event
Wch world championship
CC correspondence chess
GM grandmaster
CC-IM ICCF International Master
CC-SIM ICCF Senior International Master
CC-GM ICCF Grandmaster
corr correspondence game
FIDE World Chess Federation
OTB over-the-board
OL olympiad
CCOL Correspondence Olympiad
sf semifinal
zt zonal tournament
izt interzonal
ct candidates tournament
tt team tournament
ICCF International Correspondence Chess Federation
(D) see next diagram
w White to play in diagram
B Black to play in diagram
1-0 game ends in a win for White
0-1 game ends in a win for Black
Yz-Yz game ends in a draw
Introduction: the Uncrowned
Champions
play. A master of deep strategic thinking, he Depriving the opponent of his last hope
justified 14 . . . i,d7 as follows: "This move, of a respite, which he would have retained
in my view, is most in accordance with the after the immediate 22 ... i,xhl 23 CL:le3
demands of the position: by posting his 'iVd8 24 @el 'iVh4+25 'iVf2.
bishop at c6, Black exploits the unfavour But now mate is threatened from all
able placing of the white pieces with the sides: 23 CL:le3 'iVh4#; 23 CL:lel 'iVh4+ 24
aim of preparing a direct attack on the white @e3 'iVg5+ 25 @f2 CLJg4+! 26 �xf3
king, on whichever side it castles, and at the 1Ve3+ 27 @g2 CL:lf2#; 23 Uel 'iVh4+ 24
same time secures a completely impregnable @e3 'iVg5+ 25 @f2 'iVd2+ 26 Ue2 CL:ld3+
position for his own king (after ... 0-0-0)". 27 @xf3 'iVf4# or 26 i,e2 CL:ld3+ 27 @fl
15 e4 i,xe2+ 28 Uxe2 'iVf4+ 29 Uf21Vxf2#.
After 15 e3 i,c6 16 f3 Ug8 ! the com 23 h4 i,xhl 0-1
binative threat of 1 7 ... U xg2! is hanging The success of these tournaments pre
over White. In the event of 1 5 0-0-0 b5 ! pared the ground for the staging of official
16 Uxd6 �e7 1 7 Ud2 Uhb8 the enemy USSR championships. And a tournament,
pieces again move swiftly into attacking intended as the 1 st USSR Correspondence
positions. Chess Championship, began in January
15 ... i,c6 16 f3 Ug8 1 940. On 6th February 1 940 the chess and
Beware: . . . Uxg2! - the leitmotif of draughts newspaper '64' announced the
Black's entire play. start of the championship.
17 @f2 At the same time entries were invited
Although clumsy, White tries in this to correspondence tournaments for players
way after 1 8 i,e2 to bring up his h l -rook who had achieved first category in over-the
to the defence. But it is destined to remain board play or second category in a tourna
a spectator. ment 'without seeing their opponents' . If it
is remembered that at that time there were This was also the course taken by the
far fewer first category players than there game Kan-Yudovich from the 1 937 USSR
are masters at present, one can imagine how Championship. There after 9 ... QJxd4 1 0
significant were the categories conferred for exd4 Qjf5 1 1 d5 Black got into prolonged
successes in competitions by post. difficulties. Ivashin also goes in for the early
Twenty-two players began the cham conceding of the centre, but he associates it
pionship ! None of the subsequent with an original plan, which Dubinin admits
USSR championships attracted such a not to have evaluated properly.
number. Among the part1c1pants were 10 h3
the masters A.Konstantinopolsky (Kiev), As the result of such an insipid reaction,
P.Dubinin (Gorky), G.Veresov (Minsk) White comes under heavy pressure on the
and G.Kasparian (Yerevan), as well as queenside.
S.Lebedev (Leningrad) who had made a 10 ...a6 11 tl:lde2 bS 12 cxbS axbS 13 e4 b4
name for himself in previous competi 14 tl:ldS �a6 lS .&rel tl:leS 16 tl:lef4 cS
tions, another contemporary of Chigorin - 17 tl:lxe7+ 'fixe7 18 a3 b3 19 .&r bl 'fid7
K.Rozenkrants, Kh.Baranov, V.Zbandutto, 20 ,&re3 (D)
A.Komarov, A.Mukhin and A.Polkvoi
(all Moscow), A.Ivashin (Kuibyshev),
M.Zhudro (Vitebsk), V.Gergenreder (Bez
hitsa), D.Russo (Odessa), V.Moskalev B
(Michurinsk), D.Gostishchev (Zaporozhe),
S.Krichevtsov (Vinnitsa), P.Komarov (Ufa),
N.Shesterikov (Saratov), V.Nazarevsky
(Kiev) and N.Sidorov (Kirov).
Information in the chess press about the
course of the play was scanty. Only on 2 1 st
May 1 94 1 (in an issue that turned out to be
one of the last) the newspaper '64' reported
that after 1 6 months' play, out of the 23 1
games, one third - 78 - were finished. The 20 ...c4 ?!
leaders were Moskalev - 7Yz/12, Gostish The turning point. 20 . . . tl:lc4!? came into
chev - 7/1 0, Lebedev - 7/1 2; Rozenkrants consideration, and if 2 1 .&r xb3 'fia4 22
- 6Yz/8; Dubinin - 619, A.Komarov - 5 Yz/7, .&rd3 'f;xdl + 23 .&r xdl tl:lxb2. Black is
Veresov - 516, Konstantinopolsky - 1 Yz/2 enticed by a tempting move, which is based,
and Kasparian - Yz/2. however, on an incorrect evaluation of the
position. The battle enters its second phase.
Black's initiative on the queenside is halted,
White : P. Dubinin and his c-pawn, the pride of his position, is
transformed into a source of concern. Play
Black : A .lvashin shifts to the kingside, where White holds all
the trumps. His immediate aim is to provoke
USSR CC Ch 1 940-41 the exchange of the dark-square bishops.
21 �fl tlJc6 22 �d2 �d4 23 QjdS fS ?
English Opening A 2 1 Both the previous move, and especially
this opening of the position, play into
1 c4 eS 2 tl:lc3 d6 3 g3 tl:lc6 4 �g2 g6 S e3 White 's hands. Restraint was necessary
�g7 6 tlJge2 tlJge7 7 0-0 0-0 8 d4 exd4 9 - 23 ... f6 or 23 . . . 'f;a7 .
tl:lxd4 .&rb8 ! 24 �c3 !
It would seem that Black did not foresee veloped by Konstantinopolsky in the years
this sacrifice, as a result of which White before the Second World War.
does not simply exchange bishops, but 11...b4 12 cxb4 cxb4 13 h3 0-0 14 b3 �b7
eliminates the enemy bishop, even though at 15 �b2 l:.ac816 �d3 d517 tl)bd2 dxe4
the cost of the exchange, leaving him with 18 l:,cl! Vi'b8
absolute control of the long diagonal. In a game Konstantinopolsky-P�nov
24 �xe3
•.• from a training tournament (1939) Black
A difficult but forced decision. The c4- played 18 ... Vi'd?, but without success.
pawn would not survive long in the event of 19 l:.xc8 l:.xc8 20 l2Jxe4 exd4 21 i:t:Jeg5
25 l2Jxc3. �c5(D)
25 l2Jxe3 Ve6
The power of the unopposed bishop is il
lustrated by the variation 25 ... fxe4 26 Vi'd5+
l:.f7 (26 ... Vf7?? 27 i2Jg4 !+-) 27 i2Jg4!. w
26 exf5 gxf5 27 �g2 i2Je7 28 Vi'd4 Vi'g6
29 l:.el
White brings up his last reserve and
Black's resistance crumbles.
29... l:. be830 i2Jd5 i2Jc6 31 i:t:Je7+! 1-0
The audacious knight cannot be touched
by either the rook (31... l:.xe? 32
with mate in three moves), or the knight
(31...lbxe? 32 l:.xe?!).
In 1941, the Soviet Union's sudden 22 l2Jxh7! Vi'f4
involvement in the Second World War The acceptance of the sacrifice would
prevented the championship from being have led to a decisive advantage for White:
finished. Only a few games from the tour 22 ... lt:Jxh? 23 �xh?+ @xh7 24 tl)g5+
nament have been preserved. This win by @h6 (24... @g6 25 Vi'g4) 25 l2Jxf7+ etc.
Pyotr Dubinin, an outstanding player and 23 tl)fg5 l2Jxh7 24 �xh7+ @f8 25 �cl
later an ICCF grandmaster, was one of the Vi'h4 26 g3 Vi'h6 27 �f51-0
few to be published. Black resigned in view of 27... Vc6 28
Retained in Konstantinopolsky's records �e4 'iid7 29 Vi'h5.
is the score of one of his games from the The first CC tournament in the USSR
uncompleted USSR CC championship. after the war, in which second category
players competed, began on the 15th of
October 1945.
White: A. Konstantinopolsky Then early in the following year the mag
azine 'Shakhmaty v SSSR' arranged a spe
Black: D.Russo cial event for candidate masters. This dou
ble-rcund event of nine players, the majority
USSR CC Ch 1940-41 of whom subsequently became masters, was
won by A.Ivashin (Kuibyshev), who scored
Ruy Lopez C90 10 points out of 16 and finished half a point
ahead of the second-placed Yakov Estrin.
1 e4 e52 i2Jf3 l2Jc6 3 �b5a6 4 �a4 tl)f6 This completes the pre-history of the
50-0 b56 �b3 d6 7 l:.el �e7 8c3 lba5 USSR correspondence chess champion
9 c510 d4 Vi'c7 11 a4 ships, and we now move on to the champi
The theory of this sharp variation was de- onships proper.
�
CJ)
1 st USSR CC Championship ( 1 948- 1 95 1)
N2 I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
1 A.Konstantinopolsky Moscow
..;:,:? 0 I 0 y, 1 l 1 l y, 1 1 1 1 1 y, llYz
•
2 N.Kopaev Chemovtsy 1 1 Y2 y, y, 0 1 1 y, Y2 y, 1 l 1 1 11
3 V.Simagin Moscow 0 0 0 Yi I I 1 I l 1 1 1 y, 1 1 11
4 A.Sokolsky Lvov 1 y, 1 l 0 I y, l 1 0 1 Y2 Y2 1 1 11
...
Moscow ,..
5 L.Abramov y, y, Y2 0 0 1 l l 1 l 1 Y2 0 l 1 10
Alma-A ta if
6 D.Russo 0 y, 0 l l
\
Y2 Y2 0 Y2 l I l % Yz Y2 8Yz �.
!"'
7 D.Grechkin Stalingrad 0 l 0 0 0 'h A Y2 1 1 1 0 y, 1 1 'h 8 �
�
Gorky �
8 A.Gilman 0 0 0 y, 0 Y2 Y2 :�:..\� 1 y, y, 1 l 'h 1 y, 7Yz
·Cri
,,..
9 A.Perfiliev Gorky 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 Y2 y, �1 1 y, 1 6
15 S.Poletaev Cheliabinsk 0 0 0 0 0 Y2 0 0 y, l 0 l 0 y,
;m11 y, 4
±+ .+.L.
16 L.Isaev Moscow Yi 0 0 0 0 Yi Yi 'h 0 0 0 Y2 0 Y2 y, [,!' !+.. 3Yz
First Championship (1948-1951)
THE TRADITION of staging individual players, and for the future world champion
USSR Championships, which were to be Yakov Estrin it marked his debut in mas
come the most prestigious competitions in ter correspondence chess, albeit not a very
the country, was e�tablished in 1 948. All the successful one. It should be mentioned that
USSR Championships have been notable for· the participants also included Vladimir
the tenacious and tense nature of the play, Zbandutto ( 1 904- 1 959), who from 1 93 8
like genuinely competitive events. So that was director of the all-union committee for
the reader should sense this, we will endeav correspondence tournaments.
our to communicate not only the results, but Most of the players in the 1 st USSR
also the course of the play. Championship combined over-the-board
All grandmasters and masters were per and correspondence play. D.Grechkin had
sonally invited to the l st USSR Champion won the championships of the Stalingrad
ship. Six accepted: L.Abramov, V.Simagin, Region, N.Kopaev had no equals in the
A.M. Konstantinopolsky (all Moscow), D. championship of the Chernovits Region,
Grechkin (Stalingrad), N.Kopaev (Chernovt and in the late 1 940s A.Sokolsky was first
sy) and A.Sokolsky (Lvov). The remaining in the all-Ukrainian championships and in
participants were included for their successes 1 950 was the winner of a USSR Champion
in pre-war competitions. ship semi-final.
Of the 1 6 participants, only four had Of the participants in the 1 st USSR CC
played in the uncompleted championship Ch, still alive is Lev Abramov, who in June
before the war, and they represented just 2003 celebrated his 92nd birthday. Abramov
three republics - Russia, Ukraine and Kaza became a national master in 1 940. He com
khstan. Moreover, the honour of Kazakhstan peted successfully in Leningrad Champion
was defended by the Odessa player D.Russo, ships and, after he moved to Moscow, also
who was living there at that time (apparently in the championships of the capital. After
in political exile). the 1 st USSR Championship he gave up
It is hard to explain the absence from the correspondence play for a long time.
championship of players from Leningrad Lev Abramov was the first representative
and the Baltic Republics, where correspond of the Soviet chess organisation in the ICCF
ence play was popular. Before the war the administration, and in 1 959- 1 967 he was
famous Estonian grandmaster Paul Keres elected Vice-President of the International
had become European champion, and in Federation of Correspondence Players. Nev
1 950 he was the organiser and winner of the ertheless in the late 1 960s he was included
first Estonian Championship. in the Championship of Europe, where he
Even so, participating in the champion shared 2nd place, and in 1 979 he was award
ship were several already very well-known ed the ICCF international master title.
The duties of chief arbiter of the 1 st the all-union sports committee.
USSR Championship were undertaken by The future grandmaster Vladimir Sim
the master N.Zubarev. He did not have agin, who shared second place, gained a
any direct connection with correspondence striking victory over the well-known organ
chess, but he was a well-known organiser iser of correspondence competitions.
from pre-war times, and after the war he
headed the chess section of the all-union
committee on matters of physical culture White: V.Simagin
and sport, he developed the USSR chess
stattite and he was considered an expert on Black: V.Zbandutto
qualification matters.
The first to finish in the championship 1 st USSR CC Ch , 1 948-51
was the Abramov-Zbandutto game. The
result - a draw. Then decisive results began Ruy Lopez C61
to come in.
By mid- 1 949 the leading group had been Notes by Vladimir Simagin
established: L.Abramov had 71h out of 9,
D.Grechkin 7 out of 9, V.Simagin 5 out 1 e4 es 2 lt:Jf3 lt:Jc6 3 �bS lt:Jd4
of 6 and A.Konstantinopolsky 31h out of 4. It seems to me that in this variation it is
After the passage of a further year Abram hard for Black to equalise.
ov' s chances looked very convincing - 1 0 4 lt:Jxd4 exd4 S 0-0 c6
out of 1 2, while Grechkin, who finished the In my view, 5 ... tt:Je7 is preferable.
tournament with 8 points out of 1 5 , was no 6 �a4 lt:Je7 7 d3
longer among the contenders. There is no point in White playing 7 c3,
By the rules of the tournament, play since the d4-pawn is weak.
continued until 1 January 1 95 1 , after which 7... dS
all the unfinished games were adjudicated, After this White advantageously opens
irrespective of their influence on the final the e-file. However, Black's position is al
outcome. On New Year's Day 1 95 1 the ready inferior.
tournament arbiter, honoured master of sport 8 ctJd2 g6 9 1:. el �e6 10 lt:Jf3 !
Nikolay Mikhailovich Zubarev, died. At this Beginning an attack on the d4-pawn.
point there were 23 unfinished games, and 10 ... �g7 11 exdS lt:JxdS 12 J:, e4 lt:Jc7
the leaders were Abramov - 1 0 out of 1 4, If 12 ... 'i:Yb6 there could have followed
Simagin - 91h out of 12, Konstantinopolsky 1 3 lt:Jg5.
- 81h out of 1 0, Kopaev - 81h out of 1 2 and 13 �gs 'i:Yd7 14 'i:Yd2 h6 ?
Sokolsky 61h out of 9. This leads to insuperable difficulties.
In his five unfinished games Konstanti 14 ... 0-0 should have been played, for exam
nopolsky was awarded 3 points, which gave ple: 1 5 J:i,h4 f5 1 6 �h6 b5 1 7 �b3 �xb3
him a total of 1 1 1.h.. After the adjudications 1 8 axb3 lt:Je6.
Simagin, Sokolsky and Kopaev finished on lS �f4 0-0-0 16 lt:JeS 'IVe7 17 'IV aS ! gS
1 1 points, while Abramov, who finished Black already has no defence. If
badly, remained on 10. 1 7 ... @b8, then 1 8 lt:Jxg6 fxg6 19 �xc7+
It is notable that the top places were oc 'i:Yxc7 20 'i:Yxc7+ �xc7 21 l:, xe6 is pos
cupied by players who had the master title sible. If 17 ... a6 there follows 1 8 'i:Yb6.
for their results in over-the-board competi 18 �g3 fS 19 ctJg6 'i:Yd7
tions. At that time there was no provision If 1 9 ... 'i:Yf7, then 20 �xc7 fxe4 21 �g3
for medals for correspondence play and the 1:. hg8 22 'i:Yxa7 'i:Yxg6 23 �xc6 etc.
winners were merely awarded diplomas of 20 �xc7 ! fxe4 (D)
usual. The move made by Black is also good
w enough to equalise.
12 0-0 {jjd7 13 h3 �xf3
This is better than 13 ... �h5 14 �b5
'iVd6 15 I:\.c l followed by �c6.
14 'iVxf3 {jjf6 15 I:\.fel
This move is directed against the imme
diate 1 5 ... c5. The correct continuation for
Black was 1 5 ... 'iVb4 16 b3 I:\.fe8 1 7 I:\.acl
c5 . After missing this possibility he ends up
with the inferior game.
15 ... cS ? 16 dxcS bxcS 17 e4 ! dxe4
21 �g3 ! a6 After 17 . . . c4 1 8 exd5 'iVb4 1 9 �fl
Or 21 ...b6 22 'iVa6+ 'iVb7 23 CiJe7+, or I:\.fd8 20 I:\.ac 1 I:\.ac8 21 'iV c3 CiJxd5 22
2 1 .. .'iVf7 22 1Vxa7 'iVxg6 23 �xc6. 'iVxb4 CiJxb4 23 j,xc4 White remains a
22 �xc6 ! pawn up.
The concluding stroke. 18 �xe4 CiJxe4 19 I:\.xe4 'iVb7 20 'iV e2
Neither 22 ...bxc6 23 1Vxa6+ nor 22 ...1Vxc6 The battle in the centre has concluded in
23 {jje7+ is possible. White's favour. His subsequent play should
22 ... jVn 23 �xe4 1-0 be aimed at winning the isolated c5-pawn
The experienced masters who finished by tripling pieces on the c-file followed by
second also had some fine wins to their b2-b4.
credit. Black, assuming that it will not be possi
ble to defend the pawn, tries to make it hard
for White to exploit his advantage.
White: N.Kopaev 20 ... I:\,ad8 21 I:\.cl I:\.d2 22 'iVxd2 'iVxe4
23 jVaS 'iVb4 241Vxa7 'iVxb2 25 I:\.xcS
Black: A.Perfiliev Thus, White has gained a pawn, but the
win is still difficult.
1 st USSR CC Ch , 1 9 48-51 25... I:\.e8 26 I:\.c4 I:\,el+ 27 �h2 I:\.e2 28
I:\.c8+ �h7 29 'iVxf7 'iVeS+
Queen 's Gambit D59 Not 29 . . . 'iVxa2 30 'iVf5+ g6 3 1 jVd7+
with mate in two moves, or 29 . . . I:\.xf2 30
Notes by Nikolay Kopaev 'iVg8+ @g6 31 I:\.c6+ I:\.f6 32 'iVe8+ �g5
(32 . . . �h7 33 'iVe4+ �g8 34 I:\.c8+) 33
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 {jjc3 {jjf6 4 �gs �e7 5 I:\,c5+ �f4 34 I:\.c4+ �g5 35 I:\.g4+ �f5
e3 0-0 6 {jjf3 h6 7 �h4 b6 36 'iVe4 mate.
This defence to the Queen ' s Gambit In playing 29 . . . 'iVe5+ Black was hoping
was analysed in detail and frequently em for 30 g3 ; then 30 ... 'iVf6 ! 3 1 'iVxf6 gxf6
ployed in tournament play by Makogonov and he can hardly lose. However, White had
and Bondarevsky. Here the problem of prepared an interesting reply.
the development of Black' s light-square 30 f4 jVe4 31 jVg8+ �g6 32 fS+ 'iVxfS 33
bishop is solved more quickly than in I:\.c6+ �hS (D)
many other variations of the Queen's It appears that B lack has avoided the
Gambit. dangers and is himself threatening to
8 cxdS {jjxdS 9 �xe7 'iVxe7 10 {jjxdS launch an attack by . . . 'iVf4+, but with a
exdS 11 �d3 �g4 far from obvious combination White de
1 l . ..�e6 followed by . . . c7-c5 is more cides the game.
This is one of the most original varia
tions of this opening. White' s position looks
w unusual: a far-advanced pawn at b5 and the
central pawns still on their original squares.
With his pressure on the long diagonal
and possible operations on the queenside,
White 's prospects are by no means worse.
7 e3 cS 8 Qjf3 J®bd6 9 c4 Qjbd7 10 d3
Other development plans are also pos
sible, for example, 1 0 ll:Jc3, 1 0 d4, or 1 0
J®be2, retaining the option o f developing
the knight at c3 or d2 and of advancing the
34 : cs ! : xg2+ pawn to d3 or d4.
This loses by force, but 34... 'ifxcS 3 5 10...0-0 1 1 J®be2 ifc7 12 Qjbd2 b6 13 0-0
'ift7+ g6 3 6 'iff3+ @gs 3 7 'ifxe2 would J®bb7 14 J®bb2
also have given White a certain win. 14 h3 was more prudent, but already White
3S @xg2 ifxcS 36 'iff7+ g6 37 'iff3+ was intending to sacrifice his h2-pawn.
@gs 38 h4+ @xh4 39 'iff2+ 'ifxf2+ 40 14...dxc4 lS ll:Jxc4 ! ?
@xf2 @h3 41 @gl l-0 White ' s pawn sacrifice was based on
Among the wins gained by the master the following considerations: his knight
Aleksey Sokolsky I should mention the foll is ideally placed at c4, he gains the bish
owing one, where he was successful with op pair and the opening of kingside lines
the opening that bears his name. may give him chances of an attack.
1S... J®bxf3
Here White should have recaptured with
White: A.Sokolsky the bishop, but he is playing for a further
sharpening of the position.
Black: A.Shifman 16 gxf3 ! ? J®bxh2+ 17 @g2 J®bd6
Otherwise there follows 1 8 f4. This is the
1 st USSR CC Ch, 1 9 48-51 point of the capture gxf3 .
18 d4 cxd4
Sokolsk y Opening A 00 This exchange should not have been made.
The white queen immediately comes into play.
Notes by Aleksey Sokolsky 19 'ifxd4 J®bcS 20 'ifh4 J®be7 21 J®bd3 h6
2 l . ..g6 was better. Now White creates
1 b4 e6 2 J®bb2 ll:Jf6 3 bS a6 4 a4 axbS S strong threats on the g-file.
axbS .:g, xal 6 J®bxal dS (D) 22 .:g_ gl ll:JdS ?(D)
w w
This leads to an immediate finish! How
ever, it was no longer easy to parry the attack.
B
Now the white queen is attacked. Neither
23 �g4 jbf6 nor 23 �e4 tlJ7f6 proves
successful. Only the sacrifice of the queen
leads to the goal.
23 @hl ! 1-0
The capture of the queen allows mate in
three moves.
The list of champions was opened by
Aleksandr Markovich Konstantinopolsky
( 1 9 10-1 990). He was born in 1 9 1 0 in Zhito jbg2 0-0 8 0-0 '2:Jc6 9 b3 (after 9 '2:Jxc6
mir (Ukraine). In 1 933 he gained the title of bxc6 1 0 e5 dxe5 ! 1 1 jbxc6 l':t b8 Black
USSR Master of Sport. has adequate counter-chances) 9 ... d5 1 0
Then at Tbilisi in 1 93 7 he shared second jbb2 �a5 1 1 exd5 exd5 1 2 �d3 tlJxd4
place with Ragozin (behind Levenfish) in 1 3 �xd4 jbe6 14 �d3 ! l':t fd8 1 5 '2:Je2
the 1 0th USSR Championship. jba3 (unjustified boldness; for the sake of
At the moment when the title of FIDE gaining the two bishops, Black allows the
international master was established, he was pawns guarding his king to be broken up) 1 6
awarded this title and in 1 983 he became a jbxf6 gxf6 1 7 �d4 �c7 1 8 �xf6 �xc2
grandmaster. In his best years Konstantinop 1 9 tlJf4 jbb2 20 �g5+ @h8 2 1 l':t ae l
olsky played against outstanding grandmas �c6 22 �h5 l':[ d6 23 l':t e2 with advan
ters and world champions of different times, tage to White.
and on occasion he defeated them. More in accordance with the spirit of
Among the encounters from the 1 st the opening is slow development by 6 . . . a6
USSR Championship I should like to give 7 jbg2 �c7 8 0-0 jbe7. This was the
Konstantinopolsky' s game with Gilman, course taken by another game of mine with
which he included in his book of memorable Rudakovsky, which occurred that same year
games and annotated in detail. in the Kiev semi-final of the 1 2th USSR
Championship. After 9 �d2! tlJbd7 10 b3
l':t b8! 1 1 jbb2 b5 12 a3 jbb7 a sharp posi
White: A.Konstantinopolsky tion arose.
6...b6
Black : A. Gilman Black wants to place his bishop at b7 as
soon as possible. However, over the next
1 st USSR CC C h , 1 9 48-51 few moves the fact that it is undefended cre
ates the combinative motif e4-e5.
Sicilian Defence 880 This forces Black to adopt defensive
measures (. . . a7-a6 and ... �c7), so that
Notes by Aleksand r instead of gaining time he achieves the op
Konstantinopolsky posite result.
7 jbg2 jb b7 8 0-0 a6
1 e4 cS 2 '2:Jf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 '2:Jxd4 tlJf6 5 If 8 ... jbe7, then 9 e5 ! is already unpleas
'2:Jc3 d6 6 g3 (D) ant. In the meantime, exploiting the retarded
I have frequently achieved good results development of the enemy pieces, White
by employing this variation. The game immediately embarks on a multi-move com
Konstantinopolsky-Rudakovsky (Ukrainian bination, the aim of which is to prevent the
Championship, Kiev 1 940) went 6 . . . jbe7 7 black king from castling and to mount an
attack on it. The b7-bishop should have been another piece, came into consideration: 1 4
defended by 8 . . . lbbd7 9 : e l 'i¥b8. lbc6! }bxc6 1 5 'i¥e8+ lbxe8 1 6 : xe8+
9 : el ! 'i¥c7 (D) 'i¥d8 17 : xd8+ �c7 1 8 dxc6 : xd8 1 9
9 . . . }be7 (and now also 9 . . . lbbd7) is }bxd8+ �xd8 2 0 cxd7 �xd7 2 1 }bd5 and
again impossible on account of the same White has the advantage in the endgame.
reply 1 0 e5 ! . - S.G.]
14... �b8 1S b4 �a7 16 a4 : es
The king has migrated to the left flank,
and the first impression is that B lack has
w defended successfully.
True, 1 7 'iVxe8 lbxe8 1 8 : xe8 is not
altogether clear, although in this variation
too Black has a difficult position. I gave
preference to another offensive plan,
based on 1 7 }be3, a move which had
attracted my analytical attention much
earlier.
17 }be3
Impending over Black are some very
10 lLJ dS ! dangerous threats: a4-a5, or lbc6+, or,
This combination, which involves a finally, lbb5+, opening up the approaches
real piece sacrifice, gave rise in subse to the king.
quent years to numerous variations on the 17 ... lLJeS
same theme. With the counter-threats of . . . 't¥xc4 or
The acceptance of the sacrifice . . . l2Jeg4, but White had foreseen a convinc
is forced, since after 1 0 . . . }bxd5 or ing rejoinder.
1 0 . . . lb xd5 1 1 exd5 B lack stands badly. 18 lbc6+ ! lbxc6
But he is hoping that his material advan 1 8 . . . }bxc6 or 1 8 ... �a8 was inferior in
tage will enable him gradually to repulse view of 1 9 a5 ! .
the threats and to win. 1 9 dxc6 !bxc6 2 0 as : xe3 !
10 ...exdS 11 exdS+ �d8 Undoubtedly Black finds the most ac
Even more dangerous was l 1 . . .}be7 1 2 tive defence. The play becomes more
lbf5 l2Jg8 1 3 l2Jxg7+ or 1 3 }bf4. complicated.
[It would appear that in this case there 21 'iVxe3 }bxg2 22 �xg2 dS !
is an immediate win by 1 3 }bg5 ! and if Black defends very resourcefully. There
13 . . .'t¥d7 (or 13 . . . �d8) 14 fbxe7 S.G.]
- was the threat of 23 b5, against which there
12 }bgS lLJ bd7 is now the reply 23 . . . }bc5. Even so, White 's
With the intention of playing the king attack increases in strength.
to a7 and providing it there with a safe 23 bS }bes 24 axb6+ }bxb6
shelter. Not 24 ... 't¥xb6 25 : xa6+ 'i¥xa6 26
13 'i¥e2 �c8 14 c4 ! 'i¥xc5+ 'i¥b6 27 : e7+.
.
1 4 'i¥e8+ 'i¥d8 1 5 'iVxf7 was possible, 2S : xa6+ �b7 26 'i¥a3 : ds !
acquiring a second pawn, but continuing the Parrying the unpleasant 27 : e7 lbd7 28
direct attack on the king seemed more effec : xd7 ! 'iVxd7 29 c5. Not 26 ... dxc4 in view
tive. The further course of the game justified of 27 'iVf3+.
this decision. 27 ;g_ e7 l2Jd7 (D)
[A forcing variation, based on exact After 27 ... : d7 the rook mvas1on 28
calculation and involving the sacrifice of : a8 is decisive.
tll c3 e6 6 c5 j,e7 7 b4 tll e4 8 'f/c2 0-0 9
Clio rs
w In the Panov Attack, Yakov Estrin be
lieved in the strength of White's pawn offen
sive on the queenside, based on his wedge at
c5. By contrast, Aleksandr Konstantinopol
sky thought that the centralised knight at e4
supported by the f5-pawn secured Black
more effective counter-chances. And he was
proved right in this critical debate.
10 j,d3 b6 11 l:!. bl j,f6 12 h4
Black' s ... g7-g5 has to be prevented.
28 cxd5 ! 12 ... tll c 6 13 tll e2 a5 14 a3 axb4 15 axb4
28 l:!, xd7 ! ? was tempting, but after the bxc5 16 dxc5 e5 17 0-0 'f/e7 18 j,bS tll d8
strong reply 28 . . . l:!, xd7 !, although Black's 19 j,gS Jtxg5 20 hxg5 f4
position remains dangerous, he has drawing 20 ... tt:Jxg5 2 1 tt:Jxg5 'f/xg5 22 f4 !
chances. Therefore I preferred a more pro 21 'f/b3 j,e6 22 tlixe5 (D)
saic, but certain way to win.
28...'f/cS
Preventing 29 d6 and 30 'f/f3+.
29 'f/f3 'f/xb5 30 l:!, a3 rJi;c7 B
30 . . . j,c5 3 1 l:!, b3 leads to the loss of the
queen. Black has no defence.
31 l:!, xfi rJi;d6 32 l:!, xg7 tll e5
Or 32 . . . 'f/xd5 33 l:!, d3 j,d4 34 'f/xd5+
@xd5 35 l:!, g4.
33 'f/f6+ @xd5 34 'f/xe5+ ! 1-0
In 1 966 Konstantinopolsky also received
the title of ICCF international master. As
board three of the USSR team, he won
a gold medal in the 3rd ICCF Olympiad To maintain his centre White goes in for
( 1 958-1961). He was also well known as an exchange sacrifice, but this proves to be
an outstanding trainer. As a correspondence a weak argument.
player Konstantinopolsky gave free rein to 22... tll d2 23 'f/d3 tll xbl 24 l:!, xbl 'f/xg5
his great imagination, and most of the postal 25 tll f3 'f/h5 26 tll ed4 j,g4 ! 27 j,c6
games that he won reached the level of crea Black's strong 26th move forced White
tive masterpieces. to seek a clear-cut way to win, because 27
l:!, e l could have been met by 27 . . . l:!, a7 !,
while if 27 l:!. c l l:!, f6 28 l:!. el tll fl with
White: Y. Estrin the threat of 29 ... l:!, h6.
27... tt:Jxc6 28 tlixc6 l:!, ae8 29 b5 l:!, f6 30
Black : A.Konstantinopolsky tll b4 l:!, h6 31 'f/xd5+ 'f/xd5 32 tll xd5
j,xf3 33 gxf3 l:!, e5 34 c6 l:!, xd5 35 c7
1 st USSR CC C h , 1 948-51 l:!, g5+ 36 @fl l:!, c5 0-1
Preserved in my home library is a book
Caro-Kann Defence B 1 4 with an inscription by the author - Aleksandr
Markovich Konstantinopolsky: "To dear
1 e4 c 6 2 d 4 d 5 3 exd5 cxd5 4 c4 tll f6 5 Sergey Yakovlevich - in memory of our
joint composing and correspondence work". Aleksandr Markovich judged his colleague;:
The book was published in 1 985, when by their chess qualifications. When I asked
Aleksandr Markovich had already retired, his opinion about Viktor Baturinsky, who
but in the late 1 960s in the Sports Commit had been appointed head of the chess sec
tee he chaired the correspondence chess and tion, his description was laconic: "a solid
chess composition sections, and at that time candidate master with 30 years of service".
the author of these lines was the executive Because Nikolai Krogius was a grand
secretary of the commission for composi master, "Konsky" approved of his appoint
tion. In connection with this, my contact ment to the post of head of the adminis
with the chairman, whom everyone, on ac tration. However, he soon realised that a
count of his ultra-long surname, called be genuine grandmaster can show himself as
hind his back 'Konsky', was fairly regular. an official to be rather more scathing than a
I was impressed by Aleksandr Marko 'solid candidate master'.
vich' s self-discipline and good organisation, Together with Konstantinopolsky I up
and also by his absolute intolerance of the held the interests of correspondence play
abuse of alcohol and tobacco. One day I ers in the qualification commission of the
shared with him the idea of organising a USSR Chess Federation, and on occasions
correspondence tournament for composing the two of us would successfully oppose the
enthusiasts who had a high chess rating. remaining members of the commission.
Aleksandr Markovich approved of the idea, I remember how after one of our little
adding jokingly that a problem and study victories Aleksandr Markovich remarked:
composing competition should also be or "there it is only worth listening to Polu
ganised among correspondence players. gayevsky - he is a grandmaster and he
That tournament proved to be a turning understands everything, but as for the garr
point in my own fate: I began it as a quite ulous executive secretary - he is a fourth
experienced composer of chess problems, category player".
and ended it as a novice correspondence While approving my intention of organ
player. After this I associated with Konstan ising a Mirotvorsky Memorial Tournament,
tinopolsky in my capacity as an official of he added: "don't arrange any tournaments in
the correspondence commission, which in my memory - it takes so much effort just to
the early 1 980s was renamed a Council. write my name".
A prominent feature of "Konsky's" char Meticulous, principled, but also capable
acter was that he loved chess in himself, and of scheming - this is how this outstanding
not himself in chess. A painstaking analysis trainer, player, and the winner of the first
of a position afforded him pleasure. Being a USSR Correspondence Championship,
man of diverse interests and quite well edu Aleksandr Markovich Konstantinopolsky,
cated (irrespective of any documentation), remains in my memory.
Second Championship
(195 2 - 195 5)
WHILE the first event was being organised was serviceman Pyotr Atyashev, who in the
it had already become clear that the USSR early 50s was based in Baku, the capital of
Championship should be conducted in two Azerbaijan. In his semi-final group Atya
stages. Invited to the final of the 2nd Cham shev took first place with 12lh out of 1 5 ,
pionship were grandmasters, masters and going through the tournament undefeated.
the winners of five semi-final groups that Particular interest was provoked by the
were held at the same time as the first final. participation of Vyacheslav Ragozin, who
Organised simultaneously with the final of already held the title of FIDE international
the 2nd Championship were the semi-finals grandmaster and was therefore considered
of the 3rd Championship, to which were one of the main contenders for victory. An
admitted all candidate masters, participants other future FIDE international grandmas
in previous semi-finals who had scored at ter, Leonid Shamkovich, was at that time
least 50%, and prize-winners of tournaments not well known, but without dropping out of
organised by the magazine ' Shakhmaty v the USSR Correspondence Championship in
SSSR' for first category players. 1 954 he became champion of the Russian
When the composition of the final was Federation.
complete, it transpired that the great major Play in the 2nd Correspondence Champi
ity of the participants were Russians. Only onship commenced on 1 st September 1 952.
two - Yefremov (Voroshilovgrad) and Twenty players began the event, but soon
Yevdokimov (Zaporozhe ), who had shared after the start three (the masters Kopaev and
first place in one of the semi-finals - were Lyublinsky and the winner of the one of the
representing the Ukraine, while the mas semi-finals, Guskov) dropped out. The chief
ter Aleksey Sokolsky, who had moved to arbiter was V.Zbandutto (Moscow).
Minsk, and A.Shumakher from Gomel were Within a few months a leading group
representing Belorussia. One who had bro had emerged, and to general surprise it was
ken through the semi-final qualifying sieve headed by the first category players Atya-
""
0)
2nd USSR CC Championship ( 1 952- 1 955)
N2 l 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
1 P.Atyashev B aku Y2 l y, Y2 1 1 y, 1 1 y, 1 y, 1 I 1 I 13
4 A.Konstantinopolsky Moscow Y2 0 l . y, Y2 Y2 y, l 0 l 1 Y2 y, 1 l y, 10
-
5 Moscow r'• ' Y2 I 0 1 l 1 1
A.Sadomsky Y2 Y2 Y2 y,
... Y2 y, y, y, Y2 10
Moscow 1 1 l 1
10 L.Shamkovich 0 0 0 0 Y2 y, y, J 0 I 0 1 0 7Y,
Gorky v <
1 1 L.Sitsky Y2 0 0 0 y, 0 0 Y2 y, 1 .... 0 Y2 y, Y2 1 1 6'/i
�
·
·
12 K. Yevdokimov Zaporozhie 0 0 0 0 0 0 y, 1 0 0 1 0 1 y, 1 1 6
13 A.Makovkin Gorky y, y, 0 y, 0 0 Yi 0 1 0 Yi 1 y, 0 1 0 6
Kuibyshev y,
14 Yu.Shaposhnikov 0 0 0 y, 0 0 0 0 0 1 y, 0 i 1 y, I 5
,.
Moscow 0 "'
15 V.Zaitsev 0 0 Y2 0 0 0 y, 0 Y2 0 y, y, 1 .. y, Y2 41/z
Zheleznovodsk ,.,
16 S.Tanin 0 0 0 0 y, Y2 1 0 Y2 0 0 0 0 y, y, hf·· ··· 1 4Y,
. .. .
Gome I 1 1 .
17 A.Shumakher 0 y, 0 Y2 Y2 0 0 y, 0 0 0 0 Y2 0 41/z
shev - 3 Yz out of 4 and Sadomsky - 3 out shared first place with A.Shumakher, both
of 4. scoring 1 1 Yz out of 1 5 . Simultaneously
By the end of 1 953 it transpired that with his participation in the final of the 2nd
things were going excellently for FIDE in Championship, Zaitsev decided to play in
ternational master Dubinin - 8 out of 9 and the semi-final of the 3rd, after taking on the
grandmaster Ragozin - 4 out of 5. Sadom duties of chief administrator.
sky continued to do quite well - 6 out of 8, The great success of Pyotr Atyashev,
while Atyashev was still on 3 Yz out of 4. who also went through the final undefeated,
By the summer of 1 954 the situation was the main sensation of the tournament.
seemed totally confused. Dubinin, who had
reduced speed somewhat, was on 9 out of
12, Sadomsky had 8Yz out of 12, Yefremov White : P.Atyashev
- 8 out of 1 2 and Atyashev - 7 out of 9. As
in the 1 st Championship, Alexander Kon Black: Yu .Shaposhnikov
stantinopolsky completed his games more
slowly than his rivals, and had scored 4 out 2nd USSR CC Ch , 1 95 2-55
of 5 . It was decided to extend the champion
ship to 1 st November 1 954. Ruy Lopez C82
When the allotted time expired, 22 out
of the 136 games remained unfinished and Notes by Pyotr Atyashev
the group of contenders for the champion' s
title looked like this: Dubinin - l OYz out of 1 e4 e5 2 Qjf3 CL:Jc6 3 �b5 a6 4 �a4 CLJf6
14, Abroshin - 10 out of 16 (tournament 5 0-0 CL:Jxe4 6 d4 b5 7 �b3 d5 8 dxe5 �e6
completed), Sadomsky - 9Yz out of 14, Ye 9 c3 �cs 10 CLJbd2 0-0 11 �c2 CL:Jxf2 12
fremov - 8Yz out of 1 3 , Konstantinopolsky .:!. xf2 f6 13 exf6 !
- 8Yz out of 14, Atyashev - 8 out of 1 0 and Undoubtedly the strongest continuation.
Sokolsky - 7Yz out of 1 1 . If 1 3 ... e2, then after 1 3 ... fxe5 14 QJb3
The adjudications arranged everyone in �xf2+ 1 5 ...xf2 �g4! Black has good
their place. The battle for the championship counter-chances.
was led by Dubinin and Atyashev. The two 13... �xf2+
Pyotrs were slightly ahead of their pursuers In the game Smyslov-Botvinnik (Moscow
and when the final results of the champion Championship 1 943) 1 3 . . ....xf6 was played,
ship were drawn up it transpired that the but after 14 ...fl! �g4 1 5 @hl �xf2 1 6
champion's title had gone to the one with ...xf2 .:!. ae8 1 7 ...g3 CL:Je5 1 8 �dl QJd3
the less senior chess title. 19 h3 ! Smyslov gained the advantage.
On this occasion the future ICCF World True, Black could have played 1 8 . . .h5,
Champion Vyacheslav Ragozin was unable and if 1 9 h4 - 1 9 . . . QJd3 , but, as shown by
to adapt to games with invisible opponents, Keres in his book 'Teoriya Shakhmatnykh
he played somewhat recklessly and he fin Debyutov' (Theory of Chess Openings),
ished in the very middle of the table with a White could have most easily consolidated
score of 8 out of 16. his advantage with 1 5 h3 ! , in order after
Aleksandr Konstantinopolsky was also 1 5 . . . �h5 to continue 1 6 ...d3 , while if
unable to repeat his success and had to be i 5 . . . �xf3 1 6 CL:Jxf3 CL:Je5, then 1 7 CLJd4.
satisfied with a share of 3rd place with the It should also be mentioned that 15 ...d3
master Sokolsky and the successful debu cannot be recommended for White in view
tants Abroshin and Sadomsky. of 1 5 . . . �xf2+ 1 6 @xf2 ...h4+ 17 @gl
In the semi-final of the 2nd Champion ...h5, when Black's position is preferable.
ship the ICCF international master V.Zaitsev 14 @xf2 ...xf6 15 @gl g5 (D)
when he devised his combination.
24... �xh6 25 .l: xdl 1-0
w Pyotr lvanovich Atyashev ( 1 9 1 8- 1 984)
learned to play chess in 1 934, when he was
already 1 6 years old. At an early age he
enlisted in the army and due to the nature
of his work he was unable to play much
in tournaments. His fascination with chess
took the form of collecting chess mas
terpieces, which he lovingly transcribed.
This work by the officer from Baku was
described in the first post-war year of the
16 'iVel ! magazine 'Shakhmaty v SSSR', 1 946, No.3
The only way! The manoeuvre of the (P.Romanovsky: 'The manuscript of Cap
queen to g3 discloses the drawbacks to tain Atyashev').
Black' s plan. 1 6 lll b3 would have been a In two thick, bulky, 3 50-page exercise
mistake, since after 1 6 . . .g4 Black's attack books in small, copy-book handwriting
could have become dangerous, for exam (without a single correction) more than 200
ple: 1 7 'iVd3 .l: f7 1 8 �g5 'iVg7 1 9 tll fd4 games with detailed notes were recorded.
tll xd4 20 tll xd4 'iVxg5 2 1 tll xe6 'iVf6 ! . The manuscript was also accompanied by
16... .l: ae8 chess diagrams and portraits of the stars
[The immediate 16 ... g4 !? came into con from the past.
sideration, with the possible variation 1 7 "Only a highly cultured player could
'iVg3 (dangerous i s 1 7 lll g 5 �f5 1 8 �xf5 have so well and so lovingly produced this
'iVxf5 1 9 'iVe6+ �h8 20 'iVxf5 .l: xf5 with difficult material, as Captain Atyashev was
the better chances for Black; the recom able to", wrote international master and in
mended 1 8 �b3 is also dubious in view of ternational arbiter Pyotr Romanovsky.
1 8 . . . .l: ad8 1 9 lll ge4 'iVe6 20 'iVe2 .l: fe8, For his victory in the USSR Correspond
when White faces a gruelling struggle for ence Championship, it was decided by a
equality) 1 7 . . . 'iVg7 1 8 lll e l b4. - S.G.] special decision of the All-Union Sports
17 'i¥g3 g4 18 h3 Committee that Atyashev, who finished
[Nothing would have been achieved by 1 8 ahead of grandmaster Ragozin and a whole
'iVxc7?! �f5 ! 1 9 �xf5 'iVxf5, when White cohort of strong masters, should be awarded
does best to return his queen to its former the rank of candidate master. After retiring
square by 20 'iVg3, since after 20 'iVxc6? with the title of Engineer-Colonel, Atyashev
.l: e l + 2 1 @f2 'iVe5 22 'iVxd5+ (other settled in Moscow but hardly ever took part
wise things are completely bad for him) in competitions. However, when in 1 958
22 . . . 'iVxd5 23 �xe l gxf3 he clearly does the USSR made its debut in the World Cor
not have enough for the queen. - S.G.] respondence Olympiad, the former USSR
18 ...'i¥g7 19 hxg4 �xg4 20 tll h2 �dl Champion was included in the team which
Black embarks on a faulty combination, won the gold medals. Atyashev's result was
which loses quickly. However, also after 5 points out of 9 on board five.
other bishop moves White, after exchanging In the history of correspondence chess,
queens, could have gradually converted his Pyotr lvanovich Atyashev went down as the
advantage. winner of the 2nd USSR Correspondence
21 'iVxg7+ @xg7 22 �xdl .l: el+ 23 Championship.
tll dfl ! .l: xdl 24 �h6+ ! Among the games of Pyotr Dubinin, who
This simple move was missed by Black, on this occasion finished second, I should
like to single out his encounter with the fu 14 ...h5 ! ?
ture well-known FIDE grandmaster Leonid A clever reply! Now Black begills to dic
Shamkovich. tate his conditions to the opponent.
15 g5 l2Jxd5 16 exd5 j,f5 17 j,e4
White goes onto the defensive.
White: P.Dubinin 17... j,xe4 18 Vxe4 lbb8 19 c3 l::l, c4 20
Vi'd3 ctJd7 21 j,e3 Vc8 22 0-0-0 0-0 23
Black : L .Shamkovich �bl Vi'b7 24 l:! hfl a5 25 @a2 l:! b8 26
l:! cl l2Jc5 27 j,xc5 l:! xc5 28 l:! fdl b4 29
2nd USSR CC Ch, 1 9 52-55 cxb4 l:! xcl 30 l:! xcl axb4 31 a4 ! b3+ 32
�bl l:! a8 33 l:! c4 �h7 ?! (D)
Sicilian Defence 89 1 Black plans 34 . . . e6 35 dxe6 d5 ! , but
Dubinin resolutely suppresses this attempt.
1 e4 c5 2 l2Jf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 l2Jxd4 ctJf6 5 Meanwhile Shamkovich had available the
lbc3 a6 6 g3 j,g4 7 Vi'd3 interesting continuation 33 . . . l::l, a5 34 l2Jc3
The usual continuation here is 7 f3 j,d7 Vi'a6, when White' s position is restricted.
8 j,e3 lbc6 9 j,g2 g6 10 0-0 j,g7 1 1
l2Jd5 0-0 1 2 a4 with a minimal advantage
for White. Dubinin follows the fashion of
that time. 7 Vi'd3 occurred in the game Re w
shevsky-Najdorf, Amsterdam 1 950.
7...lbc6 8 h3
The afore-mentioned game went 8 ct:lxc6
bxc6 9 j,g2 e5 10 f4 j,d7 1 1 h3 j,e7 1 2
g4 0-0 1 3 f5 d 5 with unclear play.
8... j,d7 9 j,g2 g6 10 lbde2 j,g7 11 f4
l:! c8
The plans of the two sides have taken
shape. As happens almost always in the
Sicilian Defence, White is attacking on the 34 f5 !
kingside, and Black on the queenside. It is a The picture changes, as White launches a
question of who gets there first. counter-attack.
12 a3 b5 13 g4 j,e6 (D) 34 ... Vi'b6 35 lbd4 l:! a5 36 lbxb3 Vi'gl+
37 �a2 Vi'g2
Threatening 38 ...Vxb2 mate.
38 f6 ! l::l, xd5 39 Vc3 j,h8
w Not 39 ... exf6 40 gxf6 j,f8 41 l::l, c8
@g8 42 l::l, xf8+ with inevitable mate in a
few moves.
40 l::l, c8 exf6 41 l::l, f8 ! 1-0
After 4 1 . . .Vi'xg5 42 l::l, xf7+ j,g7
43 Vc7 Vi'h6 44 a5 Black's position is
completely hopeless. He cannot . stop the
a-pawn.
Four players shared third place, and they
included the first USSR Champion, who
14 ctJd5 defeated the future World Champion in fine
Otherwise Black will play 14 . . . j,c4. style.
White: A. Konstantinopolsky 20 ...'iffS 21 l:, cS tt:Jes
2 1 ... 'ifxc5 22 dxc5 l:. xd 1+ came into
Black: V. Ragozin consideration, although in this case too after
23 �h2 l:, d5 24 'ifxf6 l:, xc5 25 tt:Jg5
2nd USSR C C Ch, 1 9 5 2 - 5 5 Black's defence becomes increasingly dif
ficult with every move.
Queen 's Gambit Accepted 22 tt:JxeS fxeS (D)
D26
w
White: A.Sokolsky
Black: L .Shamkovich
2 n d USSR C C C h , 1 9 5 2 - 5 5
N2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
1 G.Borisenko Leningrad . l Y2 Yz 1 1 0 1 l 1h 1 Yz 1 9
"'' .,.
2 P.Dubinin Gorky 0 bf•..• ..• , •• +; Yz 0 1 1 1 1 1 Yz 1 1 1 9
3 V.Zagorovsky Voronezh Yz Yz t��:li Yz Yz Y2 1 0 1 1 Yz Yz 1 71h.
4 M.Abramson Simferopol Yz 1 Yz ' 1h Yz 0 Y2 Yz 1 Y2 Yz 1 7
Moscow �
5 A.Konstantinopolsky 0 0 Yz Y2 ·· · 1 Yz 1 Yz Y2 Yz l l 7 Q...
9 V.Bibikov Moscow 0 0 0 Yz Y2 Yz 1 1 0 Y2 0 1 5
..,.
1 0 A.Sadomsky Moscow Yz Yz 0 0 Yz 0 1h 0 1 Y2 Y2 1 5
1 1 N.Aratovsky Saratov 0 0 Yz Y2 Yz 0 0 0 Y2 Yz I 1 41h.
Ivanovo le?
1 2 G.Lapin Yz 0 Yz Y2 0 0 0 0 1 Y2 0 Yz 31h.
Stalingrad ••••••
1 3 D.Grechkin 0 0 0 0 0 Y2 Yz Y2 0 0 0 Y2 . 2
N.Kozlov (Vyska) and Y. Zhdarsky (Bugulma) withdrew; their games were cancelled.
Third Championship (1955-1957)
Black: l .Veltmander
3 rd USSR CC C h , 1 955-57 w
Ruy Lopez C 75
Black: I . Ve ltmander
w
3rd USSR C C C h , 1 9 5 5- 5 7
Ruy Lop ez C 73
ON THE 1 5th of December 1 957, sixteen masters to confirm their rank in correspond
competitors, among whom were seven ence events, and in general taking seriously
masters, five candidate masters and four the ranking of correspondence players. The
first category players, began play in the proposal was not ignored, and the very next
4th USSR Correspondence Championship. year the sports authorities confirmed the
The non-Russians were Leon Maseev, a awarding of medals to the top three in the
candidate master from Odessa, who had correspondence championship. A memo
won one of the semi-finals, and two Latvian randum, that was to play an historic role in
representatives: Alexander Koblencs, who the fate of our correspondence players, was
had been personally invited, and a semi-fi also published - to obtain the title of chess
nal qualifier Igor Zhdanov. The tournament master of sport it was sufficient to occupy
arbiter was the Muscovite G. Klompus. one of the top three places in the final of the
When the tournament was in full swing, correspondence chess championship.
an observation by Vladimir Nevsky ( 1 903- The press made practically no reports on
1 960), secretary of the USSR Chess Federa the course of the play, which continued for
tion Commission for correspondent events, about two and a half years. Only the Riga
was published in the magazine 'Shakhmaty magazine ' S ahs' ( 1 960, No 8) gave a brief
.
v SSSR', reflecting on the attitude of the report, saying that things were not going
sports authorities to correspondence play. too well for the Latvian representatives.
In this article, written not long before his Koblencs had 2Yz out of 5 and Zhdanov 4
death, Vladimir Viktorovich Nevsky, a corr out of 9.
espondence play propagandist, remarked The leader, meanwhile, was the first
sadly that the correspondence championship category player Anatoly Sadomsky with
was the only one in which the winner was 9 points out of 12. Pyotr Dubinin had the
not recognised in any way. same number of points, but after 1 4 games.
Nevsky suggested awarding medals to Also in contention for a high place was the
the winners of the correspondence cham Odessa player Leon Maseev, who at that
pionship, establishing the master norm in moment had 8 points out of 1 3.
the championship final, allowing candidate When the magazine ' Shakhmaty v SSSR'
�
0
4th USSR CC Championship ( 1 957- 1 960)
NQ l 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
l A.Sadomsky Moscow
rn., Vi y, y, 1 Y2 y, 1 Y2 0 1 1 1 1 1 Vi l O ':h
2 P.Dubinin Gorky Yi 1 y, 1 Y2 I Yi 0 Y2 Y2 l Y2 I y, 1 10
16 V.Kryukov Cheliabinsk y, 0 y, 0 0 0 0 0 Yi 0 0 Yi 1 1 1 5
(1961 No. I) published the final table, it White: L . Maseev
turned out that, although Dubinin won his
last game, he finished half a point behind Black: L . Aronin
Sadomsky. Thus, together with the famous
player from Nizhy Novgorod, the leading 4th USSR CC Ch, 1 9 5 7 - 6 0
trio included two players who did not have
the master title - Sadomsky and Maseev. Hungarian Defence C50
One striking result was the failure of the
master Aleksandrs Koblencs, several times 1 e4 e5 2 tbt3 t2Jc6 3 j,c4 d6 4 tbc3 j,e7
champion of Latvia and Riga, and a par 5 h3 j,f6 ?
ticipant in the USSR Championship final of 5 ... j,e6 or 5 ... t2Jf6 is more natural.
1 945. However, Koblencs was best known 6 d3 tba5 7 j,b3 t2Jxb3 8 axb3 tbe7 9
as the trainer and second for many years j,e3 d5 10 d4 exd4 11 j,xd4 j,xd4 ?
(from 1955 to 1 979) of Mikhail Tal. An oversight. It was better to go into
The championship showed that over-the the variation l l . . .dxe4 1 2 j,xf6 exf3 1 3
board players were not always able to con 'iVxd8+ @xd8 1 4 0-0-0+ j,d7 1 5 j,xg7
firm their class in correspondence play. The fxg2 1 6 j,xh8 gxh 1 'iV 1 7 � xh 1 , when
unofficial match between the four first cat Black has a defensible position.
egory players and the seven masters ended 12 'iVxd4 0-0 13 0-0-0 c6 14 exd5 cxd5 15
in a 1 5 - 1 3 victory for the former. Anatoly t2Jxd5 t2Jxd5 16 'iVxd5 (D)
Sadomsky and Leon Maseev became the
first masters in the history of USSR chess to
gain this title as the result of a correspond
ence event. B
In his youth Leon Iosifovich Maseev
(1 909-1 972) played in minor tournaments in
Odessa, reaching the second category. His
best achievement in the pre-war years was
second place in the 1 939 Odessa Champi
onship. Back in the 1 930s Maseev became
interested in correspondence play, and he
scored some victories in local tournaments.
In 1 934 in a strong tournament in which
the masters Konstantinopolsky, Manevich 16... 'iVf6
and Rauzer participated, Leon Maseev took The exchange of queens 16 ... 'iVxd5 1 7
third place, winning an interesting game � xd5 b6 1 8 � hd l j,b7 was the lesser evil.
against Rauzer. 17 � hel h6 18 'iVeS 'iVa6 19 @bl b5 20
Maseev's participation in the war, in � d6 'iVaS 21 t2Jd4 j,b7 22 tLirs f6 23
which he was seriously wounded, forced t2Je7+ 1-0
him for a long time to give up chess, even by After gaining the master title for his result
post. Only in the 1 950s did he again begin in the 4th OSSR CC Ch, Leon Maseev con
taking part in correspondence events. After firmed his ranking by winning the bronze
victories in qualifying events there followed medal in the following 5th Championship.
first places in the semi-finals of the 4th and Then, as a member of the USSR team, he
5th USSR Championships. And in the final won a gold medal in the 4th Correspondence
of the 4th Championship he led for a long Olympiad. In 1 964 the player from Odessa
time, after defeating several masters. Here is was awarded the title of international master
one of these wins. in correspondence play.
The chief hero of the fourth USSR move Black's lead in development becomes
Championship was the epidemiologist Ana evident.
toly Mikhailovich Sadomsky ( 1 9 1 0- 1 989). 17 ... tt:Jf4 ! 18 g3 ?
He was born in Orenburg and became inter This leads to a rapid debacle. 1 8 �b3
ested in chess at the time of the first Mos also gives nothing because of 1 8 . . . : f6.
cow International Tournament in 1 925. Like White should have admitted the faultiness
many others, he fell ill with 'chess fever'. of his strategy and withdrawn his knight
The 'illness' proved protracted. He played to fl , in order then to bring his queenside
in many tournaments in his youth, reaching pieces into play.
first category status. 18...hS 19 'ifdl t2Jh3+ 20 i;t>g2 t2Jxf2 21
It was as a first category player that Ana 'ifxh5 (D)
toly Sadomsky began playing in correspond
ence tournaments. He won the USSR Cham
pionship semi-final, shared 3rd-6th places in
the final of the 2nd Championship, 1 st-2nd B
places in the semi-final of the 4th, and in
the main tournament he was completely tri
umphant. l OYz points out of 1 5 brought him
victory, and against the seven masters the
first category player scored 5 points!
White: M .Abroshin
37 g5+ \t>f7
Avoiding a transparent trap: after
37 ... @f5?? Black would have been mated
18 tll d c6 ? in two moves!
This is what White had in mind, when he 38 e4 Jtd2 39 \t>t'3 e5 ! 40 Jtd5+ \t>g7 41
undertook his 'cavalry' operation. The im fxe5 @f8 42 e6 Jtxg5 43 e5 Jtd2 44 @e4
pression is that it is advantageous for him. @e7 45 \t>d4 g5 46 \t>d3 Jtcl 47 Jte4 g4
In the event of 1 8 . . . Jtxc6 1 9 tll xc6 'iVd7 48 Jtf5 Jth2 0-1
20 Jtxd5 tll xb2 2 1 'iVxb2 exd5 22 tll xe7+ In later years Anatoly Sadomsky took
'iVxe7 23 .&!. cd l White's positional advan part in matches against teams from various
tage would have been obvious. But he has countries, at times achieving good results.
not taken everything into account. The author remembers with pleasure that in
18... Jtxc6 19 tll xc6 .&!. xc6 ! the last years of his life Sadomsky respond
Thanks to this combinative reply, based ed to the invitation of the author to play in a
on a double attack, Black wins a pawn. Kon thematic tournament.
stantinopolsky tries to exploit the drawing Anatoly Sadomsky enjoyed some local
potential of opposite-colour bishops, but in successes, but his main achievement re
the technical phase too Sadomsky is equal to mained his victory in the 4th USSR Cham
the task. In addition to the passed pawn on pionship.
t
5th USSR CC Championship ( 1 960"." 1 963)
N2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
1 G.Borisenko Sverdlovsk Y1 l 1 l 1 Yi l Yi 1 l l Yi Y1 1 0 l l Yz
.
.
Moscow
2 Ya.Estrin Yi •• q;j.•. lfu Y2 Yi l 1 Y2 1 Yi Yi 1 Y1 1 1 1 1 l l Yz
.
•..
3 L.Maseev Odessa 0 Yi 1 Y2 1 Yi Y1 Yi I Y2 Y2 I I I 1 10112
4 V.Kryukov Cheliabinsk 0 Y2 0 1 1 1 0 Yi Yi Yi Yi 1 I Y2 1 9
5 A.Sokolsky Minsk 0 0 Y2 0 1 Y2 1 1 0 l y, y, Y2 1 1 8 Yz
; ·····
6 N.Andreyev Moscow
Volgograd
0 0 0 0 0 Fc c• cc
I>
0 1 Y2 l 1 l 'lz l l l 8
�
,....
7 D.Grechkin Yi Yi Yi 0 Yi 1 •• Yi I 0 0 1 Yi 0 1 I 8 Cb
....
'*1
l lf;2
t;l
9 I.Kramar' Ufa Y2 Y2 Y2 Yi 0 l/2 0 0 I Yi l Yi I Y2 7'12
;
IO K. Yevdokimov Zaporozhie 0 Y2 0 Yi l 0 l 0 Yi 0 Yi 1 I 0 l 7
SIXTEEN players, including nine masters, tion (1 949) and of the USSR Armed Forces
contested the final of the 5th USSR Cham ( 1 950).
pionship. After moving from Leningrad to
Sverdlovsk, Georgy Borisenko - who was
one of the winners of the 3rd Championship White: L . M aseev
but had missed the 4th - decided to fight
again for the top title in USSR correspond Black: N . Golovko
ence chess. Anatoly Kuznetsov ( 1 932-2000),
who held the master title in over-the-board 5 th USSR C C C h , 1 9 60- 6 3
play and in chess composition, decided to
test his strength in correspondence play. The Ruy Lopez C73
participation of A.Lukin from the town of
Osh (Kyrgyzstan) extended the geography Notes by Leon Maseev
of the championship.
The tournament arbiter was Lev Garku 1 e4 e5 2 ll:lf3 ll:lc6 3 �b5 a6 4 �a4 d6 5
nov ( 1 90 1 - 1 963). For this well-known �xc6+ bxc6 6 d4 f6 7 �e3 !:!. b8
USSR organiser and FIDE international Golovko played this many times and
arbiter, the supervision of this event was to usually he was able to win the b2-pawn un
become his ' swan-song' . punished. The game Walther-Keres (Zurich
On this occasion the masters confirmed 1 959) went 7 ... CL:ie7 8 c4 ll:lg6 9 ll:lc3 �e7
their class, as indicated by their win in the 10 h4 h5 1 1 'i¥a4 �d7 12 c5 'i¥b8 I J
'match' against the first category players by 0-0-0 a5 1 4 dxe5 fxe5 1 5 a3 with the better
29Yz- 1 5Yz. game for White.
The play was quite lively, the masters 8 ll:lc3 !:!. xb2 9 'i¥d3
Georgy Borisenko and Yakov Estrin emerg A new move. In the game Gusev
ing as the clear leaders. The tournament Golovko (Moscow Championship Semi
intrigue was heightened by the fact that by Final 1 960) there followed 9 dxe5 fxe5 I 0
15th October 1 962 the game between the ll:lxe5 'iVf6 1 1 �d4 dxe5 12 'iVh5+ 'i¥g6
favourites was the only one unfinished. The 1 3 'iVxe5+ ll:l e7 14 'iVxc7 !:!. xc2 and Black
two rivals had both scored 1 1 points out of repelled the attack.
1 4 and it was decided to suggest that they ...
9 �d7
finish the game by telegram. Forestalling the combination 10 dxe5
Whereas the question of the champion fxe5 1 1 ll:lxe5 dxe5 12 'iVxd8+ �xd8 1 3
was not yet finally decided, everything was 0-0-0+ ! .
clear as regards the bronze medal winner 10 0-0 'i¥c8
- for the second time this was Leon Maseev. A mistake. However, if 10 . . . ll:le7 there
Again, on this occasion now ranked a mas could have followed not only 1 1 dxe5 fxe5
ter, he finished ahead of several famous 1 2 ll:ld2 and 1 3 f4, similar to the variation
over-the-board players. One of his 'victims' in the game, but also 1 1 dxe5 fxe5 1 2 !:!. ab I
was Nikolai Golovko ( 1 9 1 7- 1 988), who had !:!. xb l 1 3 !:!. xb l ll:lg6 14 'iVxa6 �e7 1 5
to his credit victories in the championships 'iV c4 (or 1 4 'iV c4 immediately). In both
of the 'Medik' Voluntary Sports Organisa- cases White' s position is better.
1 1 dxeS fxeS 12 ll:ld2 fl, b8 13 f4 exf4 14 White: Ya .Estrin
�xf4 ll:Je7 lS eS dS (D)
Black: G .Borisenko
White : Ya . Estrin
Black : A.Sadomsky
19 tll x f7 !
5th U S S R CC C h , 1 9 60-63 A perfectly-timed tactical shot from
Estrin.
· Two Knights Defence C55 19 ... �xf7 20 "iVfS+ : d7 21 e6 : dS 22
'li1xf7 'li1b7 23 "iVe8+ : d8 24 "iVhS �e7
N otes by GM Pa ul M otwa ni If 24 . . . : d5 25 "iVg4 then White simulta
neously threatens 26 "iVxc4 or 26 e7+.
1 e4 eS 2 Q:if3 tll c6 3 �c4 Q:if6 4 d4 exd4 S 2S 'li1g4 g6 26 'li1xc4
eS dS 6 �bS Q:ie4 7 Q:ixd4 �d7 The first of Black's three weaklings
Nowadays, the major alternative is drops off on the c-file.
26 ... �b5 27 �c3
Maintaining the pressure, while prevent B
ing 27 ... : d3 because of 28 �xh8+.
27... :hgS 28 : adl : d5 29 : xd5 cxd5
30 : ct
Simple, strong chess.
30... �b7 31 i,xc5 i,xc5 32 �xc5 �xc5
33 : xc5 : es 34 : xd5 : xe6 35 g3 @c6
36 : a5 1-0.
Black lost on time according to 'Shak
matny Byulleten' 5/1 962, but of course his
two-pawn deficit would have been fatal in
any case. 12 ... hxg5 ! 13 �xh8+ i,f8 14 i,g3 tt:Jxd4
Yakov Estrin' s best achievement in the 15 0-0-0 c5 16 tLle4 �a5 ! 17 tLld6+ @e7
5th USSR Championship was perhaps the 18 �g8
following win. A position in the style of the 1 9th century
chess romantics. Both kings are under fire.
Which will be the first to fall?
White: R .Gorenshtein 18 ... �xa2 ! 19 �xg5+
The series of checks 1 9 �xf7+ �d8
Black : Ya .Estrin 20 �xf8+ �c7 21 tlJxb5+ i,xb5 22
�xc5+ �b7 23 �xd4 leads to a position
5th U S S R C C C h , 1 9 6 0-63 in which White wins a rook and - is forced
to capitulate in view of 23 . . . : c8 !, with the
Queen 's Gambit D39 irresistible threat of 24 . . . c3. After the game
continuation Black again succeeds, by giv
1 d4 tLlf6 2 c4 e6 3 tLlc3 i,b4 4 tLlf3 d5 5 ing up material, in removing his king to a
i,g5 dxc4 6 �a4+ safe place, whereas the leader of the hostile
The point of this check is to deprive the forces remains in the danger zone and meets
opponent of the move ... c7-c5 and its associ its end there.
ated counterplay. But this costs two tempi. 19 ... f6 20 exf6+ @d8 21 f7+ �c7 22
Is this not too high a price? tt:Jxc4+ @b7 23 tLla3 �al+ 24 tLlbl
6... tt:Jc6 7 e4 i,d7 8 �dl tLlb4 ! 25 @d2 �xb2+ 26 �el tLlbc2+ 27
In Estrin' s opinion, it would have been @d2 c4 28 : ct tLle3+ ! 0-1
better to retreat the queen to c2, when after In the international Ragozin Memo
8 . . .h6 9 i,d2 i,xc3 1 0 i,xc3 b5 1 1 a4 rial tournament Yakov Estrin shared second
White gains an active position for the sac place. In 1 966 he was awarded the title of
rificed pawn. ICCF grandmaster, and from then on he was
8 ... b5 ! 9 e5 h6 10 i,h4 g5 1 1 tt:Jxg5 tLld5 ! constantly in the arena of world correspond
12 �h5 (D) ence chess, achieving his greatest success
This variation is analysed in Lipnitsky' s in the 7th World Championship, in which
book 'Voprosy Sovremennoy Shakhmatnoy 1 2 points out of 1 6 brought him the title of
Teorii' (Problems of Modem Chess Theo 'king of correspondence chess' .
ry), where on the basis of the continuation The author made the acquaintance of
12 ... �e7 13 tt:Jge4 it is considered diffi Yakov Estrin in the early 1 970s, as a result
cult for Black. However, Estrin had found of my interest in the ' opening novelties' col
another possibility, which gave the game umn that Estrin used to write in the monthly
theoretical significance. bulletin of the USSR Central Chess Club.
Estrin began citing my games and made
some complimentary remark about me, w
on noticing the similarity of our opening
inclinations. I was impressed by Estrin' s
romanticism, and by his adherence to the
Two Knights Defence (especially the Trax
ler Counterattack), the Italian Game, and the
Open Variation of the Ruy Lopez. And on
one occasion he used a recommendation of
mine, employing the then completely for
gotten M0ller Defence to the Ruy Lopez.
Yakov Estrin was everywhere appreci
ated for his diplomacy, tact and excellent For both players a prototype was pro
organisational capabilities. He was a wel vided by the game Padevsky-Botvinnik
come guest in many countries, where his from the Alekhine Memorial tournament
opening guides enjoyed great success (they (Moscow 1 956). Therefore it is instructive
ran to dozens of editions in all the 'chess' to read the evaluation by the originator of
languages). this method of development.
The title ofUSSR champion was awarded "This manoeuvre", explained Botvinnik,
to both players - additional tie-breaks were "allows Black to develop his bishop at b7
not taken into account. But if the widely in the quickest way possible. In addition,
accepted Sonneborn-Berger coefficient had at the appropriate moment he can exchange
been used, first would have been Georgy his knight for the bishop at b3 . Even so, the
Borisenko, because he gained the greater diverting of the knight to the edge of the
number of wins and lost his only game to board causes serious doubts, and probably
the player at the bottom of the tournament gives White the better prospects."
table! 10 f4 b6 l l g4
The quality ofBorisenko's wins was very This is the critical point of the opening
high, and the following game was officially battle. The chances of the two sides must
judged the best in the tournament. be weighed up on the basis of the variation
1 1 e5 ! tt::l e8 1 2 f5 dxe5 1 3 . fxe6 ! , in which
White initiates active play.
White : A. Rubezov Vatnikov lasted just four more moves in
a game against Geller ( 1 8th USSR Cham
Black: G . Borisenko pionship Semi-Final, Kiev 1 950): 1 3 . . .f6?
1 4 ctJf5 tt::l xb3 1 5 tt::l d5 ! ctJd4 1 6 ctJdxe7+
5th U S S R CC C h , 1 9 60- 6 3 c;t>h8 17 4Jg6+!. Such an opening catastro
phe can be avoided by playing 1 3 . . . tt::l xb3
Sicilian Defence 888 1 4 tt::l c 6! 'i'Vd6 1 5 '{ixd6 ! j,xd6 1 6 axb3
j,xe6 1 7 tt::l xa7 . Experience (for example,
1. e4 c5 2 tt::l f3 tt::l c6 3 d4 cxd4 4 tt::l xd4 Kostro-Doda, Polish Championship 1 957)
ctJf6 5 tt::l c3 d6 6 j,c4 has shown that in the resulting ending Black
This variation, which bears the name of faces a difficult struggle for a draw.
the master Veniamin Sozin, was first em 1 1 ... j,b7 12 '{if3 � c8 13 g5 � xc3 !
ployed by him in two games from the 7th The same sacrifice, with its deep stra
USSR CC Ch, 1 93 1 , against Kan and Ilyin tegic and tactical basis, was employed in
Genevsky. the source game Padevsky-Botvinnik. The
6 e6 7 0--0 j,e7 8 j,e3 0--0 9 j,b3 tt::la5 (D)
... Bulgarian player continued 14 bxc3, which
led to the loss of his important central pawn,
the uncovering of the hl -a8 diagonal and a
quick defeat. w
In his comments Botvinnik acknowl
edged that definitely better was 14 gxf6
!:l, xe3 l S iVxe3 (of course, not l S fxe7
!:l, xf3 16 exd8'ii' !:l, xfl+ 17 !:l, xfl !:l, xd8)
1S . . . �xf6, but he added that "here too the
insecure position of the white king makes
Black's game preferable, since his two bish
ops are very strong".
The present game confirms this evalua
tion by the Patriarch of Soviet chess. A position abounding in combinative pos
14 gxf6 !:!, xe3 15 iVxe3 �xf6 (D) sibilities. Black is not worried about his ma
terial deficit (which has grown to a rook and
the exchange!). Relying on the power of his
bishops, he trains his fire on the enemy king.
w How can the threat of 24 ... 'ii'g l + be
parried? Rubezov decides to flee with his
king, losing his material advantage on the
way, merely to avoid ending up in a mating
net. This could have happened, for example,
after 28 iVxe4 �f6+ 29 �c4 bS+ 30 @cs
�e7+ 3 1 @c6 'ii'c8+ 32 @b6 �cs+ 33
�as 'ii'c7+ 34 @xa6 'ii'b 6 mate. The
concluding pursuit demands the utmost
composure.
16 !:!. ad l cuxb3 17 axb3 a6 18 e5? 24 !:l, d8 ! 'ii' gl+ 25 @d2 'ii' d l+ 26 �c3
An incorrect evaluation of the position. 'ii'xd8 27 !:!. xf3 e4! 28 !:!. h3 �f6+ 29 @c4
With the opening of the game, the power 'ii'c7+! 30 �d5 'ii'b7+ 31 �d6 @xf8 32
of the two bishops increases still further. !:!. xh7 �e7+ 33 �e5 f6+ 34 �e6 'ii' c6+
Rubezov hopes to exploit the opposition of 35 �f5 'ii'c8+ 36 @xe4 'ii'xc2+ 37 @d5
queen and rook, but as usual tactics go in iVxh7 0-1
harmony with sound strategy. Georgy Konstantinovich Borisenko
18 ... dxe5! 19 cuxe6 began playing by correspondence when
Apart from this obvious move, 1 9 fxeS he was already a well-known master. He
�gS 20 'ii'g3 'ii'e7 2 1 h3 also came into received the master title in 1 9SO. He per
consideration with chances for both sides, formed successfully in the championships
although Black's position is nevertheless of Leningrad, the Russian Federation and
preferable. Uzbekistan, and participated in seven USSR
19... 'ii'c8 20 CUxf8 'ii'c6 21 @f2 Championships. Apart from twice winning
If 21 'ii'g3 White runs into the murder the USSR Correspondence Championship,
ous 2 1 . . . �h4 ! . He should have played 2 1 he had to his credit a silver medal from the
!:l, d2 ! , and if 2 1 . ..�h4 - 22 !:!, f3! , when 4th ICCF World Championship. As a mem
it is hard for Black to count on more than ber of the USSR team he won gold medals
a draw. in the 3rd and 4th Correspondence Olympi
21...'ii'g2+ 22 @el �h4+ 23 !:!. f2 �f3! ads, and in l 96S he was awarded the title of
(D) correspondence grandmaster.
Find the finish ( I}
N2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ll 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
1 V.Simagin Moscow
m�a.it y, 1 I y, y, 'h y, 1 y, 1 1 l I 0 1 1 1 13
�
9 A.Bannik Kiev 0 0 1 './, 0 y, Y2 Y2 l�!li! �t l 1 Y2 Y2 0 Y2 Vz Y2 I 8'h ;;;
10 Ya.Estrin Moscow Yi 0 0 0 y, 1 Y2 Y2 0 l y, y, l 0 l 1 Y2 8%
Ii"''
,
11 V.Dragunov Torez 0 0 0 0 y, 0 1 0 0 0 y, 1 Y2 I I l l 7'h
"�
12 Ya.Neishtadt Moscow 0 0 0 0 l Vz y, 0 y, Yi I•
Vz IM c Yi 0 Vz 1 1 1 7%
+cc+:021
13 I.Shapovalov Yaroslavl 0 0 y, Yz 0 y, I y, y, y, 0 y, . �� !.�.�,:, l 'h I 0 Vz 7%
15 A.Sadomsky Moscow 1 y, 0 0 y, 0 0 Vz Vz 1 0 y, y, y, • y, 0 y, 6%
18 L.Konovalov Norilsk 0 0 0 0 0 0 y, y, 0 y, 0 0 y, Yz Vz 1 0 • 4
- Grigory Sanakoev, third (and, like Sana against the invasion of the knight. For ex
koev, awarded for this result the title of ample, 2 1 . . . ctJb3 22 j,xb3 cxb3 23 'i/h4
national master) - V.Milyutin. h5 24 g4 f6 25 tbe6 and White wins.
One of the best creative achievements of 22 'i/h4 hS 23 f4 lb b3 24 �xb3 cxb3 2S
the bronze medal winner was his win over 'i/g3
the future international master R.Altshuler. Not allowing the rook to go to d3 .
2S...exf4 26 j,xf4 'i/c4 27 <iJf3 � d3 28
�eS b4
White : R .Altshule r The aim of this move is not so much to
get rid of the weak pawn, as to prevent the
Black: V. Milyutin white pieces from creating a base at d4. Also
with the bishop at c3 Black has the possibil
6th U S S R C C C h , 1 9 6 3-64 ity of giving up the exchange, obtaining a
far-advanced passed pawn.
Ruy Lopez C9 7 29 cxb4 'i/xb4 30 'i/f4
Black appears to have no defence. 30 ... f6
N otes by V.M i l yutin is bad because of 3 1 �c3 'i/b5 32 'i/h6
'ffe8 33 ctJg5 ! . However, he went in for this
1 e4 eS 2 tbf3 tbc6 3 �bS a6 4 �a4 ctJf6 position with his following move in mind.
S 0-0 �e7 6 � el bS 7 �b3 d6 8 c3 0-0 9 30... gS! 31 ltJxgS
h3 <iJaS 10 �c2 cS 11 d4 'i/c7 12 ctJbd2 3 1 'ffc 1 would seem to be better. The
j,e6 13 dxeS dxeS 14 <iJgS � ad8 black king' s position is weakened and
Until now this is the same as Neishtadt this should gradually tell. [Although, after
Milyutin from the same tournament. 3 1 . ..f6 the position of the white king looks
lS 'i/e2 weaker, for example 32 �c3 'i/c5+ 33
White prefers not to force events and he @hl j,xh3 . - S.G.]
prepares combined play on the flanks. 31. ..f6 32 <iJf3 fxeS 33 'i/h6 (D)
1S ... �c8 16 ctJfl g6 17 tbe3 �b7 18 a4! An obvious move, but, as the further
Signalling the start of the attack! course of the game shows, it is incorrect.
18 ... c4 19 axbS axbS 20 ctJg4 (D) 33 'i/xe5 'i/c5+ [Here too 33 . . . �xh3 looks
very strong. - S.G.] 34 @hl 'i/xe5 35
tbxe5 should have been played.
White : G .Sanakoev
White: V.Milyutin
N otes by Vlad i m i r S i m a g i n
IN THE 7th Championship there were 20 � dl exd4 11 cxd4 dS! 12 eS ll:le4 13 ll:lc3
players from Russia, Ukraine and Belorus ll:lxc3 14 bxc3 ll:laS lS j,c2 li'd7
sia. The participation of the well-known This move would appear to lead to
FIDE grandmaster Alexander Zaitsev should some difficulties for Black. In my opinion,
be mentioned. N.P.Andreyev (Moscow) was 1 5 ... j,h5 was better.
appointed arbiter. 16 li'd3 g6 17 j,h6 j,fS 18 li'e2 � fb8 19
By 1 st October 1 965, 39 of the 1 90 j,xfS li'xfS 20 � d3 � b6 21 h3 ll:lc4 22
games had finished, roughly one fifth. A g4 'ifd7 23 ltJgS
feature of the tournament was that there was After Black' s inaccuracy White has
no obvious leader. A large group of players achieved a threatening position. He is
had '+ I ' , and the winner of the previous intending f2-f4-f5 with a decisive attack.
championship, grandmaster Vladimir Sim Black is required to defend with exceptional
agin, had not yet completed a single game. accuracy.
But by mid-February 1 966 it became 23 ... j,f8! 24 j,xf8 � xf8 2S � el li'e7
clear that the fastest pace had been set by 26 h4 b4!
the master Mikhail Yudovich - 7 out of 9. Counter-attack is the only possibility of
The only player who could rival him was saving the game. 26 ... h6 was tempting, but
Simagin - 3 out of 4. Roughly two thirds of after 27 ll:lh3 ! ifxh4 28 ll:lf4! Black would
the games completed by that time had ended have been in a difficult position.
in draws, and so most of the players, includ 27 cxb4 � xb4 28 � b3 aS 29 f4 (D)
ing Dubinin and Zaitsev, were on 50%.
Of importance for the final outcome was
the game between the tournament favourites.
B
White: V.Simagin
Black : M . Yudovich
7th U S S R C C C h , 1 9 6 5 - 6 6
N otes by V l ad i m i r S i m a g i n 29...f6!
The only rejoinder against White's at
1 e4 eS 2 ll:l f3 ll:lc6 3 j,bS a 6 4 j,a4 ll:lf6 tack, but quite adequate.
S 0-0 j,e7 6 li'e2 30 exf6 ifxf6 31 li'e6+ lfxe6 32 ll:lxe6
This is an attempt to deviate from the � e8! Yi-Yi
well-trodden paths. However, in the Ruy The last precise move, after which White
Lopez it is hard to find new ways. gave up playing for a win and offered a
6 ... bS 7 j,b3 d6 8 c3 0-0 9 d4 j,g4 10 draw. This result is obvious after 33 f5 gxf5
The f!!SSR CC Champion:$.bips: P/?otographs i
Many top USSR postal players were also masters at over-the-board play. Above, the young
Igor Kopylov is seen in action. Later he was the 1 7th USSR CC Champion.
ii Red Letters
The 1 5th USSR CC Champion, Ale Grigory Sanakoev in the 1 990s; he took second
ksandr Lipiridi, who died young; the place in the 6th USSR Championship and later
1 9th Championship was his memorial. won the 1 2th CC World Championship.
iv Red Letters
BELOW: Mikhail
Arkhangelsky, the runner
up in the 1 4th USSR CC
Championship.
RIGHT:
Grandmaster Lev
Omelchenko, who
was the only man to
win two consecutive
USSR CC Champi
onships.
BELOW:
Yury Zelinsky,
1 9th Champion and
the player with the
best overall result
in the whole series.
BOTTOM RIGHT:
Aleksandr
Lutovinov, who
was runner-up in the
1 5th Championship.
vi Red Letters
Aleksandr Yakimenko came 6th in the 15th Ukrainian master Alexandr Serebriisky
USSR CC Championship. who played in the 9th Championship.
The USSR CC Championships: Photographs vii
ABOVE: Grandmaster
Vsevolod Kosenkov
who came second in the
9th Championship.
viii Red Letters
Black: A.Sychyov
w
7th U S S R CC C h , 1 9 6 5 - 6 6
N otes by M i k h a i l Yu d ov ic h
NQ I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts
1 S. Sokolov Moscow Y2 I Y2 0 I 1 Yz Yz I Yz Y2 I Yz J 0 1 l 1 Y2 13
6 I. Tilrn Tallinn 0 1 Y2 1 I Yz Yz 0 Y2 Y2 Y2 Y2 0 y, 1 Yz y, J 1 11
7 M. Zagorovsky Moscow 0 1 Yz 0 Y2 Y2 � y, Y2 1 Y2 Yz Y2 Yz Y2 1 1 0 l Yz I O Yz
J 1;, 8
14 V. Dragunov Torez y, 0 Yz 0 Y2 Y2 Yz 0 Yz Yz 0 y, 0 'lz Yz l Yz
20 A. Koblencs Riga 1/2 0 0 0 1/2 0 Yz 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 0 l '/, '/, 0 6
G.N. Veresov (Minsk) dropped out after a year and his games were cancelled.
Eighth C·hampionship ( 196 7 -1968)
White : A.Zilberberg
Black : V.Skotorenko
8th U S S R CC C h , 1 9 6 7 - 6 8
w
B
1 L.Omelchenko Pyatigorsk 1 0 1 y, y, y, y, 1 1 1 y, y, 1 1 1 1 1 1 14
3 G.Sorokin Gorky 1 y, 1 0 1 1 y, y, y, y, 0 1 1 1 1 y, 1 1 13
4 V.Shadchnev Penza 0 1 0 y, 0 1 0 y, 1 1 1 1 y, 1 1 1 1 1 12 Yz
5 M.Govbinder Dushanbe y, ·o 1 y, 0 0 y, 1 0 1 1 1 1 y, 1 1 1 1 12
6 V.Baturinsky Moscow y, 1 0 1 1 Y2 y, 0 y, 0 1 1 y, 1 1 1 1 y, 12
•
'
7 B.Petrov Odessa Y2 0 0 0 1 y, 0 1 y, 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 y, 1 12
8 A.Mikhailov Leningrad y, 0 y, 1 y, y, 1 0 y, 0 y, 1 1 y, y, 1 1 1 11
12 A.Korelov Leningrad y, 0 1 0 0 0 0 y, 0 0 0 1 0 1 y, 1 1 1 7 Yz
1 3 E.Kuuskmaa Tartu y, 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 y, 0 1 y, 1 1 1 1 6 Yz
THE 9th USSR Championship began on 1 st i,d7 13 fljg3 flJa5 14 i,c2 c5 15 b3 fljc6
February 1 969. Geographically, the tourna 16 d5 flJe7 17 c4
ment was very widely spread - the players The usual 1 7 i,e3 is better.
represented 1 6 towns from Russia, Ukraine, 17 ... fljg6 18 fljf5 ClJf4 19 i,xf4 exf4 (D)
the three Baltic Republics and Tadzhikistan.
The chess honour of the Central Asian Re
public was defended by Mikhail Govbinder,
who subsequently obtained the international w
master title. Boris Rozinov, who already
held the title of ICCF International Arbiter,
was appointed arbiter.
A confident start to the tournament was
made by th.e Muscovite Viktor Baturin
sky, who won game after game, and after
a year's play had 1012 out of 1 3 . At that
point Vladas Mikenas (Vilnius), a former
opponent of Alekhine and a future FIDE
grandmaster, was doing not at all badly 20 flJxd6 i,xd6 21 e5 i,f8 22 'i¥d3 g6 23
- 412 out of 5 . Also in the leading group exf6 'iVxf6 24 'iV d2 i,g7 25 .i::!, xe8+ .i::!, xe8
were Omelchenko (Pyatigorsk) - 6 out of 8, 26 .i::!, el .i::!, xel+ 27 'iVxel b4 28 'iVe2 @f8
Andreyev (Moscow) - 5 Yi out of 7 , Sorokin 29 i,d3 a5 30 @h2 g5 31 g4 h5 32 fljgl
(Gorky) - 5 out of 6, and Govbinder (Dush hxg4 33 hxg4 'i¥h6+ 34 @g2 'i¥h4 35 d6
anbe) - 412 out of 7 . i,d4 36 ClJh3 f3+! 0-1
When the allotted time was drawing to Omelchenko considered his most memo
a close, it became clear that the main con rable game from this tournament to be the
tender for victory was candidate master Lev one with Vladas Mikenas from Lithuania.
Omelchenko from Pyatigorsk, who had 1 3
points out of 1 7 and the advantage in his last
remaining game. All his rivals, Kosenkov, White: L . Omelchenko
Sorokin, Govbinder and Baturinsky, could
hope for 1 3 12 points at best. A miracle did Black : V. Mikenas
not occur - Lev Omelchenko won his last
game. This is how it happened. 9th U S S R CC C h , 1 9 6 9 - 7 0
White: V.Kosenkov
Black: A.Serebriisky
9th U S S R C C C h , 1 9 6 9 - 7 0
Scandinavian Defen ce 80 1
Black had aimed for the diagram posi 1 e4 d5 2 exd5 'i¥xd5 3 lt:Jc3 'i¥a5 4 d4 c6
tion. However, there followed: 4 ... lt:Jf6 or 4 ... i,f5 is more often played.
The once popular plan with 4 ... e5 is now the winner of the 1 st championship of the
considered too risky. Russian Federation, in which he finished
5 �e2 ahead of the future ICCF grandmaster Lev
The main continuations are 5 CZJD and Omelchenko.
5 �c4. Later Sorokin became an international
5 CLJf6 6 tlJf3 �g4 7 CZJe5
•.. master in correspondence play and qualified
7 0-0 was also possible. for the final of the ICCF World Champion
7... �xe2 8 'iVxe2 e6 9 �d2 'iVc7 10 shp, but then he gave up chess, devoting
0-0-0 himself to scientific work.
The resulting position resembles a Caro It should also be remembered that Ga
Kann Defence, but Black is seriously behind rald Sorokin was one of the initiators of
in development. the introduction of individual ratings for
10 ... CLJbd7 11 f4 tLixe5 correspondence players, long before they
l l .. .�d6 is more natural. were brought in by ICCF. In the battle for
12 fxe5 CLJd7 13 � hfl c5? the 'bronze' in the 9th USSR Championship
Had Black played 1 3 ... �b4 or 13 . . . CZJb6, the following game proved decisive.
he could have hoped to put up a lengthy re
sistance. Now, however, White gains a great
advantage. White: V.Baturinsky
14 d5
1 4 'iff2 was more convincing, with di Black: G .Sorokin
rect threats to the black king, for example
14 ... f6 1 5 exf6 tlJxf6 16 �f4 etc. 9th U S S R CC C h , 1 9 6 9 - 7 0
14 ... 'ifxe5 .15 'iVb5 'ifc7
In the event of 1 5 ... 0-0-0 White had 1 6 Modern Benoni Defence A 6 1
�f4 and 1 7 CZJe4 with an easy win.
16 dxe6 fxe6 17 �g5 a6 (D) N otes b y G ara l d S o ro k i n
23 a3!
8
The strength of Black's attack in the
event of 23 e4 is illustrated by the fantasy
variation 23 . . . b4 24 tlJa4 b3 ! ? 25 axb3 cxb3
26 �xb3 "ii'b7 27 �c2 1: b8 28 �d3
�d7 29 tbc3 1: dc8 30 fxg5 fxe4 3 1 �xe4
�xc3 32 bxc3 "ii'b3 3 3 1: e3? 'ii'a3+ 34
� d l �g4+ and Black wins.
[However, by playing 33 �h7+! ! @xh7
34 "ii'd3+ �g7 3 5 gxh6+ White forces
mate in a few moves, so probably 24 . . . c3
would be the correct choice for Black. Both 33 1: e7 and 33 f6 are threatened.
- S. G./T.H.] 32...b3! 33 �e4
23 ... "ii'b7 24 fxg5 a5! 25 gxh6 If 33 �d3, then 33 . . . "ii'xd5 34 "ii'e3
White does not sense the danger, other �xf5. White's attack comes to a halt - the
wise he would have preferred 25 1: xh6 with e-file is blocked by his own bishop.
the possible continuation 25 ...b4 26 tlJa4 c3 33 ... "ii'c7!
27 "ii'd3 b3 28 �dl cxb2+ 29 tlJxb2 �d7 Threatening . . . 'ii' c 5 and . . . "ii'x a3, as well
30 1: g6 �e8 etc. After the capture on h6 as . . . �xf5 (the white queen is obliged to
with the pawn, the dark-square bishop be defend the c l -square in view of the mate
comes the most important piece, achieving threat).
both defence and attack. 34 l: hfl �xf5 35 l: xf5 "ii'c5 0-1
25 ... �f6 26 h7+ @h8 27 e4 White resigned, after agreeing with the
Here too 27 1: h6 �g7 28 1: g6 was proposed variations:
possible. (a) 36 1: e2 "ii'xa3 37 1: xb2 �xb2
27 ...b4 28 tlJdl c3 29 'ii'h 6 3 8 lbxb2 'ii' a2+ 39 @ c l "ii' a l+ 40 �d2
29 "ii'e3 was more prudent. After 29 bxc3 "ii'xb2+;
bxa3 30 �bl 1: b8 Black's threats are dan (b) 36 lbxb2 "ii'xa3 3 7 �cl 'ii'xb2+ 38
gerous, but now he has a very strong attack. �dl a4.
Tenth Championship ( 1971 -197 2)
ON THE 5th of February 1 9 7 1 a start was 1 1 . The number of pursuers had thinned: Za
made to the 1 0th USSR Championship. vernyaev had 7Yi out of 1 1 , Govbinder - 6Yi
Among the 2 1 participants were ICCF out of 9, and Estrin - 6 Yi out of 1 0.
grandmaster Yakov Estrin, eight masters, By the summer of 1 972 the tournament
including the future grandmasters Vsevolod table was two thirds full, but things were
Kosenkov and Lev Omelchenko, and some still not clear. Those in contention for the
very strong candidate masters - winners prizes were: Omelchenko - 1 0 out of 14,
of the U.SSR Championship semi-finals, Govbinder - 8 out of 1 1 , Voitsekh and
among whom we meet some prestigious Prokofiev - 7Yi out of 1 0, and Sychyov - 7
names in the world of correspondence chess out of 1 1 . And here Lev Omelchenko put
- Anatoly Sychyov, Yury Zelinsky, Anatoly on a spurt, winning four games in a row
Voitsekh and S.Prokofiev. An interesting to reach 14 points out of 1 8 , effectively
fact is that in the pairings the future winner leaving his rivals to fight it out for second
of the tournament, Lev Omelchenko, was place. At this point those in contention were
given No.2 1 . Prokofiev - 1 1 Yi out of 1 5 , Govbinder - 1 1
Apart from Russians, there were corre out of 1 5 , and Voitsekh, who had finished
spondence players from Ukraine, Belorus fewer games than the others - 1 0 out of 1 3 .
sia, Latvia, Lithuania and Tadzhikistan. Just before the conclusion of the playing
Viktor Yurgenson (Moscow), subsequently period at the end of 1 972, fifteen games re
an ICCF international arbiter, was appointed mained unfinished. After another win (this
arbiter of the tournament. From the infor time over Estrin) Omelchenko had 1 5 points
mation by Yurgenson, given every three out of 1 9 with one unfinished game in an
months in the Riga magazine ' Sahs' , one equal position. Prokofiev had 1 3 Yi out of
can gain an impression of the course of the 1 8, and Voitsekh - 1 2 out of 1 5 . The final
play. results confirmed the claims of this trio to
The first result was recorded quite soon - the championship awards, arranging them
on the 1 4th move in a double-edged position on the podium in this order.
Zelinsky (Riga) and Govbinder (Dushanbe) Thus Lev Omelchenko became USSR
agreed a draw. By the end of 1 97 1 the lead Champion for the second time! He was born
ing group was headed by ICCF grandmaster in 1 922 in the Ukraine in the small town of
Yakov Estrin - 4Yi out of 6, with three Zhashkov in the Cherkass Region. He spent
players half a point behind: Omelchenko, his youth in Tyumen. Here in his school
Sadomsky and Voitsekh. years his interest in chess was aroused and
After another three months it became he achieved his first successes. But service
clear that the only ICCF grandmaster in the in the army, participation in the war and be
tournament was not in contention for first ing seriously wounded prevented him from
place and preferred to agree draws. Lev progressing in chess.
Omelchenko, on the other hand, was not After returning to civilian life,
averse to retaining his title. By April the Omelchenko completed a course in the Law
master from Pyatigorsk had 8 points out of Faculty of Leningrad University and was
Co
N2 10th USSR CC Ch ( 1 9 7 1 -72) I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ') 10 I I 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 c:::i
�
12 A. Sadomsky Moscow Yz 0 Yz 0 Yz 0 0 Yz Yz Yz y, 0 Yz J Yz Yz I 1 1 I 10 ;;;
13 G. Sorokin Gorky Yz 0 0 y, y, 0 1 0 0 0 0 I l 0 1 y, 1 l y, l 91;2
White: L . Omelchenko
w
Black: A.Bakharev
1 0th U S S R CC C h , 1 9 7 1 - 7 2
1 0th U S S R CC C h , 1 9 7 1 -7 2
w Ruy Lopez C 78
15 e5!
The decisive breakthrough.
15 ... tt:Jc5 16 f5 !. w
White does not deviate from his course.
There is no defence against the numerous
threats. He wants to win a piece by exf6 and
.i,e3 .
1 6...dxe5
A pretty variation with a queen sacrifice
would have occurred after l 6 ...b4 1 7 .i,xf6
exf6 1 8 .i,xf7+! @xf7 1 9 fxg6+ @g8 20
;g, h7! : xe5 2 1 ctJf5 ! ! : xe2 22 : xg7+
@ f8 23 ;g, f7+ @e8 24 tbxd6+ @d8 25 21 tbxf7!
tbxb7+ and wins. White sacrifices two pieces for a rook,
[S.G./T.H.: Much stronger is l 9 . . . @ f8 ! obtaining several pawns as a 'make
2 0 'iYc4 d 5 when Black defends success weight'.
fully. Probably the correct path to victory 21... : xn 22 cxb4 tbc6 23 'iYa6 'jyd8 24
for White would be 1 7 .i,xf7+! \t>xf7 1 8 ;g, al tt:Ja7 25 .i,xf7+ @xf7 26 dxe5 d5
exf6 exf6 1 9 'iYc4+ @ f8 20 fxg6 d5 2 1 27 'jyd3 @e8 28 exd5 'iVxd5 29 'jyg6+
'jyfl 'jyb6 22 tt:Jce2 when White has an @f8 30 t2Jf3 'iYf7 31 'iVxf7+ @xf7 32 e6+
extra pawn and a powerful attack.] @xe6 33 .i,xc7 .i,xc7 34 ;g, xa7 gxf3 35
17 .i,xf7+! @xf7 18 fxg6+ @g8 19 .i,xf6 ;g, xc7 ctJf6 36 b5 tbe4 37 b6 ctJd6 38 g4
1-0 hxg4 39 h5 1-0
Some miniatures from the US S R
CC Championships ( I )
N2 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
6 A. Kashlyak Semipalatinsk 0 1 1 1 Yz Yz Yz 1 Yz Yz 1 1 10
10 I. Morozov Gorky 0 Yz Yz 0 0 Yz 0 0 Yz Yz 1 1 1 7
11 V. Pulkis Liepaya Yz 0 Yz Yz 0 Yz 0 0 1 Yz 1 1 6
12 I. Shapiro Kiev Yz Yz 0 0 0 0 0 0 Yz 1 1 0 5Yz
16 A. Bershadsky Novosibirsk 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
16 ...bxa4 17 bxa4 a5 1S i,d3 d5 19 exd5! Alas, lying in wait for him are two combina
Now it transpires that it is not easy tive blows.
for Black to defend. Thus in the event of 22 L2Jxh6+! gxh6 23 fj'g4+ @ hS 24
19 ... exd4 20 ll: xe8 iVxe8 2 1 i,b5 and 22 i,xh6! ll: e7
c4 he is simply in danger of remaining a The second piece sacrifice has to be de
pawn down. clined - 24 ... i,xh6 25 fj'g6.
In a game from the 1 3th USSR Corres 25 i,xf8 fj'xf8 26 fj'h5+ @gS 27 ll: xe7
pondence Championship, Kutyanin replied iVxe7 2S ctJf5 fj'd7 29 fj'g6+ @f8
20 ... RJxe8 against Aronson, but after 2 1 29 ... @h8 30 ll: e l .
c4 c6 22 dxc6 i,xc6 2 3 l2Je5 i,b7 24 30 fj'xf6+ fj'f7 3 1 fj'h6+ �es 32 ll: el+
fj'h5 fj'f6 25 L2Jxf7! L2Jd6 (25 . . . fj'xf7 26 White's last piece is included in the at
i,h7+) 26 L2Jxh6+ gxh6 27 c5 L2Jbc4 28 tack.
cxd6 L2Jxd6 29 i,b2 ll: b8 30 fj'g4+ he 32 ... @d7 33 ll: e7+ iVxe7 34 l2Jxe7 �xe7
ended up in a lost position. 35 fj'g7+ 1-0
19... ctJfxd5 20 l2Jxe5 f6 And Black conceded defeat in view of
20 . . . L2Jxc3 !? . came into consideration, the inevitable 35 ... @d6 36 iVe5+ @d7 37
and if 2 1 fj'c2 fj' d5 ! , with chances for both i,f5+ @d8 3 8 fj'f6+ @e8 39 i,e6, when
sides, although White' s are nevertheless White wins.
slightly better. [TH: Note that after 22 L2Je4, 'Knowledge is light, ignorance is dark
suggested by GM John Nunn, Black must ness' runs the Russian proverb, and this also
not reply 22 ... fj'xd4?? because of the pretty applies to chess. All the moves up to the
forced mate starting 23 L2J f6+! . ] 24th in the above game were reproduced a
21 ctJg4 l2Jxc3 (D) few years later in the game Dokshin-Kozo
doyev (Liepaya 1977). Dokshin was obvi
ously 'educated ', and knew of the precursor,
w whereas his opponent was ' in the dark'.
White required only a few more moves
(24 . . . fj'd5 25 f3 L2Je4 26 i,xe4 ll: xe4 27
fxe4 fj'xd4+ 28 i,e3 fj'e5 29 fj'g6) to
convince Black of the hopelessness of his
resistance.
One noticeable failure was that of the
only grandmaster participating in the tour
nament, Igor Morozov. The 1 1 th Champion
ship also demonstrated the fact that masters,
successful in over-the-board chess, are often
It now appears that Black has restored the not capable of conducting a lengthy corre
balance and is ready to continue the fight. spondence tournament.
N2 1 2th USSR Ch (1 975-77) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 JO 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
�
I V. Semenyuk Tula I '/, I \12 \12 I I 0 \12 Yi I \12 1 I y, I y, I 13
,
2 G. Nesis Leningrad 0 , I 0 y, I 1 1 y, \12 y, I 1 y, I \12 I 1 1 1 2 Yz
"'
3 N. Krivun Tagangor \12 \12 1 \12 \12 1 y, I I \12 I 0 y, y,,, I 1 I \12 1 2 Yz
It
4 M. Govbinder Dushanbe 0 1 0 \12 \12 y, I y, y, I I y, \12 \12 I I 1 1 12
Yi Yi
8 V. Vorobiyov lvanovo 0 0 \12 0 \12 I I \12 I '/, 1 0 1 I 0 1 10
�
�
9 M. Y eryomin Stavropol 1 \12 0 Yi Yi 0 0 0 l 1 0 1 I y, y, l 1 \12 10 ,....
Cb
.....
1 0 B. Persits Moscow \12 Yi 0 \12 \12 0 \12 0 0 I Yi '/, 0 \12 l l I 1 9
(ti'
1 1 A. Bangiev Sevastopol '/, Yi Yi 0 0 0 \12 Yi 0 0 0 '/, \12 l y, I 1 1 8 ;;;
1 2 G. Pivovarov Chelyabinsk 0 0 0 0 Yi 0 0 0 I Yi 1 1 l \12 \12 Yi 0 1 7Yz
1 6 F. Filtser Moscow \12 \12 0 0 0 \12 \12 0 '/, 0 y, Yi 0 y, \12 \12 \12 l 6 Yz
12 e5!
An improvement for White, involving a
pawn sacrifice.
12 ...f5
After other replies too White gains dan
gerous pressure: 1 2 .. 0-0 1 3 exf6 exf6 1 4
. White's plan is as follows: against pas
l2Jd5 l:!'. e8 1 5 0-0 or 1 2 . . . tt:Jxe5 1 3 tt:Jxe5 sive play by Black to prepare and carry out
fxe5 14 l§d5 or 12 ... tt:Jc6 1 3 exf6 exf6 1 4 b2-b4, or, after Black's thematic advance
.i,xc5 or 1 2 . . .fxe5 1 3 tt:Jgs. . .. f7-f5, to seize control of the important
13 0-0 tt:JxeS e4-square. It is the latter that occurred in
After 1 3 . . 0-0 14 l2Jd5 .lJ, e8 15 .i,f4
. the game.
White has an obvious advantage. 15 ... fS 16 exf5 gxfS 17 g4! @h8
14 tt:JxeS i,xeS 15 QJdS! Intending to use the g-file for an attack.
White has a marked lead in development However, the rook will be badly placed at f5.
over his opponent and is ready to begin a 18 gxf5 � xf5 19 l2Je4 kl g8 20 c;ti h2 'i!1f8
crushing offensive. (D)
15...e6 16 �f4 tt:Jc6 17 i,xeS tt:JxeS 18 20 . . . .ll ff8 was better.
of books and articles on questions of theory
w and the teaching of chess.
White: G . Nesis
Black: V.Solodovnikov
1 2th U S S R CC C h , 1 9 7 5- 7 7
English Opening A 30
3 V. Shishlov Sorsk y, 0 y, Y2 y, I 1 I y, 1 I I t I y, I I y, y, 14
7 V. Semenyuk Tula I y, 0 0 0 y, 0 1 y, y, y, I I I y, y, y, I I 11
11 E. Balendo Minsk 0 0 0 y, y, y, y, 0 y, y, y, y, y, y, I I I 0 I 9
14 R. Zborovsky Grodno 0 y, 0 0 y, 0 0 y, y, y, y, y, y, 0 I y, Y2 I I 8
15 D . Veytsel
Petropavlovsk-
0 0 0 y, Y2 0 0 y, 0 y, y, y, y, I 0 I y, y, I 7y,
Kamchatskv
20 I. Kudinov Leningrad 0 0 y, y, 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 y, y, 0 I 4
Thirteenth Championship
(197 7 -1978)
AS IN the preceding championship, the 1 5 and Kogan - 8Yz out of 13, as well as
final was contested by 1 9 players, among Kolker - l O Yz out of 1 6 and Shishlov - 7Yz
whom were seven masters. On this occasion out of l O.
the tournament director was ICCF interna The final table shows a high number of
tional arbiter Isaak Romanov. The finalists decisive games - 5 8%. On the whole, the
represented Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia and masters maintained their reputation: of the
Kazakhstan. Some strong representatives of eight, six of them took places in the top half
the Baltic Republics were eliminated at the of the table, including first. Mikhail Uman
semi-final stage. sky won with a score which, in percentage
One of the quarter-finals consisted of terms (8 1 .6), is a record.
composers of problems and studies, and The tournament winner did not endeav
winners of composition-solving competi our to build new strategic plans, but on al
tions. The author of these lines was a partici ready familiar paths he found unusual turns,
pant in and the organiser of this tournament, advantageously changing the evaluation of
and he qualified for the semi-finals, where the position. The variations in the notes to
he played without success. the following game are based on Umansky's
In the final a clear favourite emerged contemporary analysis.
from the very start. He was the Pyatigorsk
master Mikhail Umansky. Whereas other
contenders had '+ l ' and the winner of the White : V.Aronson
previous championship had to be content
with four draws, the future winner had Black : M . Umansky
scored 6Yz points out of 8.
A few more months passed, and from 1 3th U S S R C C Ch , 1 9 7 7 - 7 8
information provided by the arbiter we learn
that Umansky already had 10 points out of Evans Gambit C5 1
12, and the group of pursuers comprised:
Boris Kogan - 7 out of 1 0, Yury Kutyanin 1 e4 es 2 tbf3 tbc6 3 �c4 �cs 4 b4
and B.Kolker - 6 out of 9, Gennady Nesis �xb4 S c3 �e7 6 'ii' b3
- 5Yz out of 8 and V.Shishlov - 4 out of 5. The alternative is 6 d4.
By the start of 1 978 Umansky's victory 6... tbh6 7 d4 t{jaS 8 'ii'a4 tbxc4 9 'ii'xc4
was not in doubt - 1 3 points out of 1 5 . A Until not long before, this continuation,
real contender for second place was Nesis the 'copyright' on which dates back to La
- 1 1 Yi out of 1 5 , while those still fighting Bourdonnais, had been considered to favour
for the 'bronze' were Kutyanin - 9Yz out of White.
9...dS! After 22 . . . � b8 White consolidates his
As the further course of the game shows, position by 23 4Jc5+ @xe5 24 CLJb3 .
this continuation allows Black to count on 23 � bl � xeS 24 c4 � d3 25 tlJ aS cS 26
an obvious advantage. 9 . . . 4Jg4 1 0 h3 CLJf6 � bS �g4!
1 1 dxe5 d5 , a variation suggested by Ravin Sacrificing a pawn, Black breaks through
sky, also gives Black a good game. with his king deep into the opponent's rear.
10 exdS 27 � xcS+ @d4 28 � dS+ @c3 (D)
In the endgame after 10 �xd5 Vi'xd5
1 1 exd5 exd4 Black's two bishops and su
perior pawn formation give him the better
chances. w
10 ...e4 11 ct:Jes f6!? (D)
Black: G . Nesis
B
1 3th U S S R C C C h , 1 9 7 7- 7 8
Sicilian Defen ce 8 7 7
N2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
1 B. Postovsky Moscow Yz Yz Yz Yz Yz Yz 1 Yz Yz 1 Yz 1 1 1 1 Yz 11
2 M. Arkhangelsky Moscow Yz 0 0 1 Yz Yz Yz 1 Yz Yz Yz 1 1 1 1 Yz 10
3 A. Tsamryuk Samarkand Yz 1 1 0 Yz Yz Yz Yz 1 1 1 Yz Yz Yz Yz Yz 10
'
11 M. Pukshansky Leningrad 0 Yz 0 1 Yz Yz Yz 0 Yz Yz Yz 1 Yz 0 0 1 7
Yz Yz Yz Yz Yz Yz Yz Yz
,.
15 P. Bragin Voronezh 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 . 6
16 A. Ufimtsev Kustanay 0 0 Yz 0 Yz 0 Yz Yz Yz Yz 1 Yz Yz Yz Yz 0 6
17 A. Smetanin Ryazan Yz Yz Yz Yz Yz 0 0 0 Yz 0 0 0 0 Yz Yz 1 5
Fourteenth Championship
(1979-1980)
AS HAD occurred previously, the final of were just a few months remaining, only 75
the 14th USSR Championship was preceded of the 136 results had been entered into the
by semi-finals, in which on this occasion tournament table. Moreover, two thirds of
quite a large number of masters expressed a the completed games had ended in draws.
desire to take part. In one of the semi-finals Understandably; it was hard to determine
the first two places, giving the right to par the contenders not only for the prizes, but
ticipate in the final, were shared by the mas even for the leading group. Of note were
ter Yury Zelinsky and the candidate master the showings by the candidate masters Pos
Aleksandr Tsamryuk. tovsky - 7 points out of 1 1 and Bodisko - 6
In the other semi-final the winners were out of 1 0, as well as by the masters Rusakov
Igor Kopylov (a future grandmaster) and - 4 out of 7, Altshuler - 6 out of 1 0 and
A.Bodisko (a future international master), Kopylov 8 out of 14.
-
and half a point behind them was Yakov When the allotted time expired, the deci
Rusakov, an over-the-board master who was sion (a highly contentious one by present
well known in Russia. Taking account of his day standards) was taken to adjudicate all
third place in the semi-final and his suc the unfinished games. The results of the
cess in a strong correspondence tournament adjudication, naturally, could not satisfy
dedicated to the memory of Sergey Y esenin all parties, protests were made, and a long
(the well-known Russian poet from the early time was spent considering them. Finally the
20th century), Rusakov was also admitted results were affirmed, but for a long time
into the final of the 14th Championship. afterwards various complaints and protests
The final began in January 1 979 and was were made, and the championship went
due to finish in December of the following down in the history of correspondence chess
year. Playing in the tournament were nine as the most scandalous.
masters and eight candidate masters. Apart All the places on the winning podium
from Russians, there was one representative were taken by candidate masters. After the
each from Ukraine, Latvia, Kazakhstan and prize-winners came the well-known masters
Uzbekistan. The arbiter was Nikolay An Bodisko, Kopylov and Rusakov, while other
dreyev, who himself had the experience of famous players faltered. Especially strange
participating in several of the finals. was the result of the legendary chess theore
When at the end of the allotted time there tician Anatoly Ufimtsev, who continued ap-
pearing in the following USSR Champion cxd5 a6 10 a4 J:b.g4
ships, where his results were much better. If Black had preferred the usual 3 ... e6 4
The outcome of the 14th Championship t2Jc3 exd5 5 cxd5 d6, then apart from the
is associated with the name of Boris Pos sharp 6 e4 g6 7 f4 White would also have
tovsky, who for his result in the tournament had the possibility of 6 Qjf3 g6 7 Qjd2
was awarded the title of USSR Master of t2Jbd7 8 e4 J:b.g7 9 i:b.e2 0-0 1 0 0-0, avoid
Sport, · but who much earlier had already ing . . . J:b.g4. True, with the chosen move
shown himself to be a splendid chess or order Black has to reckon with the variation
ganiser. In his student years (he graduated 7 h3 e6 8 Jld3 exd5 9 exd5.
from the prestigious Rauman Technical Col 11 i:b.f4 � es
lege in Moscow) Postovsky played for the Here I I .. . i:b.xf3 12 i:b.xf3 'i/e7 is more
college team alongside several later well often played.
known masters. 12 QJd2
In the 1 970s Postovsky became a popu It is well known that 12 h3 is bad because
lar trainer, the coordinator of the Smyslov of 1 2 ... t2Jxe4! 1 3 hxg4 i:b.xc3 (Uhlmann
Chess School, and the inspiration behind the Fischer, Palma de Mallorca 1 97 1 ).
main successes of the 'Burevestnik' Sports 12 ... Jlxe2 13 'i/xe2 QJhS 14 i:b.e3 t2Jd7
Society. In his crowded chess biography, (D)
his participation in correspondence tourna
ments was merely an episode. After the
USSR Championship he competed in the
team championship of the country, but this w
did not bring him any laurels.
On the other hand, the respectful atti
tude to him of many leading grandmasters,
including Kasparov himself, assisted his
appointment to the post of Russian State
Coach. When Boris Postovsky was in
charge of the Russian team in his capacity
as trainer, his team invariably finished up
the winners, irrespective of how things had
gone at the start. At the tum of the century 15 g4! ?
Boris Postovsky emigrated permanently to The preparatory 1 5 a5 gives White
the USA. the advantage in the event of the passive
1 5 ... 'i/c7 16 g4! QJhf6 17 f3 l2Je5 1 8 @hl
� ac8 1 9 � a4 h5 20 g5 QJh7 2 1 f4 QJd7
White: B.Postovsky 22 e5 dxe5 23 f5 ! (Gligoric-Miles, Hastings
1 973/74).
Black: M .Pukshansky However, in the game Beliavsky
Kasparov (47th USSR Championship,
1 4th U S S R C C C h , 1 9 7 9 - 8 0 Minsk 1 979) after 1 5 . . . 'i/h4! 1 6 t2Jc4
Qjf4 17 'i/f3 l2Je5 ! 1 8 l2Jxe5 J:b.xe5 1 9 g3
Modern Benoni Defence A 7 5 'i/h5 ! 20 'i/xh5 t2Jxh5 2 1 t2Ja4 J:b.g7 Black
solved all his problems.
N otes by Boris Po stovsky 15 ... QJhf6 16 h3
Portisch chose 16 f3 against Kasparov
1 d4 Qjf6 2 c4 cS 3 d5 g6 4 t2Jc3 d6 5 e4 (Moscow 1 9 8 1 ) and after 1 6 . . . h6 1 7 @h l
J:b.g7 6 Qjf3 0-0 7 i:b.e2 e6 8 0-0 exd5 9 l2Je5 1 8 � g l b5 ! 1 9 g5 hxg5 20 Jlxg5 c4
2 1 axb5 axb5 22 � xa8 'iVxa8 23 l2Jxb5 2 7 c:i;; h l! l2Je5 28 l2Jf5
'iVb8 24 l2Ja3 'iVxb2 25 l2Jaxc4 l2Jxc4 26 In such formations a knight on f5 is a
'iVxc4 l2Jh5 Black gained an initiative that precursor of victory. It is interesting to fol
compensated for his material deficit. low how over the next few moves the black
16 ...b6 knight is unable to reach d3 .
If 16 ... ttJ b6, then 17 � acl followed by 28 ... f6 29 l2Jxh6+ c:i;; h 8 30 � xf4 .� a8 31
b2-b3 is strong, forestalling Black's play on g5 'iVa7 32 gxf6 'iVa3 33 lLJbl!
the queenside. This strong move, forcing the exchange
17 f4 h6 of queens, quickly leads to a technically
Planning by . . . l2Jh7 and ... g6-g5 to se straightforward win.
cure a post for his pieces at e5. 33 ... 'iVxc3 34 l2Jxc3 � f8 35 l2Jxb5 � xf6
18 � ael?! 36 � xf6 l2Jxf6 37 l2Jxd6 c3 38 � cl � a3
18 'iVd3 was preferable; now Black car 39 l2Jhf7+ l2Jxf7 40 l2Jxf7+ c:i;; g7 41 l2Jd6
ries out his traditional counter-blow. � b3 42 c:i;; g2 � xb4 43 � xc3 l2Jxe4 44
18... b5! 19 °iVf3 l2Jxe4 � xe4 45 � d3 c:i;; f7 46 �g3 l-O
The pawn cannot be taken: 19 axb5 axb5 Of course, a notable item in his biog
20 'iVxb S � b8 2 1 'iVc6 � xb2 22 l2J c4 raphy is the following game, in which he
� c2 23 i,d2 l2Jxg4!, or 20 l2Jxb5 l2Jxe4 outplayed an experienced master playing
2 1 l2Jxe4 � xe4 22 l2Jxd6 � xe3 ! and the opening that bears his name.
Black wins.
19 .. � b8 20 axb5 axb5 21 i,f2 c4 22 b4!
.
i,d7
Afraid of subj ecting his king to threats on
26 'iVc3 gxf4 the right wing, Black hopes to shelter it on
Or 26 ... l2Je5 27 �hl l2Jd3 28 l2Jf5 ! . the other side of the board, but here too it
comes under a very strong attack. The only White: M .Arkhangelsky
alternative was 1 0 ... Jtc5+ 1 1 @hl ll:Jg4
and then ... h7-h5, attempting to initiate Black: B.Pe rsits
counterplay on the kingside.
1 1 Jtg5 0-0-0 12 a3 !:l, e8 13 @hl (D) 1 4th U S S R C C C h , 1 9 7 9-80
B N otes by M i k h a i l
Arkh angel sky
BY THE mid- 1 970s the number of play Sergey Grodzensky was appointed arbiter
ers wanting to participate in the USSR of the 1 5th Championship. I remember very
Championships had grown so significantly, well how the players began grumbling about
that to the initial, quarter-final stage it was the fact that some had to play two more
decided to admit only players who had the games with Black. Reporting on the situa
candidate master rank. (Prior to this, first tion at a meeting of the Council for corre
category players could also qualify from spondence events, I tried to speak ironically.
tournaments organised by the USSR Central (Those who had to play a majority of games
Chess Club.) with Black reacted calmly to what had hap
In the semi-finals, apart from those who pened - what can be done, and in the end
had qualified from the quarter-final stage, what difference does it make? Whereas for
invitations were sent to over-the-board and some reason those to whom fate had granted
correspondence masters, and also to the two games more with White began to be
winners of the championships of the USSR come agitated. . . )
republics, Moscow and Leningrad. Finally, In fact it was no laughing matter - the
to the final were invited USSR, FIDE and very tournament was in danger of collaps
ICCF grandmasters, the winners of the ing, since some of the proteste:s were
semi-finals (two from each), the champions threatening to drop out if a new set of pair
of the Russian Federation and the Central ings wasn't made. Fortunately, I was able
Chess Club, and the prize-winners in the to quell their passions, but I was left with a
previous final. feeling of vexation at the attitude of certain
The fifteenth championship was preceded participants to this prestigious event. Thus
by four semi-finals, in each of which sev the FIDE grandmaster Miron Sher played as
eral masters competed. As has already been though he was doing his military service.
mentioned, year after year the masters were The first decisive game was a fight
largely unable to withstand the fierce com ing one, with the champion of the Central
petition of lower-ranked players. Chess Club, candidate master M.Volchikin,
One of the exceptions was the only wom defeating the experienced Leningrad master
an competing in the semi-final stage - the V.Varlamov. When one third of the games
Leningrad master Filippova, who earned were completed, the contenders for the prize
the right to participate in the men's USSR places had emerged.
Championship. Personal circumstances pre The leading group comprised . the mas
vented her from taking up this opportunity. ters T.Koshil (Ryazan) - 5 out of 7, Ana
However, when the composition of the tour toly Ufimtsev (Kustanay) - 3 out of 4,
nament was complete, it transpired that 2 1 NikolayKopylov (Voronezh) - 7 out of 1 3 ,
players were ready to take part. True, after Igor Kopylov (Ufa) - 5 out of 9 and Mikhail
the pairings had been made and the starting Arkhangelsky (Moscow) - 3 out of 5, and
list distributed, two dropped out. the candidate masters Aleksandr Lipiridi
N2 1 5th USSR Ch (1981-83) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
2 A.Lutovinov Leningrad 0 Yi Yi Yi 0 1 0 Yi 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12
3 I.Kitaigorodsky Moscow 1 Yi Yi Yi 0 Yi 1 1 1 Yi Yi Yi y, 1 1 0 1 1 12
10 T.Koshil Ryazan Yi 0 0 0 Yi 0 0 Yi 1 y, Yi 1 1 y, 1 y, 1 Yi 9
11 L.Levin Moscow 0 1 Yi Yi 0 y, Yi y, 0 Yi y, Yi Yi 1 0 1 Yi 1 9
12 V.Varlamov Leningrad Yi 0 Yi 1 0 1 0 Yi Yi Yi Yi
I
0 Yi 0 1 Yi Yi 1 81/z
17 V.Semenyuk Tula Yi 0 1 0 Yi Yi 0 0 0 Yi 0 Yi y, Yi 0 0 Yi 1 6
B
22 ... � e7?
Also after V.Agrinsky' s suggestion 22 ...
c5 23 dxc5 � c6 it seems probable that
White should win in the end.
23 � e2 tLlh7 24 � ael tLlf8 25 h5 �d7
26 � e4 @c7 27 h6 tLlf6 28 � h4 tLl8h7 29
�fl � b8 30 �g2 � b5 31 �a4 @b8 32
� cl tLldS 33 � g4 tLlhf6 34 �xd5 t2Jxd5
35 �a6 tLlf6 36 � g6 CLie8 37 � xc6
�xc6 38 �xc6 � b6 39 �bl b3 40 axb3
� bb7 41 � g8 � bc7 42 �h5 1-0 25 ... � xeS 26 � xd8 �e4 27 �el??
The silver medal was awarded to the Len An example of chess bl indness, which in
ingrad player Aleksandr Lutovinov, whose the 'pre-computer era' sometimes occurred
length of service as a correspondence player even in high-level correspondence events.
exceeds twenty years. Initially he combined After 27 @gl Black would have had to
participation in correspondence tournaments force a draw by perpetual check: 27 ... �b l +
with active over-the-board appearances. 28 @g2 �e4+ etc.
Indeed, he gained the candidate master 27 ... �bl+ 28 � dl �b4+ 29 �d2
title for over-the-board play. He was three �xd2+ 30 @xd2 �xb2+ 0-1
times winner of the championship of the After winning the USSR championship
Leningrad Region. His deep interest in chess silver medal, Aleksandr Lutovinov was in
even forced him to change profession. cluded in the Konstantinopolsky Memorial
· A geological engineer by training, Al Tournament, which brought him the title of
exander Lutovinov worked for many years ICCF international master.
as senior trainer for the Trud Junior Sports The Muscovite Ilya Kitaigorodsky, who
Society of the Leningrad Regional Council. long before had shown himself to be one
Then he began focusing on correspondence of the strongest candidate masters, worked
play, since he thought that this form of chess persistently towards the goal he had sent
was of most benefit to a trainer. himself - the achievement of the master
norm. When pressure of work (at that time
he was an executive in the USSR Finance B
Ministry) left him with increasingly fewer
opportunities to participate in tournaments,
'correspondence' came to the rescue.
Whereas the champion demonstrated a
universal style, and the play of the second
prize-winner was notable for its uncompro
mising and rather risky nature, the bronze
medal winner was highly tenacious both
in attack, and in defence. In some cases he (Position after 41 h3)
was able to gain points in positions where
it appeared that all the resources were ex- @h2 gxh3 46 @xh3
hausted. This is better than 46 gxh3, which would
have allowed Black to activate his king by
playing it to f5 or f4.
White: M .Volchikhin 46 ... : h4+ 47 @g3 : g4+ 48 @ h3
If 48 @f3, then 48 ... @h4 would have
Black: I . K itaigorodsky won.
48 ... : gs 49 : a6 : bS so g4+ @gs st
1 5th U S S R CC C h , 1 9 8 1 -83 @g3 : b3+ S2 @f2 : a3 S3 : a7 g6 S4
: a6 : a4 SS @e3 : r4!
Queen 's Gambit 036 The advance of the a-pawn would not
have led to a win. Therefore Black pins his
1 d4 e6 2 c4 dS 3 ll:ic3 ll:if6 4 cxdS exdS S hopes on his g-pawn.
�gs c6 6 'iic 2 ll:ibd7 7 e3 �e7 8 �d3 S6 : xaS+ �xg4 S7 : al : f3+ SS @e2
0-0 9 ll:if3 : e8 10 0-0 ll:if8 11 : ael gS S9 : gt+
�g4 12 ll:ieS �hS 13 f4 ll:i6d7 14 �xe7 After 59 : h 1 or 59 : a8 Black would
: xe7 lS �fS �g6 16 �xg6 hxg6 17 b4 have cut off the white king by 59 ... : f5 and
'ii e8 18 bS ll:ib6 19 bxc6 bxc6 20 e4 ll:ie6 ensured the advance of his g-pawn.
21 : dt : cs 22 'iif2 : ds 23 : d3 f6 24 S9 ... : g3 60 : at @h3 61 @f2
ll:ixg6 'ij1xg6 2S fS 'ii e8 26 fxe6 : xe6 27 More tenacious was 61 : h l + @g2 62
exdS ll:ixdS 28 ll:ixdS : xdS 29 : b3 : e4 : hs g4 63 : gs @h2 64 : g6 : g 1 etc.
30 : g3 �f7 31 'ii c2 as 32 : c3 : e2 33 6t... : g2+ 62 �fl g4 63 : a3+ �h2 0-1
'ij1b3 'ii e4 34 'ij1b7+ @g6 3S : g3+ : gs Again, as in the preceding championship,
36 : xgS+ fxgS 37 'iif7+ @h6 38 'ij1f3 the entire victory podium was occupied
'iVxd4+ 39 @hl 'iie4 40 'iVxe4 : xe4 41 by candidate masters. The organisers had
h3 (D) hoped that, with the introduction of a new
The winning plan that suggests itself in qualifying system that envisaged the award
volves the activation of Black's king. ing of the grandmaster title to a two-times
4t... : c4 42 a4! winner of the USSR Correspondence Cham
White exchanges a pair of pawns and pionship, this would break the tradition of
aims to penetrate with his rook to a6. masters missing out in the distribution of
42... : xa4 43 : ct g4 44 : xc6+ @hS 4S awards.
1 74 Red Letters: Tactical Exercises
2. Yershov-Altshuler, 5. Kuntsevich-Estrin,
7th Championship 10th Championship
3. Yershov-Romanov, 6. Poleshchuk-Foigel,
7th Championship 15th Championship
Sixteenth Championship
(1983-1986)
THE FINAL of the 1 6th USSR Champi of importance for the distribution of the
onship again comprised 1 9 participants, medals, and the arbiters granted the players
including 1 0 masters. On this occasion the the opportunity to play on to the end and
representation of the Republics was quite themselves resolve their tournament fate,
wide: three from Latvia, two from Ukraine, without resorting to adjudication. The fol
and one each from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, lowing game proved decisive in the battle
Estonia and Azerbaijan. for the championship.
By that time a rating system had been
introduced for USSR correspondence play
ers, which enabled the average rating of the White: R .Akopov
participants to be determined - 2380. The
tournament arbiter was B.Bulgin, who was Black: D .Barash
later to receive the title of international arbi
ter of both FIDE and ICCF. 1 6th U S S R CC C h , 1 9 8 3 - 8 6
A year after the start of play, the first
leaders had emerged. They were the winner King 's Indian Defence £8 1
of the previous championship Aleksandr Li
piridi - 6 points out of 1 0, A.Volchok - 3Yi 1 d4 Qjf6 2 c4 g6 3 CLic3 il,g7 4 e4 d6 5
out of 6 and Yury Zelinsky - 3 out of 5 . f3 0-0 6 il,e3 a6 7 il, d3 cS 8 dxcS dxcS 9
By the middle of the tournament Vol il,xcS?! (D)
chok had shown his ambitions by winning 9 e5 Qjfd7 10 f4 is better, for example
five games in a row, and with 1 0 points 10 ... QJc6 1 1 QJf3 Qjd4 12 0-0 f6 13 e6!
out of 1 3 he was leading the race. At this QJb6 14 f5 lLJ xf5 1 5 il,xf5 gxf5 1 6 il,xc5.
point Lipiridi had 9Yi out of 14. Also in Now Black gains a dangerous initiative for
the leading group were S.Kastarnov - 9 out the pawn.
of 1 5, Dmitry Barash - 7 out of 1 0, Yury
Zelinsky - 7 out of 1 1 and Igor Kopylov
- 7 out of 12.
B
Long before the finish, the failure of a
prize-winner in the 14th USSR CC Ch, the
Uzbekistan master Aleksandr Tsamryuk,
became evident. He committed a breach
of discipline and then altogether stopped
playing.
When the playing time had expired the
arbiters' commission extended the event by
several months - six unfinished games were
.....
.....
NQ 1 6th USSR Ch. (1983-86) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 ' �
1 D. Barash Leningrad ±J '12 1 '12 'h '12 'h 'h I I l 1 I I 0 l I 'h I 13'h
I
5 I. Kopylov Ufa '12 '12 '12 'h 'h '12 I l 1 '12 1 Yi 'h 'h '12 1 '12 1 12
6 A. Lipiridi Kislovodsk 'h 'h '12 0 'h 'h '12 '12 y, I 'h I 1 1 'h 1 I I 1 1 '/z
7 S. Kastarnov Grozny /
'2 '12 1 '12 'h '12 '12 'h 1 0 '12 '12 '12 '12 l 1 '12 I 11
8 A. Korolev Moscow '12 0 'h 0 0 'h 'h 'h l 0 '12 1 1 1 I 'h 'h I IO
�
9 J. Markauss Riga 0 0 'h 'h 0 V2 Yz 'h 0 I '12 'h 'Ii 'h l I I 1 9 '/z Q.
S-
-
10 L . Peleshev Narva 0 0 '12 'h 0 '12 0 0 1 'h 1 1 '12 l I 'h I 'h 9Yz
eti
11 L. Levin Moscow 0 0 0 'h 'h 0 1 1 0 y, 0 y, I I y, 'h y, 1 8'/z �
12 A. Ufimtsev Kustanay 0 '12 0 0 0 'h Yz Yz y, 0 1 1 y, '12 I y, l '12 8'/z
13 0. Batakovs Riga 0 0 0 y, Yz '12 y, 0 y, 0 y, 0 y, '12 I 'h 1 1 7'/z
14 A. Pchyolkin Nikolaevsk-Amur 0 'h 0 0 'h 0 y, 0 y, '11 0 '12 y, I 0 I Yz I 7
38... � xd5
Of course, not 3 8 ... �xd5? on account of
39 � c l +.
39 17 � d8 40 � bbl! @d7 41 � cl �e7
42 � abl �xf7
Despite Black's three extra pawns, he
loses by force. 1 1 e5!
43 � fl ! �c4 44 �h7+ �d6 45 � b6+ White switches to vigorous action, aim
@c5 46 �e7+ @d5 47 � el ing to expose the black king that is caught
Here the 'curtain' could have been low in the centre.
ered, but Black plays on and receives 'mate 1 1 ...dxe5
by post': l l . . . tl'ixd3? is unsatisfactory on account
47...�c3 48 �e6+ @c5 49 � xe5+ � d5 of 1 2 exf6 tl'ic5 1 3 b4 tl'id7 ( 1 3 . . . tl'ie4 1 4
50 �xd5 mate 1-0 tl'ixe4 ii,xe4 1 5 f5 ! e 5 1 6 �g4) 1 4 f5 ! e5
Alexandr Volchok, the international 1 5 tl'ie6! fxe6 1 6 fxg7 ii,xg7 1 7 �h5+
master from Nikolaev, won the silver @e7 1 8 fxe6 and White wins.
medal thanks to having a superior tie-break 12 fxe5 tl'ifd7
coefficient to the Baku player R.Akopov. Here too the capture of the white bishop
would have led to disaster, for example:
12 . . . tl'ixd3 13 exf6 and now:
White : A. Volchok (a) 13 ... tl'ic5 14 b4! tl'id7 1 5 tl'ixe6 fxe6
1 6 fxg7 ii,xg7 1 7 �h5+, or 14 . . . tl'ie4 1 5
Blac k : J . Markauss tl'ixe4 ii,xe4 1 6 �g4! - i n both cases
White is assured of a win.
1 6th U S S R CC C h , 1 9 8 3 - 8 6 (b) 13 . . . tl'ie5 14 �h5 tl'ig6 (If 1 4 ... �c7
1 5 fxg7 ii,xg7 1 6 tl'ixe6 or 14 ... �d6 1 5
Sicilian Defence 842 � ad l g 6 16 �h3) 1 5 tl'ixe6 fxe6 1 6 f7+
@d7 1 7 � adl+ ii,d6 1 8 c5 ! bxc5 1 9
N otes by Alexa n d r Vo l c h o k � xd6+! @xd6 20 �xc5+ @d7 2 1 � d l +
ii,d5 22 tl'ixd5 exd5 2 3 �xd5+! with a
1 e4 c 5 2 tl'if3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 tl'ixd4 a 6 5 rapid mate.
ii,d3 tl'if6 6 0-0 d6 7 c4 b6 13 ii,c2 !
The bishop has to be retained. It goes way, to refute 20 ... �xb4 - 2 1 �g5 'li'e8
without saying that White will have more 22 �xd8 'li'xd8 23 � xf7 ! ! CLixfl 24
than sufficient compensation for the pawn. C2Jxe6 'li'e8 25 � xd7+ ! .
13 ... CLixe5 14 'li'h5 �d6 15 � adl g6 16 S.G./T.H.: Instead of Volchok's line,
'ii h3 'ii e7 2 1 ...f6 ! ? came into consideration, and after
Castling is bad: 1 6 ...0-0 1 7 b4 C2Jcd7 1 8 22 C2Jxf6 h6 the outcome is hard to predict.
C2Jxe6 ! etc. However, 22 � xf6 ! is stronger, with some
17 b4 C2Jcd7 18 �e4! 0-0-0 19 �xb7+ advantage to White, but clearly this is the
@xb7 20 C2Je4 (D) defence that Black should have tried.
Now Black is bound to lose material, 21 C2Jxe6 'li'xe6 22 C2Jxd6+ @c7 23 C2Jxf7
since there is no defence against the two 'li'xh3 24 gxh3 C2Jxc4
threats (2 1 �g5 or 2 1 CLixe6 followed by There was also little comfort in 24 ... QJxfl
C2Jxd6). 25 � xfl.
25 �f4+ @c6
Black avoids an amusing trap: 25 ... @c8?
B
26 � c l b5 27 Qjd6+ and 28 C2Jxc4+, win
ning the knight, but all the same his position
is hopeless.
26 � d4 b5 27 4Jxh8 � xh8 28 � el � h7
29 � e6+ @b7 30 � xg6 C2Jde5 31 �xe5
CLixe5 32 � f6 1-0
Good results in the tournament were
achieved by the experienced masters Yury
Zelinsky, Igor Kopylov and the winner of
the previous championship Aleksandr Li
piridi, but at the start they made rather a
20 ... h6 lot of draws and this prevented them from
There 1s only one, highly spectacular occupying higher places.
1 7th USSR CC Championship ( 1 986- 1 988)
N2 I I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
I. Kopylov Ufa Y2 1 0 Yz 1 1 1 1 Yz 1 1 Yz Yz 10
'
2 D. Godes Ryazan 1 Yz 1 0 Yz 1 1 0 1 1 y, Yz 9Yz
3 D. Barash Leningrad Yz Yz Y2 Yz Yz Yz 1 1 Yz 1 Yz 1 9
5 S. Korolev Leningrad 1 Yz Yz Yz Yz Yz 1 Yz Yz 0 1 1 8
6 L.Rubinchik Kremenchug Yz 0 Yz Yz y, y, 1 y, Yz 1 Yz Yz 8
8 N.Andrianov Moscow 0 Yz Yz Yz Yz Yz Yz 1 y, y, 1 Yz 7
10 R. Akopov Baku 0 0 0 1 0 0 Yz Yz 1 0 Yz 1 6
11 A. Ufimtsev Kustanay Yz 1 . ; 0 Yz Yz Y2 0 0 y, 1 Yz Yz 6
13 I. Glek Moscow 0 0 0 0 1 0 Y2 Yz Yz 1 0 1 5
14 S. Kastarnov Grozny Yz Yz Y2 0 0 Yz 0 0 Yz Yz Yz 0
15 N. Monin Leningrad Yz Yz 0 0 0 Yz Yz Yz Yz 0 Yz 0
Seventeenth Championship
(1986-1988)
IN ORDER to raise still higher the standard Kopylov with 5 points out of 8 and the win
of the main competition for correspondence ner of the previous championship, Dmitry
players - the final of the USSR Champion Barash, who had 4Yz out of 7.
ship - it was decided to stage the final of In all his correspondence tournaments,
these events in two Leagues, Premier and Igor Kopylov from Ufa played very quickly,
First. The new arrangement began with the leading on the number of completed games.
1 7th Championship. In the 1 7th Championship too, a little more
The only players admitted into the Pre than a year after the start he already had 9
mier League, in which the title of champion points out of 1 3 , with only his remaining
was actually contested, were grandmasters, game with Andrianov to finish. His main
the prize-winners from the previous cham rivals - the winner of the previous champi
pionship, and masters with the highest onship Dmitry Barash, the only grandmaster
individual ratings. The winners of the semi in the tournament, D. Godes, and one of the
finals (who were mainly very strong candi strongest masters, S.Korolev - tried to catch
date masters) qualified for the First League, him, but did not succeed.
in which the master norm was established. Igor Aleksandrovich Kopylov was born
At the cost of violating the rights of the in 1 939. After graduating from Bashkir
semi-final winners, the goal was achieved University he worked in the department
- from the formal viewpoint the 1 7th of scientific and technical information at a
USSR CC Ch, which consisted entirely of factory in Ufa. Then for many years he was
grandmasters (including some future ones) editor of the factory newspaper.
and masters, became the strongest in the Igor learned to play chess at about the
entire history of these championships. It age of ten - rather late by present-day
also proved possible to reduce the overall conceptions. But he was fortunate with his
number of players in the Premier League - it first trainer, the then Bashkir champion
was contested by 1 5 players. L.K.Frolov - an ardent 'Chigorinite' , who
In this championship, the first to be called aimed for sharp combinative play. In 1 957
the Premier League, apart from Russians Kopylov won the Junior Championship of
there were representatives from Ukraine, the . Russian Federation, and was twice a
Latvia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. The member of the junior republic team that won
average rating of 2439 demonstrated a the championship of the country.
qualitative leap compared with the previ In 1 966 he played in a tournament with
ous championship. The arbiter was Evgeny the master norm and at the very first attempt
Karelin. he achieved it. That was the championship
One year after the start of play, when a of the Russian Federation. Kopylov even
quarter of the results had been recorded, had chances of becoming a prize-winner,
the first leaders appeared. These were Igor but he lost in the last round. Later too on
several occasions he was let down by a poor White : l . Kopylov
finish.
One remembers the 1 970 Russian Cham Black: V.Yarmolik
pionship, in which the winner was the rap
idly ascending Anatoly Karpov. Kopylov 1 7th U S S R C C C h , 1 9 8 6 - 8 8
drew with the future world champion, and
two rounds before the finish he was in the Philidor Defence C4 1
top three, but in the end he shared 6th-8th
places, although ahead of a whole group of 1 e4 es 2 tt:Jn d6 3 d4 tlJd7 4 �c4 c6 s
masters who later became grandmasters. tlJgS ctJh6 6 a4
For the first chess master from Bashkir Now 6 . . . �e7? is bad on account of 7
it became increasingly difficult to take part �xf7+! tt:Jxf7 8 t2Je6 'iVa5+ 9 �d2 'iVb6
in over-the-board tournaments. It was the 1 0 a5 'iVxb2 1 1 �c3 ! and White wins.
usual reason - a serious attitude to his main 6 ... jVf6?!
profession and a constant mass of social The doubtfulness of this move becomes
responsibilities. evident later, when White employs a suc
Igor Kopylov first tested his strength cessful novelty.
in correspondence events in the 1 960s, 7 c3 �e7?! 8 0-0 ctJb6 9 �e2!
three times leading the Bashkir team in the In the game Leonhardt-Nimzowitsch
championships of the Russian Federation, (match, 1 9 1 1) White retreated his bishop
and each time achieving the best result on to a2, and after 9 �a2 jVg6 10 a5 �xg5
top board. Since 1 974 Kopylov has been a he ended up in an inferior position. In the
constant participant in correspondence tour present game White prevents the manoeuvre
naments of the highest rank, achieving good of the black queen to g6.
and stable results. He has to his credit victo 9...aS 10 f4 exd4
ries in grandmaster tournaments, participa This conceding of the centre is forced.
tion for the USSR team in the final of the 1 1 cxd4 dS
European Championship, and qualification 1 1 . . .g6 came into consideration, enabling
for the final of the World Championship. the queen to retreat.
Grandmaster Igor Kopylov is an advo 12 es jVg6 13 �hS
cate of 'rapid' correspondence. He almost By pursuing the en�my queen, White has
always replies to moves on the day that the gained time for his attack.
letter arrives and up till now not one of his 13 ... jVfS (D)
games has been sent for adjudication. Play
ing quickly, he completes an event ahead of
schedule, and it can happen that he himself
suffers because of this, since his final score w
is known to his rivals and serves as a marker
for them. Even so, usually his rivals, observ
ing the sprinter-like speed of the grandmas
ter from Ufa, realise that they can only strive
for second place, as happened in the final of
the 1 7th USSR Championship.
In this event the play of Igor Aleksan
drovich Kopylov was characterised by a
subtle positional understanding and good
technique, enabling him to transform a mini 14 tt:Jxf7! tt:Jxf7 lS g4 jVd7 16 fS 'iVc7 17
mal advantage into something tangible. e6 �xe6 18 fxe6 g6 19 exf7+ @d7 20 iVe2
'ifd6 21 $bf4 'ife6
Simplification does not bring Black any
relief. w
22 Vxe6+ @xe6 23 t2Jd2 gxh5 24 t2Jb3
: hf8 25 : ael + @d7 26 tt:Jc5+
Now Black cannot avoid loss of mate
rial.
26... $bxc5 27 dxc5 : xf7
Or 27 ... tt:Jc8 (if 27 ... tt:Jxa4, then 28 $bd6
is decisive) 28 $bh6 tt:Je7 29 $bxf8 : xf8
30 gxh5 and wins.
28 cxb6 hxg4 29 $bh6 : xn+ 30 : xn
@e6 31 : f8! : xf8 32 $bxf8 d4 33 b4 16 : dl a5
axb4 34 $bxb4 h5 35 a5 This activity merely plays into White 's
Threatening 36 a6 ! . hands. Better is 16 ... $bg5, preparing coun
35 ... @d7 36 $bc5 d3 37 @ f2 h4 38 @e3 terplay on the kingside.
h3 39 @xd3 g3 40 ltgl 1-0 17 t2Jd5 b4 18 cxb4 $bxd5 19 'ifxd5
Igor Kopylov gained his last, decisive : xb4 20 b3
point in the following game, which is also Intending 2 1 $bc4, after which White 's
of theoretical significance. chances of an attack - with opposite-colour
bishops - will be clearly better. Therefore
Black forces exchanges.
White : l . Kopylov 20... : d4 21 : xd4 exd4 22 $bc4 Vas 23
Vxa8 : xa8 24 @e2
Black: N .Andrianov The resulting endgame position is ad
vantageous to White, whose plan can be
1 7th U S S R C C C h , 1 9 8 6- 8 8 divided into three stages: tie Blac!c down
to the defence of the d4-pawn, create a
Sicilian Defence 833 passed pawn on the queenside and, finally,
open the position in the centre or on the
1 e4 c5 2 t2Jf3 t2Jc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 t2Jxd4 t2Jf6 kingside. However, the opposite-colour
5 t2Jc3 e5 6 t2Jdb5 d6 7 $bg5 a6 8 tLla3 b5 bishops significantly hinder the realisation
9 t2Jd5 $be7 10 $bxf6 $bxf6 11 c3 tt:Je7 of this plan.
Kopylov admitted that he anticipated his 24 ... $bd8 25 : bl : b8 26 @d3 $bb6 27
opponent choosing the Chelyabinsk Varia b4! $ba7 28 b5 $bb6 29 : cl @f8 30 $bd5
tion: Andrianov had published an article on $bc5 31 a4 f6 32 f4 @e7 33 e5? !
this topic. White forces events, but the further
12 t2Jc2 t2Jxd5 course of the game shows the doubtfulness
12 . . . $bb7 came into consideration. of this decision.
13 'ifxd5 : b8 14 tLlb4 $bb7 15 'if d3 0-0 33 ... fxe5 34 fxe5 : f8 35 ltf3 : b8 36
(D) : el $bb6 37 $bg4 : b7!
In an article in ' Shakhmatny Byulleten' Now nothing is achieved by 38 exd6+
( 1 986, No.7) Andrianov and Krasenkov @xd6 39 : e6+ @c5 40 : c6+ @b4,
wrote that after this continuation Black has while after other continuations Black's sev
no serious problems and can hope for equal enth rank is defended. White has to start all
ity. Grandmaster Evgeny Sveshnikov in his over again.
monograph ( 1 987) simply states that 'Black 38 e6 : c7 39 : n d5! 40 : n+ @d6 41
has a good game' . $bf5 g6
Better chances of a defence were offered From his early years Dmitry Godes en
by the seemingly passive 4 1 . ..h6. deavoured not to copy anyone. While still a
42 �h3 �cs (D) young candidate master he was able to de
velop his own style of play. This was aided
by his fascination for chess composition.
He created several excellent studies that
w enriched the theory of chess.
In the 1 960s the author of these lines got
to know Dmitry Godes. The point was that
I had a long-standing dream - to organise
a correspondence tournament that would
bring together all the strongest players from
the town of Ryazan. In this tournament,
which was dedicated to the memory of the
Russian poet Sergey Y esenin, a native of
those parts, Dmitry Godes, at that time the
43 e7! strongest player in the town, also took part.
This new breakthrough involves a sac Godes's analytical capabilities became
rifice of two pawns, but the White pieces evident in his next correspondence event
become extremely active. - the Mirotvorsky Memorial, in which he
43 . :!. xe7 44 :!. f6+ @es 4S :!. a6 @f4
. . achieved in succession the master and then
Otherwise 46 g3 , and the black king will the grandmaster norm. After gaining the
not escape from the mating net without great grandmaster title, Godes took part in the
loss of material. final of the USSR Championship. A vivid
46 �e6 @eS impression was made not only by his fine
If 46. . . @gS, then 47 g3 h5 48 h4+. result, but also by the creative content of his
47 �c8 @f4 48 g3+ @f3 49 �e6 @g2 games, played in the style of the old Russian
SO .l::!, c6 @xh2 Sl g4! �a7 S2 b6 �b8 S3 masters.
@xd4
At last the white king has joined the
play. Wh ite : D . G odes
S3 ... hS S4 gxhS gxhS SS @xdS h4 S6 @c4
h3 S7 �bS �es S8 �xaS @g3 S9 �xh3 Black : L . Rubinchik
@xh3 60 @bS �d4 61 aS �f2 62 :!. cS!
1-0 1 7th U S S R CC Ch, 1 9 8 6- 8 8
Second place was taken by Dmitry Godes,
who finished half a point behind the winner. French Defence C0 7
At the start of the tournament he was the
only holder of the grandmaster title and his 1 e4 e6 2 d4 dS 3 C2J d2 cS 4 exdS 'iVxdS S
opponents fought against him with redoubled dxcS! ?
energy. Dmitry Godes showed himself to be This move was fashionable i n the late
one of the strongest over-the-board masters 1 930s. It leads to a little-studied position
in Russia. Three times, and not without suc with a minimal advantage for White.
cess, he took part in qualifying tournaments S... �xcS 6 ct:Jgf3 ctJf6 7 �c4 'i¥d6
for the USSR championship. If you were to A loss of time. 7 ... 'i¥d8 8 0-0 0-0 9
take together all the FIDE grandmasters de Cllb3 �b6 came into consideration, with
feated by him, the result would be the equal chances of equalising.
of an Olympiad team. 8 0-0 0-0 9 Cll b3 !
Black's imperceptible mistake on the 23 a7 l2J a4 24 ib,f3 1-0
seventh move allows White to go directly After 24 . . . l2Jab6 25 b3 l2Je7 26 ib,xc6
from the opening into the endgame and to White has a decisive advantage.
seize the initiative. After winning the silver medal in the
9 'ii'x dl 10 : xdl ib,e7 11 l2Jhd4 a6 12
... USSR Correspondence Championship,
a4 : d8 ICCF grandmaster and FIDE intemati<;mal
1 2 . . .b6 came into consideration, and after master Dmitry Godes gave up postal play.
13 ib,f4 ib,b7 1 4 ib,c7 l2Jbd7 White cannot After his emigration to Israel he continued
play 1 5 l2Jxe6? in view of 1 5 ... : fc8 ! , with to perform successfully in over-the-board
a material advantage for Black. events and he also achieved success as a
13 ib,f4 ib,d7 14 l2Je5 ib,e8 15 as l2Jbd7? chess trainer.
(D) The winner of the previous champion
This last move is a mistake in a difficult ship, Dmitry Barash, on this occasion oc
position, to which White responds with a cupied the 'bronze step ' on the winners'
tactical blow. Black should have played podium. He confirmed his high class in a
1 5 ... l2Jfd7 ! , aiming for simplification. In number of games, but especially noteworthy
the opinion of Godes, 1 5 ... �f8 ! ? came into was the one in which Anatoly Ufimtsev em
consideration. ployed the defence that bears his name.
White : D . Barash
w
Blac k : A . U fimtsev
1 7th U S S R CC C h , 1 9 8 6- 8 8
1 e4 d6 2 d4 lbf6 3 l2Jc3 g6
The game between these same players
from the previous championship went 3 . . . c6
16 l2Jec6! bxc6 17 l2Jxc6 ib,f8 4 f4 'ii'a5 5 ib,d2 'ii'b6 6 l2Jf3 ! ? . Although
After 1 7 . . . @f8 1 8 l2Jxe7 e5 1 9 ib,d2 ! Black sensibly declined the offered pawn,
White is a pawn up with the better position. he was unable to gain full· equality.
If 1 7 . . . l2Jc5 he retains the advantage by 1 8 4 f4 ib,g7 5 l2Jf3 c6 6 ib,d3 0-0 7 0-0 l2Ja6
l2Jxd8. 8 e5!
18 l2Jxd8 : xd8 19 ib,xa6 llJdS 20 ib,g3 White succeeds in activating his pieces.
l2Jc5 21 ib,e2! : a8 22 a6! 8... l2Jd5 9 l2Jxd5! cxd5 10 'ii'el f5?
The following line is insufficient for a An unjustified weakening of the king
win: 22 ib,f3 ib,c6 23 c4 l2Jb4 24 ib,xc6 side. LO . . . ib,f5 ! ? 1 1 ib,xf5 gxf5 12 'ii'h4 e6
l2Jxc6 25 ib,d6 l2Jb3 ! . 1 3 'ii'h5 : c8 1 4 c3 b5 1 5 a3 l2Jb8 came
22... ib,c6 into consideration.
In his notes Godes commented that Black 11 ib,d2 l2Jc7 12 'ii'h 4 l2Je6 13 h3 : f7 14
should have combated the a-pawn not with g4 'ii'b6 15 �bl ib,d7
his bishop, but with his knight from c6, and With the idea of exchanging bishops by
therefore better was 22 ... l2Je4 23 ib,f3 f5 ! 1 6 . . . ib,b5, but White prevents this.
24 ib,e5 ib,c6 25 a7 or 24. . . l2Jb4 25 c3 l2Jc6 16 gxf5 gxfS 17 a4 � h8 18 'ii'h S ib,e8
26 ib,g3 with a complicated game. If 1 8 . . . : af8 there follows 19 l2Jh4.
19 a5 'i¥c6 As a member of the Council I was the initia
Not 1 9 . . . 'i¥xb2 on account of 20 J:, fb l , tor of this tournament and I felt obliged to
when the queen i s trapped. take part in it.
20 �xf5 (D) Not long before this I had obtained the
Striving to change the unfortunate course title of USSR master of sport and this led
of events, Black decides on an exchange to a relaxed state, which will be familiar
sacrifice, but even this does not help. to many, arising when a goal has been
achieved.
When at a meeting of the Council I
reported on the results of setting up the
B
First League, I joked that the other masters
had agreed to participate, only after learn
ing that I would also play - after all, it is
pleasant to enrol for a tournament, know
ing beforehand that the last place is already
occupied. As in any joke, in this there was
a dose of truth. . .
The First League was dominated by can
didate masters, who were as though collec
tively angered by the fact that they had been
20... J:, xf5 21 'i¥xf5 dxe5 22 fxe5 �g6 23 deprived of their lawful right to play in the
'i¥g4 �e4 main tournament. The first six achieved the
23 . . . �xc2 is bad in view of 24 J:, ac l . master norm.
24 c3 J:, f8 25 J:, ael �f5 2 6 'i¥g3 �e4 27 Here are the results of the 1 7th USSR
J:, f2 'i¥b5 28 �e3 'i¥xa5 29 @ h2 'i¥b6 Championship First League:
30 J:, gl 1-0 1 . M.Yeryomin (Stavropol) - 12Yz; 2-
After his second success in the final of 4. V.Yarkov (Moscow Region), O.Lykhin
the USSR CC Ch, Dmitry Barash took part (Krasnoyarsk District), A.Vikulov (Vo
in an international tournament dedicated logod Region) - 1 1 Yz; 5. E.Shevelevich
to the 1 OOth anniversary of the Lithuanian (Rostov-on-Don) - l OYz; 6. M.Klimenok
Chess Union, in which he confidently (Vitebsk) - 10; 7-8. A.Belinkov (Moscow),
achieved the grandmaster norm. N.Razvalyaev (Tashkent Region) - 9; 9-1 1 .
Simultaneously with the Premier League, B.Maryasin (Bobruysk), F.Feldmus (Riga),
the First League, which was also called a S.Yuferov (Moscow) - 8; 1 2. V.Varlamov
final, was organised for the first time. The (Leningrad) - 7; 1 3 . G.Zhivodov (Sara
Council for Correspondence Events was tov) - 5 Yz; 14. A.Lutovinov (Leningrad)
obliged to ensure a master norm in the tour - 5; 1 5 . S.Grodzensky (Moscow) - 3Yz; 1 6 .
nament, for which the participation of the P.Yashelin (Bryansk) - 3 ; 1 7 . V.Borisov
required number of masters was necessary. (Moscow Region) - 2�.
Eighteenth Championship
(1988-1991)
THE PREMIER League of the 1 8th USSR Zelinsky - 2 out of 4 and Akopov - 1 Yz out
Championship started on 1 st October 1 988. of 2. It was hard to imagine that the former
The Muscovite A.Latash was confirmed as would end up as one of the winners, whereas
the chief arbiter. Play began with 15 partici the latter would remain in last place with the
pants, but after the starting list had already same one and a half points.
been sent out it transpired that it had been By the stipulated finishing date - 30th
forgotten to invite the winner of the previ December 1 990 - 30 games remained unfin
ous championship, Igor Kopylov . . . He had ished, on the results of which the allocation
to be included as No. 16. of the top places depended. It was decided
Apart from ten Russians, there were to extend the tournament to 1 5th August
Valery Neverov, Alexandr Volchok and 1 99 1 . By April 1991 Yarkov and Lykhin
L.Rubinchik representing the Ukraine, had reached l O Yz out of 1 4, Rubinchik had
Anatoly Ufimtsev - Kazakhstan, R.Akopov completed the tournament with 9Yz out of
- Azerbaijan and Yury Zelinsky - Latvia. 15, Khlusevich, on 7 Yz out of 1 1 , was in
The first results were entered in the table contention for a good result, and Zelinsky
in mid-summer 1 989. After six draws came had closed on the leaders - 7 out of 10.
the first decisive result: Kopylov defeated Then came a finishing spurt by Zelinsky,
Korolev. In early 1 990 the leading group who scored 4Yz points from his last five
comprised Volchok and Rubinchik with 3Yz games, ending the tournament undefeated
out of 5, and Kopylov, who had half a point with 1 1 Y2 points out of 1 5 . Lykhin finished
less. The debut in correspondence chess by half a point behind, while Yarkov had I O Y2
FIDE international master Valery Neverov, points and one continuing game.
the 1 985 Ukrainian champion and winner When the added time had also expired,
of the USSR young masters tournament of it turned out that the two main contenders
1 989, clearly did not work out. By that point for victory, Zelinsky from Riga and Yarkov
he had completed his tournament, making from near Moscow, had finished the tourna
about ten short draws and losing on time in ment with 1 1 Yz points out of 1 5 . It became
the remaining games. clear that the question of the champion
By the middle of the year the serious would have to be resolved by a compari
intentions of the following players had be son of their additional coefficients. Both
come evident: Yarkov - 6 points out of 9, contenders for the gold medal had gone
ahead of Rubinchik (5 out of 7) and Naivelt through the tournament undefeated, winning
(5Yz out of 1 0). By the end of the summer an identical number of games.
Yarkov was still leading with 7 out of 1 0, The two contenders' Sonneborn-Berger
ahead of Rubinchik (6Yz out of 9), Lykhin coefficients were very close. The role of
(5 out of 7) and Kopylov (4 out of 7). In 'photo-finish' was played by the unfinished
October 1 990, two years after the start of game Khlusevich-Koltsov: if Koltsov were
play, there were three players in the lead: to make at least a draw, then the champion
Yarkov - 8Yz out of 12, Rubinchik - 8Yz out would be Yarkov, whereas if Khlusevich
of 1 3 and Lykhin - 7Yz out of 1 0. In the last were to win, then gold medals would be
places on the number of points scored were awarded to both winners.
.....
f\,)
1 8th USSR CC Championship ( 1 988- 1 99 1 ) Oo
Ng I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
2 l Y2 I 1;, Y2 1 1 Y2
Yu. Zelinsky Riga y, y, y, y, 1 l l 1 l 1
3 0. Lykhin 1;, Yz I Y2 Y2 Y2 ] Yz y, 1 11
D ivnogorsk y, l I 1 1
4 L.Rubinchik Kremenchug 0 Yz Y2 1 Y2 y, I 0 l y, y, 1 I Y2 l 9 Yi
5 M. Naivelt Moscow y, Y2 0 0 0 Y2 l 1 1 y, y, l l Y2 l 9
l/2 Y2 l
�
6 S.Khlusevich Izhevsk Y2 0 Y2 y, 1 1 1 Yz Y2 0 1 y, 9 Q..
.....
7 Y2 y, y, Y2 I 1h I y, 1 8 CD
I. Kopylov Ufa 0 0 0 0 l 1
:::t
8 A. Vikulov Cherepovets 0 0 y, 0 0 0 y, '
y, I I 0 I I I I 7Y2 �
(lj
10 A. Volchok Nikolaev Y2 Y2 0 0 0 y, 0 0 0 1 1 Y2 l l I 7
1/2 l/2 Y2 Y2 I 5
13 I . Glek Moscow y, 0 0 0 0 y, 0 0 l 0
14 G.Karnovich Moscow 0 0 0 0 0 Y2 0 0 1 0 0 y, I I I 5
15 V . Neverov Kharkov y, y, y, y, y, y, y, 0 0 0 y, y, y, 0 0 5
16 R. Akopov B aku 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 y, 0 0 l rn
Readers of this book will know that opponent to solve new problems.
similar situations had also arisen in USSR International grandmaster Igor Zaitsev,
Championships in the past, and that it was a universally acknowledged analyst, spent
endeavoured to complete games that influ a long time evaluating the position before
enced, even if only indirectly, the alloca reaching his verdict: "White has some ini
tion of the places. For example, in the 1 6th tiative, but this initiative is of a temporary
Championship games were finished by tel nature and will fade against accurate play
egraph. On this occasion things were done by Black".
differently. I remember well the October After this it became clear that Vladimir
1 9 9 1 meeting of the USSR Chess Federa Yarkov was USSR Champion. He originates
tion's Council for Correspondence Events. from Kostroma peasantry and was born in
Despite the objections of both the Chair an isolated village in one of the remote
man of the Council, Professor Zagorovsky, northern districts of that region. After barely
and the author of these lines, who was the completing eight years of schooling, he be
Deputy Chairman, it was decided to adju gan work in a primary school. After serving
dicate the Khlusevich-Koltsov game, which in the army as a gymnastics instructor he
was discontinued in the following position. tried studying in the Department of Geogra
phy, but it did not last.
He made for Moscow to the chess section
White : S . Kh lu sevich of the Institute of Physical Culture, seeing
as he had first category rating, and after
Bla c k : V. Koltsov completing the course he gained his train
er's diploma. He had been participating in
1 8th U S S R CC C h , 1 9 8 8 - 9 1 over-the-board events since the age of 17,
and while still young he became a candidate
master.
But after settling in Dmitrov on the out
w skirts of Moscow he became fascinated by
correspondence play. Very soon he realised
that the job of security guard was a real
godsend for a correspondence player. The
work was not onerous, one might as well
be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb - ' dur
ing my stint of duty nothing happened'. So
that it was possible to think as much as one
wanted.
"A real correspondence player," Yarkov
Khlusevich played 45 e6+ and presented reckons, "sends a move only when every
an analysis claiming a win. White 's posi thing becomes completely clear to him.
tion is indeed better, but Black's drawing Even if this takes a month." I should add
chances are also considerable, if only after that occasionally it "becomes clear" to him
45 ... � xe6 46 t2Jxe6 CLJd5+ 47 @a3 @xe6. even later - three times during the final
Another variation is 45 . . . @g7 46 �a3 he rushed to the sorting office to correct a
� xg l 47 jbxg l CLJd5, and if 48 � b l , then move that was about to be sent!
48 . . . @f6 49 � fl+ <J;; e7 50 jbh2 � f8 5 1 Yarkov's progress to the champion's title
� xf8 @xf8 5 2 jbd6+ @g7 ! 5 3 jbe5+ was rapid: he won by a big margin in the
�f8 with equality. quarter-final, then also in the semi-final, and
True, 48 jbd4+! is possible, forcing the he finished second in the First League. By
the time that he won the champion' s title his
correspondence ' term of service' numbered
1 2 years. During this time he lost only one w
game ! As for the final, the winner consid
ered that in this tournament he was lucky
- a couple of his opponents 'helped' him to
win. The quota of luck can be judged from
the following game.
White : V. Yarkov
1 8th U S S R CC C h , 1 9 8 8 - 9 1
THE Premier League of the 1 9th USSR in which the fate of the title was decided in
Championship should have been contested favour of Vladimir Yarkov, who had an only
by 1 5 players. However, hardly had the very slightly better Sonneborn-Berger coeff
starting list been sent out, when there came icient than Yury Zelinsky. Now three were
some sad news - the premature death of involved in the battle for the championship:
Aleksandr Khristoforovich Lipiridi. By the the leaders in the 1 8th Championship were
unanimous desire of the finalists and with joined by Anatoly Ufimtsev.
the agreement of the Council for Corre It appeared that on this occasion too ad
spondence Events it was decided to restrict ditional coefficients would have to be taken
the number of participants to 14 and to into account, and that they would again
dedicate the tournament to the memory of make Yarkov the champion.
the former USSR CC Ch, correspondence In the end everything was decided by
international master Alexander Lipiridi. the adjudication of the unfinished game
Apart from the three representatives of between Zelinsky and Minakov, which was
Latvia, Kazakhstan and Belorussia, all the stopped after White' s 36th move in the fol
remaining participants were Russians, and lowing position:
all participants had the master title. The du
ties of arbiter were entrusted to the author of
these lines. The tournament started in 1 9 9 1 , White : Yu .Zelinsky
at the end of which the Soviet Union ceased
to exist. Play in the final of the 1 9th Cham Bla ck: Yu . M inakov
pionship (Premier and First Leagues), the
semi-finals of the 20th Championship and 1 9t h U S S R CC C h , 1 9 9 1 - 9 3
the quarter-finals of the 2 1 st Championship
was only just beginning.
The recently-created Russian Council for
Correspondence Events deemed it necessary
to complete not only tournaments that had B
already begun, but also to organise all the
competitions that had been previously en
visaged. Thus it became clear that che 2 1 st
USSR Championship would be the last.
The lead was seized by the oldest partici
pant, Anatoly Ufimtsev from Kustanay - 412
out of 5. Yury Minakov, the then Moscow
correspondence champion, had the same
number of points, but from six games. Also
noteworthy were the scores of A.Makarov In the event of a win, Zelinsky would take
from near Moscow - 3 Yi out of 5 and the first place on his own, after a draw the three
Riga player Yury Zelinsky - 2 out of 2. players would complete the event with an
The tournament intrigue largely repeated identical number of points (with Yarkov first
the scenario of the previous USSR CC Ch, on the tie-break, and Zelinsky second), while
1 9th USSR CC Championship ( 1 99 1 - 1 993) Lipiridi Memorial
N2 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
3 A. Ufimtsev Kustanay 1 1 1 1 1 y, y, 1 1 1 10
6 S. Khlusevich Izhevsk 0 y, 0 0 y, Y2 y, Y2 1 Y2 1 7
9 A. Mayorov Moscow y, y, 0 0 0 y, Y2 0 I 1 6
13 V. Skobeev Moscow 0 0 0 0 y, y, 0 1 0 0 0 I 3
14 E. Shevelevich Rostov-on-Don 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
a win for Black would leave the Riga player Thus the winner of the first champion
with the bronze medal. Black is one pawn ship in the post-Soviet era was the Riga
up and he wins a second, yet Zelinsky' s deep player Yury Zelinsky. Although on the
analysis revealed the true situation: geo-political map there was no longer a
36... �xc6 37 QJxc6 QJxgl state with the name 'USSR', nevertheless
White has two dangerous passed pawns, the title of champion of the Soviet Union,
but at first sight he cannot hope for more even though ' former', remained very sig
than a draw, and that still has to be demon nificant.
strated. But let us look more closely. In 1 95 1 the 1 7-year-old first category
38 a4 hS 39 as h4 40 �d3+! player Yury Zelinsky achieved his first
In his analysis Yury Zelinsky remarks important success - he became schoolboy
that this is an important interposition, pre champion of the Chemovtsy Region. Then,
venting the activation of the black king via already as a candidate master, he won the
g6 and f5 . The direct 40 a6 h3 4 1 a7 h2 championship of Kaunas. He then moved
42 a8Vi' h l Vi' leads to a won position for to Riga, where for more than 30 years he
Black. But it is probable that the immediate worked as a construction engineer in a Riga
40 �fl also leads White to his goal. radio manufacturing plant.
40... g6 41 �fl Qje3 42 a6 QjdS 43 a7 In the 1 960s he was close to achieving the
QJb6 44 lLJxeS h3 (D) master norm for over-the-board play: in 1 967
he won a tournament of very strong Latvian
candidate masters and in 1 969 he became
champion of Riga. It was then, in the late
w 1 960s, that he began playing regularly by cor
respondence. In one of the semi-finals of the
1 2th Championship (1 973-74) Zelinsky took
first place, ahead of 14 (!) masters, achieving
the master norm by a large margin.
Yury Zelinsky took part five times in
the finals of the USSR Championship and
always successfully. I should also like to
mention one other thing. Much has been said
about the poor working of communications
Now it can be said that the endgame is in general and about the sharp deterioration
not worse for White, but even so it is not in the postal links with the former Soviet
evident how his persistent victory claims Baltic state in particular. I, as arbiter of the
can be supported. Yet here the contender for 1 9th Championship, had to listen to numer
the champion's title demonstrates an almost ous complaints about the difficulty of corre
study-like win. sponding with the Latvian representative.
45 QJd7! Qj a8 46 b4 fS! 47 �xh3 !! Qjxh3 These complaints were justified, but at
48 bS Qjf4 49 b6 Qjd3+ 50 @c2 QJcs 51 the same time the sufferings of each player
QJxcS QJxb6 52 @b3 @g7 53 @b4 @f7 were limited to the difficulty in conducting
54 @bS QJa8 55 @c6 @e7 56 @b7 @d6 just one game - with Zelinsky. Imagine
57 QJe6! @d7 how it must have been for the Riga player,
57 . . . f4 58 QJxf4 g5 59 QJh3 g4 60 Qjf2 battling in such a situation with thirteen op
g3 6 1 QJe4+ or 57 . . . g5 58 @xa8 and wins. ponents. He did not waste his energy griev
58 QJf8+ @d8 59 QJxg6 @d7 60 Qjf4 ing, but steadfastly overcame the postal
@d6 61 QJdS! f4 62 QJxf4 @d7 63 QjdS impediments and methodically obtained
and White wins. full-weight points.
White : Yu .Zelinsky 1 8 . . . �xe4 1 9 �d3 ! �xd3 20 : xd3
and 2 1 : el does not change things.
Blac k : I. Kopylov 19 'fjb3 �cs 20 exdS �xdS 21 �c4
�xd4 22 �xdS
1 9th U S S R CC C h , 1 9 9 1 � 9 3 Not 22 : he l ? �e4 23 �xe6 : ds !
when White squanders the advantage that he
Sicilian Defence 896 has gained with such difficulty.
22 ... 'fixdS 23 'fixdS exdS 24 : xd4 0-0-0
l � d 2 �B � 3 M aM 4 ��4 �ffi 2S : n : heS 26 : d2 @ c7 27 ;g df2
S �c3 a6 6 �gs e6 7 f4 'fic7 S �xf6 gxf6 ;g d6 2S @cl ;g ee6 29 �d2 �d7 30 ;g fS
9 rs 'fies �es 31 : hs : d7 32 : et 1-0
According to Lepeshkin' s analysis, 9 . . .
�c6 1 0 fxe6 fxe6 1 1 �c4 �xd4 1 2 'fixd4
�e7 1 3 0-0-0 �d7 14 �b3 'fies 1 5 'fjd3 White : A . M a karov
0-0-0 1 6 �bl �b8 1 7 �e2 �b5 1 8 'fjf3
�c4 1 9 �d4 leads to advantage for White. Blac k : Yu .Zelinsky
10 'fjd3 �c6 11 �b3
Another try for an advantage is illustrated 1 9th U S S R CC C h , 1 9 9 1 - 9 3
by the variation 1 1 �xc6 bxc6 1 2 0-0-0
�h6+ 1 3 �bl �f4 1 4 e5 ! exf5 1 5 exd6 King 's Indian Defence £85
�e6 16 �e2 �e5 1 7 �d4 �d5 1 8 d7+
�d8 1 9 �b3 'fjb6 20 'fixf5 . 1 d4 �f6 2 c4 g6 3 �c3 �g7 4 e4 d6 S
1 1 ...'fjeS 1 2 0-0-0 �d7 1 3 �bl a 0-0 6 �e3 es 7 �ge2 exd4 s �xd4 c6
White did not achieved anything with 1 3 9 'fjd2 �bd7 10 0-0-0 : es 11 �c2 dS
g3 0-0-0 1 4 �bl @b8 1 5 'fie3 : cs 1 6 12 exdS
'fjb6 �a8 1 7 �e2 h5 in the game Cullip Another development of events leads to
Le Quang, Oakham 1 992. an advantage for White: 12 cxd5 cxd5 1 3
13 ... �e7?! (D) �xd5 �xd5 1 4 'fixd5 'fjf6 1 5 'fjb3 �e5
1 3 ... 0-0-0! ? came into consideration. 16 �d4 �d7 17 �b l .
12...cxdS 1 3 cxdS a6 1 4 g4
1 4 �c4!? b5 1 5 �b3 �b7 1 6 : he l
;g c 8 1 7 � b 1 came into consideration.
14 ... bS IS gS �hS (D)
N otes by Ti m H a rd i n g
White : V. Ya rkov
Black : A . Ufimtsev
1 9th U S S R CC C h , 1 9 9 1 - 9 3 17 ...fS
As in the previous game, this attempt to
King 's Indian Defence EBO block the kingside only creates new weak
nesses.
N otes by Ti m H a rd i n g 18 exf6 �xf6 19 CLieS : a7 20 CLicS �c8
21 gS �xeS 22 dxeS ctJ8d7 23 C2Jxd7
1 d4 ctJf6 2 c4 g6 3 CLic3 �g7 4 e4 d6 S f3 �xd7 24 h4 : f8 2S hS : b7 26 hxg6
c6 6 �e3 a6 7 �d3 bS? ! hxg6 27 �cs : n 28 �c2 : g7 29 : h2
Postponing castling in this line has been C2Jc4 30 b3 : bS 31 �f2 C2Jb2 32 �f3
known for many years to be risky because of �f8 33 : bl 1-0
White 's next move. Presumably, Ufimtsev Black resigns, because the only way to
thought he had found an improvement on save the knight permits a mating attack:
theory at move 1 1 , but it is a mirage. 33 . . . �a3 34 �h3 �xa2 35 �h8+ �f7 36
8 es ctJfd7 9 f4 bxc4 10 �xc4 ctJb6 1 1 �xg6+! etc.
�b3 Despite that loss, an excellent result was
Since Knaak-Grivas, Athens Akropolis achieved by the famous veteran Anatoly
1 992, 1 1 �d3 has been reckoned to be an Ufimtsev. The acknowledged theory expert
even stronger move. Now Black plays his also played splendidly, becoming a prize
novelty, instead of 1 1 ...dS 1 2 C2Ja4 CLixa4 winner in the USSR Championship shortly
1 3 �xa4 �a5+ 14 �f2 0-0 1 5 : c l which before his 80'h birthday.
was very good for White in H.Degenhardt
A.Gipslis, Frankfurt 1 986.
11 ... aS White : A . U fimtsev
GM Gallagher's assessment of � here,
in his book on the Siimisch King's Indian, Bla ck : Yu . M inakov
seems over-optimistic from Black's point
of view. Yarkov crushes his opponent, who 1 9th U S S R CC C h , 1 9 9 1 - 9 3
never obtains any real counterplay.
12 C2Jf3 dS King 's In dian Defen ce £63
12 . . . �a6 would be consistent but prema
ture, on account of the reply 1 3 e6. So White 1 C2Jf3 ctJf6 2 g3 g6 3 �g2 �g7 4 0-0 0-0
is able to get his king into safety before con S d4 d6 6 c4 CLic6 7 CLic3 a6 8 �gS h6
ducting active operations on both wings. 8 ... : b8 9 : c 1 �g4 1 0 d5 �xf3 1 1
exf3 ttJ e5 12 'ife2 l:t e8 1 3 l:t fe 1 c5 1 4
dxc6 tt:Jxc6 1 5 l:t c d 1 with a slight advan
B
tage to White (Kasparov-Van der Wiel,
Brussels 1 987).
9 �xf6 �xf6 10 'ii'd 2 �g7
In the game Ufimtsev-Kopylov from
the same tournament, after 1 0 . . . c;t>h7 1 1 h3
�g7 12 l:t ad l �d7 1 3 b3 l:t b8 14 c;t>h2
b5 1 5 c5 b4 1 6 ctJd5 e6 1 7 ctJf4 tt:Je7 1 8 h4
�c6 1 9 'ii'c2 c;t>h8 20 .i:t fe l White gained
the better chances.
11 h3 l:t b8 12 l:t fdl 'if e8? !
1 2. . . �d7 ! ? came into consideration. 30 l:t fe8 31 f4 c;t>f6 32 l:t c6+ c;t>g7 33
...
13 l:t acl e5 (D) c;t>xg2 b4 34 c;t>f3 l:t a8 35 l:t xe8 l:t xe8 36
l:t b6 l:t a8 37 l:t xb4 l:t xa2 38 g4 1-0
Without wishing to comment on the re
sults of the remaining participants, I should
w nevertheless like to say that among those
who were unsuccessful on this occasion
were some well-known masters, champions
and prize-winners in the championships of
Russia and Moscow, which testifies to the
high level of the 1 9th USSR Championship.
Simultaneously with the main final,
known as the Premier League, a secondary
tournament took place - the First League
of the 1 9th Championship, in which, apart
14 ctJd5 QJxd4 from Russians, representatives of Ukraine,
Possible was 1 4 . . . 'if d8 !? 1 5 dxe5 dxe5 Belarus, Latvia and Kazakhstan competed.
(inferior is 1 5 ... tt:Jxe5 1 6 tt:Jxe5 dxe5 1 7 Here are the final scores: 1 -2. L.Levit
'ii'a5 b6 1 8 'ii' a3 with advantage to White) (Minsk), V.Volodin (Moscow) - 1 0 out of
16 'ii'e3 �d7 with an unclear position. 15; 3-5. V.Kashlyuk (Lugansk), E.Tyulin
15 tt:Jxc7 'ifd8 16 ctJd5 QJxf3+ 17 exf3 (Vladimir), S.Polyakevich (Nevinnomyssk)
�e6 18 b3 'if g5 - 91h; 6. O.Batakovs (Riga) - 9; 7. S.Kuznetsov
1 8 . . . l:t e8 1 9 QJc3 �f8 20 tt:Je4 favours (Nikopol) - 81h; 8- 10. M.Volchikhin (Shad
White. rinsk), R.Markarian (Alma Ata), A.Sirota
19 'ifxg5 hxg5 20 QJc3 b5 (Krivoy Rog, Ukraine) - 8; 1 1 -12. A.Pyshkin
Or 20 . . . l:t fd8 21 tt:Je4 d5 22 tt:Jxg5 dxc4 (Syktyvkar), V.Shemagonov (Ufa) -- 7; 13.
23 l:t xd8+ l:t xd8 24 tt:Jxe6 fxe6 25 l:t xc4 V.Nasybulin (Akmola) - 61h; 14. M.Klimenok
with a clear advantage to White. (Vitebsk) - 5; 15. A.Mishin (Vladimir) - 41h;
21 cxb5 axb5 22 tt:Je4 �h6 23 l:t xd6 g4? 16. K.Romanovsky (Ryazan) - 0.
23 ... l:t fc8 was better. Anatoli Sirota emigrated to Australia during
24 l:t c7 gxh3 25 ctJf6+ c;t> h8 26 l:t xe6 this event. He states that his unfinished games
�g7 27 l:t ec6 �xf6 28 l:t xf6 @g7 29 were not properly adjudicated and that a game
l:t e6 hxg2 30 l:t xe5 (D) he had already won against Kuznetsov appears
White 's position is won. There followed: as a loss for him in the official crosstable.
Miniatures ( I I )
Ya. Neishtadt - V. Bobkov, 17 @hl! (Black offered a pawn but White
6th USSR CC Championship, 1963-64 prefers to keep the King in the centre.)
Catalan Opening A32 17 ... c6 18 f4 tt:Jgf8 19 f5 tt:Jc7 20 e6! h5 21
1 c4 tLlf6 2 d4 e6 3 g3 c5 4 tLlf3 cxd4 5 Ve5 Vd8 22 Vxg7 z:!. h7 23 f6! 1-0
tt:Jxd4 j&c5 6 tLlb3 Vb6?! 7 tt:Jxc5 Vxc5
8 tLld2 Vc6 9 e4! (D) M. Umansky - R. Zborovsky,
13th USSR CC Championship, 1977-78
English Opening A22
1 c4 e5 2 tt:Jc3 tLlf6 3 tLlf3 e4 4 tLlg5 b5
B
5 d3 exd3 6 cxb5 h6 7 tLlf3 dxe2 8 j&xe2
a6 9 0-0 j&e7 10 tLld4 d5 11 j&f3 axb5 12
j&f4 j&b7 13 tt:Jcxb5 tt:Ja6 14 z:!. cl 0-0 15
tt:Jxc7 Z:. c8 16 Vb3 tLlc5 17 Ve3 tLlfe4
18 tLlf5 j&g5 19 j&xg5 hxg5 20 j&xe4
z:!. xc7 21 z:!. xc5 dxe4 22 Vc3 1-0
M. Naivelt - A. Volchok,
18th USSR CC Championship, 1988-91
Bogoljubow Indian E l l
9 ... h5 (9 . . . tt:Jxe4? 10 j&g2; better 9 .. b6)
. 1 d4 tLlf6 2 c4 e6 3 g3 j&b4+ 4 j&d2 j&e7
10 j&g2 h4 11 0-0 (Threatening e4-e5) 5 j&g2 d5 6 tLlf3 0-0 7 0-0 b6 8 cxd5 exd5
11 ... Vc7 ( 1 1 .. .hxg3 12 e5 gxh2+ 13 @h l ) 9 tt:Jc3 j&b7 10 z:!. cl tlJhd7 11 j&f4 tlJh5
12 z:!. el hxg3 13 hxg3 d6 14 b3! tLlbd7 15 12 j&e5 f6?! (12 ... tLleS)
j&a3 a5 16 tLlf3 .: a6 17 tLld4 tLlc5 18
tlJh5 Ve7 19 e5! dxe5 20 z:l. xe5 l-O
ON THE day when the Council of the Rus the leader on number of points scored, and
sian Correspondence Chess Association was even overtook him on points lost.
confirming at its meeting the composition of It became clear that only the two Sergeys
the 20th and penultimate USSR CC Cham were in contention for the top two places,
pionship, the colleagues of Isaak Romanov, while Kashlyuk, Rubinchik and Shikhirev
the well-known correspondence chess his were fighting for the 'bronze' . At the very
torian and ICCF international arbiter, were finish, by winning his last few games, FIDE
accompanying him on his last journey. And international master Viktor Volodin gained
it was decided to dedicate the tournament to third place. The following game proved
his memory. decisive in the battle for the prize-winning
Representatives of Russia, Ukraine, place.
Belarus, Estonia and Latvia participated in
the championship. Yuri Baidakov was ap
pointed arbiter. From the very beginning the White : V. Volodin
tournament was regarded as an international
,
and, apart from several international mas Bla ck: D . Lybin
ters, the starters included two ICCF inter
national masters and one FIDE international 20th U S S R CC C h , 1 9 94- 9 8
master.
By the end of the event the number of King 's Indian Defen ce £68
holders of international titles had grown
significantly, for the reason that in the Ro Notes by Vi ktor Vol o d i n
manov Memorial the ICCF established an
international master norm - 71h points out In this game White' s dark-square bishop
of 14. I should mention that by the time that literally 'terrorised' Black ( 1 3 Jtg5 ! , 1 8
the tournament finished, all the participants, Jte3 ! , 22 Jtg5 !), then sacrificed itself (24
with the exception of Rene Talving and Jtxf6!) and after a spectacular rook sacri
E.Tyulin, and N.Vilchenkov who dropped fice (27 J:t xf7!) White's position became
out, were already international masters, and won, but on the way to the win he found
the winner had the title of grandmaster. some 'little combinations' (Capablanca' s
The tournament started on 3 1 st March expression).
1 994 and within roughly eighteen months 1 CLJf3 CLJf6 2 c4 g6 3 d4 Jtg7 4 g3 0-0 5
the leading group had emerged, comprising Jtg2 d6 6 0-0 CLJbd7 7 CZJc3 e5 8 e4 a6 9
Rubinchik, Khlusevich, Muravyev and Vo h3 bS 10 Vi'c2
lodin. By some point in mid- 1 996 the sole It is surprising, but in my database this
lead was seized by Sergey Muravyev. Then move occurs only once (Tukmakov-Weindl,
Sergey Khlusevich almost caught up with Lugano 1 986). 1 0 dxe5 or 1 0 Vi'e2 is more
20th USSR CC Championship ( 1 994- 1 998) Romanov Memorial
N2 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
S . Khlusevich Izhevsk 1 Yi Yi Yi 1 1 1 1 Yi Yi 1 1 1 11
8 D. Lybin Minsk 0 0 0 0 Yi 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 s
9 I. Lensky Moscow 0 0 0 Yi Yi 1 Yi Yi 1 1 1 7
10 J. Schuster Estonia 0 0 Yi Yi Yi 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 6
14 R. Talving Tallinn 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3
IN FEBRUARY 1 998 a start was made to pleted the opening stage. Therefore during
the last USSR Championship. Among the the course of the tournament it is possible
1 5 competitors were the winners of the last to talk about the leaders only with a great
First League and the semi-finals. The Baltic degree of arbitrariness.
republics also sent their representatives, so Even so, we can say that by the autumn
that the representation of the former Soviet of 1 999 a leading group had emerged: May
republics was nearly as great as during the orov - 6 points out of 7, Bragin - 51h out of
time when the USSR actually existed. 8, Jocas - 4Y2 out of 5, Grodzensky - 4 out
The tournament was registered with the of 5, Timko - 3 out of 4 and Verhni - 2Y2
ICCF as a memorial to ICCF international out of 3 . Note that Malinin and Grishin had
arbiter Boris Rozinov ( 1 9 1 7- 1 997). An each gained three successive wins.
international master norm was established By the first quarter of 2000 the results
- 9 points out of 1 4 - and the tournament of two thirds of the games were known, but
director was ICCF international arbiter Yury the situation in the table remained confused.
Baidakov. In terms of points scored, still in the lead
The first two results were recorded soon was Mayorov - 8 out of 10, followed by
after the start: the author of these lines Grodzensky - 61h out of 9, Jocas - 6 out of
agreed draws with White against Kuzenkov 8, Malinin - 51h out of 6, Bragin - 51h out of
on the 7th move, and with Kulagin on the 8, Grishin - 4 out of 5 , Timko - 3 Yi out of 5
14th. The reason for such a peaceful attitude and Verhni - 21h out of 3 .
was that Sergey Grodzensky, who had the ti B y August 2000 the number of contend
tle of grandmaster, agreed to play in the last ers remained quite large: Mayorov - 91h out
USSR Championship as a mark of respect of 12, Bragin - 9 out of 12, Grodzensky
to the memory of his great personal friend - 81h out of 12, Malinin - 7 out of 8 and
Boris Rozinov - an outstanding organiser, Jocas - 6 out of 8. Timko - 4 out of 7 and
who became a veritable era in Soviet cor Grishin - 41h out of 8 had dropped back
respondence chess. somewhat. On the current results of the Ro
The poor working of the post in the sec zinov Memorial, the 2000 ICCF Congress
ond half of the half of the 1 990s became the awarded the international master title to
talk of the town. And after the break-up of Bragin, Kulagin and Mayorov.
the USSR, corresponding with former com By the summer of 200 1 a trio of leaders
patriots who had ended up abroad became, had practically emerged (Malinin - 1 1 out
as they say, an absolute pain. Hence the of 1 3 , Mayorov - 1 01h out of 1 3 , Bragin
enormous spread in the number of moves - 1 0 out of 1 3 ), but as regards the alloca
made. Some games had long been finished, tion of the places on the 'podium' there still
while in others the players had not yet com- remained questions, which were not finally
2 1 st USSR CC Championship (1 998-2002) Rozinov Memorial
NQ 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
2 A. Mayorov Moscow Yz Yz 1 Yz 1 Yz 1 1 1 1 1 1. 11
3 A. Bragin Bryansk 1 1 Yz 1 Yz 1 Yz Yz Yz 1 1 1 11
4 S. Grodzensky Moscow Yz Yz Yz 1 Yz 1 1 1 1 1 1 10
5 A. Grishin Kazakhstan Yz Yz 0 Yz 1 1 Yz 1 1 -
1 1 9
9 A. Kuzenkov Moscow 0 Yz 0 Yz 0 Yz 0 Yz 1 1 1 1 7
13 V . Verhni Estonia 0 0 0 0 -
0 0 0 0 0 1 3'h
14 V . Vasykin Novokusnetsk 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
15 A. Belousenko Minsk 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
The game between Grishin and Verhni was scored as a double forfeit.
resolved even by the start of 2002. It was 1iVc7 9 0-0-0 l2Ja5 10 �d3 b5 1 1 a3 �b7
decided to halt play in the tournament after 12 g4 � c8 13 g5 t2Jd7 14 f4
a winner had finally emerged - Vasily Ma This last move is a novelty.
linin. A few unfinished games, the results of The 'Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'
which could no longer affect the placings, gives only 1 4 � he l �e7 15 1fi1h5 g6 1 6
were adjudicated. 'iVh6 tt:Je5 1 7 1iVg7 � f8 , citing the game
Thus the last USSR correspondence Fedorov-Kasimdzhanov, Moscow 1 996. 1 4
champion became Vasily Malinin from St f4 ! i s stronger, since i t prevents the black
Petersburg. Born in 1 956, he is a professor knight from going to e5.
of the St Petersburg University of the Rus 14...�e7 15 'iVhS g6
sian Ministry of Internal Affairs. In over After 1 5 . . . 0-0 1 6 f5 White' s attack devel
the board play he has the title of national ops unchecked.
master. 16 1fi1h6 tbc4 17 �xc4 1iVxc4 18 1fi1g7
Malinin rapidly became one of the � f8 19 � hel b4 20 axb4 'iVxb4 21 t2J b3
strongest correspondence players. He be e5
gan his career in correspondence chess in The alternative was the exchange sacri
1 9 83 with a win in a USSR Championship fice 2 1 ... � xc3 22 1iVxc3 1iVxc3 23 bxc3
quarter-final. In 1 9 86 he began participat �xe4, although it too would not have
ing in international tournaments. He was a equalised.
finalist in the 67th European Championship, 22 fxe5 dxe5 (D)
the 9th ICCF World Cup, the 20th USSR 22 ... tt:Jxe5 came into consideration.
Championship and the First Russian Cham
pionship.
On the results of the Konstantinopolsky
Memorial Tournament he was awarded the w
ICCF international master title, and in the
Kosenkov Memorial, which was held at the
same time as the Rozinov Memorial (the
2 1 st USSR Championship) he achieved the
grandmaster norm.
In the 2 1 st USSR Championship Vas
ily Malinin demonstrated mature play, both
with Black and with White.
1 . A. Zaitsev-Gilman: 3 . Yershov-Romanov:
24 �d3 ! (This wins a piece, whereas 21 : xfS! ! 1-0
24 �d3 brings nothing.) 24...�xf3+ (If 2 1 . . .�xf5 22 �xe3 with threats of
(24 . . . l2Jf5 25 i,xf5) 2S � 7g2 : es �c3, �d3 and �h6).
(25 . . . : g8 26 i,e2! �d5 27 �c4 �f3 4. Smolensky-Zilberberg:
28 exd4 ! or 25 ... : d6 26 exd4 : xd4 30 ... b3! (Destroys the last bastion) 31 dS
27 �c l !) 26 exd4 : gS 27 dxcS+ f6 bxa2 32 Wal �b8 0-1
(27 . . . : ee5 28 �d2 : hs 29 �f5 ! : gs 5 . Kuntsevich-Estrin:
30 �c2 : e2 3 1 �dl ! ) 28 �c4! 1-0 (Not White threatens mate and the a l - : , but
28 �c2? �xg2+! 29 : xg2 : e l +. Now for the price of a bishop Black stops both
White prepares to break the pin by 29 �fl threats and forces a winning endgame the
followed by �d3 and f3. If 28 . . . : hs 29 exchange ahead.
�e2! - Zaitsev). 40 ... �h3+! 41 wxh3 �f6 0-1
2. Yershov-Altshuler: 20 ... l2Jb4! 21 6. Poleshchuk-Foigel:
l2Jd2 lbxc2 22 �xc2 cS 0-1 19 �d8+! 1-0
Some statistics
SEVERAL years ago, Dutch chess organiser weighted towards frequency of participation
Nol van 't Riet devised a mathematical for over high percentage results. Also the fact
mula to determine which player had the best that the number of players in USSR Cham
record in a series of events in which several pionship finals varied between 1 3 and 2 1
players compete many times. perhaps skewed the results.
The USSR CC Championships seemed a Some other statistics are also of interest.
suitable candidate for this kind of analysis, Lev Omelchenko was the only player with
since there were 21 events and numerous two outright victories, and with two consec
players competed in three or more of them. utive victories. Georgy Borisenko also won
Three players were involved in six USSR twice, but both cases involved a tie. Several
CC Championship Finals and two played in players won at their first attempt and never
seven of them: one third of the total. competed again.
To determine Mister USSR CC Champi Also noteworthy is the achievement of
onships by the van 't Riet formula, you have Gennady Nesis in finishing second in two
to find the sum of "Mister points" = S (Total consecutive finals with the high overall
points scored) + G (Total games played) + score of 72.97% - which would have won
Percentage result (of S/G). some of the finals.
Performing this calculation, Tim Hard The greatest interval in time between first
ing found the clear winner (with 252 Mister and last participation is also down to Zelin
Points) to be Yury Zelinsky of Riga (now Is sky, who began the 1 0th Final in 1 97 1 and
rael) who played 7 championships including concluded by winning the 19th in 1 993 . He
a first and a second place and no bad results. overlaps with Sadomsky who began the 2nd
In total, Zelinsky played 1 1 4 games, scoring in 1 952 and also played in the 1 0th.
73.5 which is a 64.47% record. The record for the longest interval be
Runner-up, with 225 Mister Points, was tween two participations in championship
A. Sadomsky who also included a title in his finals is held by M. Abramson. He com
seven starts. He too had 1 44 games but his pleted the 3rd championship in 1 957 and
overall score (59.5) was inferior to Zelin next played in the 8th, which began in 1 967.
sky's. Third was A. Sokolsky, who played His absence in the intervening period can
1 0 1 games in six finals. He did not win the be explained by his involvement in a world
title, but his game points total of 58.5 gave championship final.
him a better percentage than Sadomsky. However, if you count the unfinished
Fourth in the table, the only other player championship that began in 1 940, then Pyotr
with over 200 Mister Points, came Igor Ko Dubinin is the the player with the greatest
pylov with 55.5 from 94 games i!1 six finals longevity. He also competed in several post
(59.04%). He too was once champion. war championships, his last being the 7th,
Also highly impressive records are Dubi which ended in 1 966, giving him a span of
nin's 66.94% from four finals and Simagin's 26 years activity in these events.
73.53% from three championships. Between them, the careers of Dubinin,
Looking at the results in more detail, it Sadomsky and Zelinsky span the whole era
seems that the Mister Points formula starts of those championships that were played
to break down after players have competed during the time that the USSR actually
in more than four or five events, as it is existed.
Index to Openings
Both indexes on this page include the miniature games on pages 84 and 140.
Index by E CO codes
AOO 20 B42 118 C6 1 18 D39 51
A06 42 B47 58 C73 38, 45 D43 1 04
Al9 75 B49 98 C75 35 D44 111
A2 1 14 B76 1 49 C78 83 D48 89
A22 1 40 B77 97 C80 1 40 D49 1 30
A28 12 B80 21 C82 27 D59 19
A30 92, 1 05 B88 52 C86 63 D87 30
A32 140 B89 1 47 C88 42 Ell 1 40
A4 1 91 B91 29 C90 15 El9 70
A6 1 77 B92 60 C93 75, 85 E42 97
A75 1 02 B94 82 C95 71 E58 61
A84 84 B96 . 136 C96 65 E63 1 38
BOO 148 C06 1 17 C97 57 E64 91
BO l 76 C07 1 24 C99 81 E68 1 4 1 , 1 43
B07 1 03 , 1 09 Cl7 48 DO l 84 E80 138
B08 84 C37 10 D2 1 34 E8 1 1 1 5, 1 3 7
B09 125 C4 1 1 22 D25 111 E85 136
Bl2 93 C45 69 D26 30 E99 72, 132
Bl4 23 C50 41 D30 112
Bl8 66 C51 1 1, 95 D35 131
B33 1 23 C55 50 D36 1 13
Index of players of complete games
This index includes the main chapters and miniatures but not the tactical finishes.