1939 USSR Chess Championship

The 1939 USSR Chess Championship was the 11th edition of USSR Chess Championship. Tha championship was held from 15 April to 16 May 1939 in Leningrad. The tournament was won by Mikhail Botvinnik. Semifinals took place in Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev. Alexander Kotov, later author of the classic book Think Like a Grandmaster, made his debut and finished as runner-up. Peter Romanovsky, a former champion of the 1920s, returned to compete but finishing in last place. Chess was rapidly growing in popularity in the Soviet Union, the final round, which featured the duel between Botvinnik and Kotov, sold out all available tickets.Cafferty, Bernard. (2016). The Soviet Championships. Londres: Everyman Chess. p. 44

Table and results + 11th USSR Chess Championship (1939) Player 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Total1 Mikhail Botvinnik - 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 ½12½2 Alexander Kotov 0 - ½ 1 0 ½ 1 0 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 ½11½3 Sergey Belavenets ½ ½ - ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1114 Vladimir Makogonov ½ 0 ½ - 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 110½5 Vitaly Chekhover ½ 1 0 0 - 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 110½6 Igor Bondarevsky ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 - 0 0 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1107 Georgy Lisitsin ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 - 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½98 Grigory Levenfish ½ 1 0 0 ½ 1 0 - ½ 1 ½ 1 0 ½ 0 0 1 18½9 Peter Dubinin 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ - ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½8½10 Viacheslav Ragozin ½ 0 0 ½ 1 0 1 0 ½ - 1 0 0 ½ 1 1 ½ 18½11 Vasily Panov 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 - ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1812 Ilya Rabinovich 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 1 ½ - ½ 1 1 0 ½ 1813 Mikhail Yudovich ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ - ½ 0 0 0 ½7½14 Ilya Kan 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ - 1 1 ½ 17½15 Alexander Tolush 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 0 - 1 0 16½16 Iosif Pogrebissky 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 0 0 ½ 1 1 0 0 - 1 16½17 Alexander Chistiakov 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 0 - 0518 Peter Romanovsky ½ ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 -3½

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