Some USSR Chess Championship statistics and records
Here's your chance to learn some fascinating facts about the USSR Championship players, including those you probably never heard about!
Most points scored in all USSR Championships, top 10: Mark Taimanov - 243; Efim Geller - 233.5; Lev Polugaevsky - 217; Mikhail Tal - 213.5; David Bronstein - 210; Vasily Smyslov - 200.5; Viktor Korchnoi - 186; Tigran Petrosian - 177; Ratmir Kholmov - 173.5; Yuri Averbakh - 152.5.
Most games played in all USSR Championships, top 10: Mark Taimanov - 426; Efim Geller - 416; David Bronstein - 375; Lev Polugaevsky - 365; Mikhail Tal - 353; Vasily Smyslov - 349; Ratmir Kholmov - 306; Viktor Korchnoi - 304; Tigran Petrosian - 288; Yuri Averbakh - 280.
Most championships played, top 10: Efim Geller, Mark Taimanov - 23; David Bronstein, Lev Polugaevsky, Mikhail Tal - 20; Vasily Smyslov - 19; Yuri Balashov, Ratmir Kholmov, Viktor Korchnoi, Tigran Petrosian - 16.
Most wins in all USSR Championships, top 10: Mark Taimanov - 141; Efim Geller - 131; Mikhail Tal - 128; Lev Polugaevsky - 123; David Bronstein - 119; Viktor Korchnoi - 115; Vasily Smyslov - 106; Mikhail Botvinnik - 102; Tigran Petrosian - 95; Paul Keres - 82; Ratmir Kholmov - 80*.
Most draws in all USSR Championships, top-5: Efim Geller - 205; Mark Taimanov - 204; Vasily Smyslov - 189; Lev Polugaevsky - 188; David Bronstein - 182; Mikhail Tal - 171; Ratmir Kholmov - 170*; Yuri Balashov - 166; Yuri Averbakh - 165; Tigran Petrosian - 164.
Most losses in all USSR Championships, top 10: Mark Taimanov - 81; Efim Geller - 80; Semyon Furman - 78*; David Bronstein - 74; Vyacheslav Ragozin - 74; Ilya Kan - 70; Alexander Tolush - 64; Viktor Kupreichik - 63; Bukhuti Gurgenidze - 61; Evgeny Vasyukov - 59.
First player to play 100 games in USSR Championships: Alexander Ilyin-Zhenevsky.
First player to play 200 games in USSR Championships: Grigory Levenfish
First player to play 300 and 400 games in USSR Championships: Mark Taimanov
First player to score 100 points in USSR Championships: Mikhail Botvinnik
First player to score 200 points in USSR Championships: Mark Taimanov
First player to win 100 games in USSR Championships: Mikhail Botvinnik
First player to draw 100 games in USSR Championships: David Bronstein
First player to draw 200 games in USSR Championships: Mark Taimanov
First player to lose 50 games in USSR Championships: Sergey Freiman
Last appearance by a player who participated in the inaugural USSR Championship: Grigory Levenfish (1949 - 6/19, shared 18-20)
Biggest distance between first and last USSR Championship appearances: Vasily Smyslov - 48 years between 1940 and 1988.
Biggest distance between two USSR Championship appearances: Alexander Chistyakov - 28 years between 1939 and 1967.
Most consecutive USSR Championship played: Mark Taimanov - 14 (1951, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1961 (2), 1962, 1963)
Players who played a full championship without losing:
Tigran Petrosian - 6 (1954 - shared 4-5, 1955 - shared 3-6, 1958 - 2nd, 1959 - 1st, 1969 - shared 1-2, 1973 - shared 2-6)
Mikhail Tal - 3 (1967 - shared 1-2, 1972 - 1st, 1978 - shared 1-2)
Yuri Balashov - 2 (1979 - shared 3-4, 1980 - shared 4-5)
Mikhail Botvinnik - 2 (1939 - 1st, 1945 - 1st)
Efim Geller - 2 (1977 - shared 5-7, 1979 - 1st)
Viktor Korchnoi - 2 (1964 - 1st, 1966 - shared 3-5)
Lev Polugaevsky - 2 (1967 - shared 1-2, 1973 - shared 2-6)
Mark Taimanov - 2 (1954 - shared 2-3, 1967 - 4th)
Alexander Alekhine - 1 (1920 - 1st)
Yuri Averbakh - 1 (1954 - 1st)
Efim Bogoljubov - 1 (1924 - 1st)
Isaak Boleslavsky - 1 (1947 - 2nd)
Iosif Dorfman - 1 (1977 - shared 1-2)
Vladimir Epishin - 1 (1991 - 3rd)
Tamaz Georgadze - 1 (1978 - 4th)
Boris Gulko - 1 (1977 - shared 1-2)
Anatoly Karpov - 1 (1988 - shared 1-2)
Garry Kasparov - 1 (1988 - shared 1-2)
Andor Lilienthal - 1 (1940 - shared 1-2)
Elmar Magerramov - 1 (1991 - shared 1-2)
Igor Novikov - 1 (1991 - shared 15-22)
Igor Platonov - 1 (1967 - 5th)
Vladimir Savon - 1971 (1st)
Vasily Smyslov - 1 (1971 - shared 2-3)
Andrey Sokolov - 1 (1984 - 1st)
Boris Spassky - 1 (1963 - shared 1-3)
Leonid Yudasin - 1 (1990 - shared 1-4)
Alexander Zaitsev - 1 (1968 - shared 1-2)
Players who played a full championship without drawing:
Sergey Freiman - 1 (1924 - shared 16-17)
Gavriil Veresov - 1 (1935 - shared 13-14)
Players who played a full championship without winning:
Lev Alburt - 1 (1977 - 16th)
Alexander Cherepkov - 1 (1968 - 19th)
Archil Ebralidze - 1 (1937 - 20th)
Andrey Kharitonov - 1 (1988 - shared 17-18)
Yuri Kruppa - 1 (1991 - 63rd)
Georgy Lisitsyn - 1 (1956 - 18th)
Andrey Lukin - 1 (1991 - shared 57-62)
Alexander Nikitin - 1 (1959 - 20th)
Maksim Novik - 1 (1991 - 64th)
Yuri Razuvaev - 1 (1985 - shared 14-16)
Vladimir Savon - 1 (1991 - shared 57-62)
Next records are for the players who played 100+ games in the Championships.
Best average score, top 10: Mikhail Botvinnik - 70.47% (136/193); Anatoly Karpov - 63.43% (68.5/108); Leonid Stein - 63.41% (113.5/179); Boris Spassky - 63.04% (130.5/207); Fedor Bohatirchuk - 62.98% (65.5/104); Tigran Petrosian - 61.46% (177/288); Viktor Korchnoi - 61.18% (186/304); Petr Romanovsky - 60.50% (72/119); Mikhail Tal - 60.48% (213.5/353); Paul Keres - 59.47% (144.5/243).
Worst average score, "top" 10: Sergey Freiman - 38.29% (42.5/111); Georgy Borisenko - 39.72% (56/141); Bukhuti Gurgenidze - 41.07% (69/168); Igor Zaitsev - 41.43% (43.5/105); Karen Grigorian - 41.98% (44.5/106); Viktor Kupreichik - 42.20% (59.5/141); Anatoly Bannik - 42.42% (56/132); Vasily Panov - 43.50% (43.5/100); Ilya Kan - 44.47% (84.5/190); Vladimir Simagin - 44.57% (57.5/129).
Best win percentage, top 10: Mikhail Botvinnik - 52.85% (102/193); Petr Romanovsky - 48.74% (58/119); Fedor Bohatirchuk - 46.15% (48/104); Ilya Rabinovich - 39.49% (62/157); Boris Spassky - 38.16% (79/207); Leonid Stein - 37.99% (68/179); Viktor Korchnoi - 37.83% (115/304); Grigory Levenfish - 37.26% (79/212); Alexander Kotov - 36.48% (58/159); Alexander Tolush - 36.31% (65/179).
Biggest draw percentage, top 10: Yuri Razuvaev - 68.87% (73/106); Vyacheslav Einhorn - 65.87% (83/126); Salomon Flohr - 62.50% (90/144); Aivars Gipslis - 61.67% (74/120); Nuhim Rashkovsky - 61.19% (82/134); Yuri Balashov - 60.36% (166/275); Anatoly Karpov - 60.19% (65/108); Yuri Averbakh - 58.93% (165/280); Vladimir Bagirov - 58.29%* (102*/175); Gennady Kuzmin - 58.28*% (88*/151).
Biggest decisive game percentage, top 10: Sergey Freiman - 82.88% (92/111); Petr Romanovsky - 76.47% (91/119); Viktor Kupreichik - 73.76% (104/141); Alexander Tolush - 72.07% (129/179); Vsevolod Rauzer - 69.16% (74/107); Alexander Ilyin-Zhenevsky - 67.12% (98/146); Alexander Kotov - 66.67% (106/159); Fedor Bohatirchuk - 66.35% (69/104); Ilya Rabinovich - 66.24% (104/157); Mikhail Botvinnik - 64.77% (125/193).
Least defeat percentage, top 10: Anatoly Karpov - 6.48% (7/108); Tigran Petrosian - 10.07% (29/288); Leonid Stein - 11.17% (20/179); Vyacheslav Einhorn - 11.90% (15/126); Mikhail Botvinnik - 11.92% (23/193); Boris Spassky - 12.08% (25/207); Isaak Boleslavsky - 13.93% (28/201); Ratmir Kholmov - 14.05%* (43*/306); Lev Polugaevsky - 14.79% (54/365); Paul Keres - 14.81% (36/243).
Players who won or shared the first place but didn't play 100 games in the championships:
Boris Verlinsky (1929 - 89 games)
Viktor Gavrikov (1985 (shared 1-3) - 87 games)
Leonid Yudasin (1990 (shared 1-4) - 75 games)
Mikhail Gurevich (1985 (shared 1-3) - 70 games)
Garry Kasparov (1981 (shared 1-2), 1988 (shared 1-2) - 68 games)
Andrey Sokolov (1984 - 68 games)
Alexander Chernin (1985 (shared 1-3) - 53 games)
Valery Salov (1987 (shared 1-2) - 51 game)
Evgeny Bareev (1990 (shared 1-4) - 47 games)
Alexey Vyzhmanavin (1990 (shared 1-4) - 41 game)
Efim Bogoljubov (1924, 1925 - 36 games)
Alexander Alekhine (1920 - 15 games)
Artashes Minasian (1991 (shared 1-2) - 11 games)
Elmar Magerramov (1991 (shared 1-2) - 11 games)
* The player participated in the 1967 USSR Championship which was played by Swiss system. No exact table is available, except for the results of the first 5 players.
To be continued.
