Russian Chess Championship
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Russian Chess Championship has taken various forms throughout history. In 1874, Emanuel Schiffers defeated Andrey Chardin in a match held in St. Petersburg with five wins and four losses. Schiffers was considered the first Russian champion until his student, Mikhail Chigorin, defeated him in a match held in St. Petersburg in 1879. Chigorin won with seven wins, four losses, and two draws.
In 1899 the format of the championship was changed to a round-robin tournament known as the All-Russian Masters' Tournament. These were the winners:
After the formation of the USSR the USSR Chess Championship was established as the national championship. However the Russian championship continued to exist as the championship of the RSFSR. The first two USSR championships in 1920 and 1923 were also recognized as RSFSR championships; the modern numbering of Russian championships begins with these two tournaments. The cities Moscow and Leningrad held their own championships and their players were ineligible to play in the RSFSR championship. However, some did participate as outside competitors: for example, Taimanov finished with the same number of points as Tarasov in the 1960 championship, but only Tarasov was awarded the title as Taimanov was from Leningrad.
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# Year City Winner 1 1920 Moscow Alexander Alekhine 2 1923 Petrograd Peter Romanovsky 3 1928 Moscow Peter Izmailov 4 1934 Moscow Sergey Belavenets 5 1935 Gorky Alexander Tolush 6 1946 Sverdlovsk Isaac Boleslavsky 7 1947 Kuibyshev Nikolay Novotelnov 8 1948 Saratov Nikolay Aratovsky, Georgy Ilivitsky 9 1949 Yaroslavl Peter Dubinin, Georgy Ilivitsky 10 1950 Gorky Rashid Nezhmetdinov 11 1951 Yaroslavl Rashid Nezhmetdinov 12 1952 Tula Lev Aronin, Nikolai Krogius 13 1953 Saratov Rashid Nezhmetdinov 14 1954 Rostov-na-Donu Leonid Shamkovich 15 1955 Leningrad Anatoly Lutikov 16 1956 Kislovodsk Leonid Shamkovich 17 1957 Krasnodar Rashid Nezhmetdinov 18 1958 Sochi Rashid Nezhmetdinov 19 1959 Voronezh Anatoly Lutikov 20 1960 Perm Vitaly Tarasov, Mark Taimanov (off contest) 21 1961 Omsk Lev Polugaevsky 22 1963 Chelyabinsk Anatoly Lein 23 1964 Kazan Nikolai Krogius 24 1966 Saratov Igor Zakharov, Anatoly Lein, Vladimir Sergievsky 25 1968 Grozny Alexander Zaitsev 26 1970 Kuibyshev Anatoly Karpov 27 1971 Penza Oleg Dementiev, Valery Zilberstein 28 1972 Rostov-na-Donu Vitaly Tseshkovsky 29 1973 Omsk Valeri Korensky, Jurij Rusakov, Vitaly Tseshkovsky 30 1974 Tula Nukhim Rashkovsky 31 1976 Novosibirsk Nukhim Rashkovsky 32 1977 Volgograd Valerij Zhuravliov, Lev Psakhis 33 1979 Sverdlovsk Alexander Panchenko 34 1980 Kazan Alexander Petrushin 35 1981 Vladimir Pavel Zarubin 36 1982 Stavropol Anatoly Vaisser, Valery Chekhov 37 1984 Briansk Gennady Tunik 38 1985 Sverdlovsk Alexander Petrushin 39 1986 Smolensk Veniamin Shtyrenkov 40 1987 Kursk Andrei Kharitonov 41 1988 Voronezh Ratmir Kholmov, Vadim Ruban 42 1989 Gorky Alexey Vyzmanavin 43 1990 Kuibyshev Andrei Kharlov, Vladimir Kramnik, Ruslan Sherbakov, Maxim Sorokin 44 1991 Smolensk Sergei Rublevsky
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Championship was re-established as a national championship, and players from Moscow and St. Petersburg were allowed to participate. Prior to 2004, the championship was organized as a Swiss-style tournament except for 1997 and 1999, where a knockout format was used. In 2004, the tournament reverted to a round robin with the strongest players in the country directly seeded into the final (called the Superfinal) held in Moscow while others progress through qualifying tournaments.
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# Year City Winner 45 1992 Orel Alexei Gavrilov 46 1993 Tyumen Alexei Bezgodov 47 1994 Elista Peter Svidler 48 1995 Elista Peter Svidler 49 1996 Elista Alexander Khalifman 50 1997 Elista Peter Svidler 51 1998 St. Petersburg Alexander Morozevich 52 1999 Moscow Konstantin Sakaev 53 2000 Samara Sergey Volkov 54 2001 Elista Alexander Motylev , on tiebreak over Alexander Lastin 55 2002 Krasnodar Alexander Lastin 56 2003 Krasnoyarsk Peter Svidler , on tiebreak over Alexander Morozevich 57 2004 Moscow Garry Kasparov 58 2005 Moscow Sergei Rublevsky 59 2006 Moscow Evgeny Alekseev , after a playoff match with Dmitry Jakovenko 60 2007 Moscow Alexander Morozevich
