During my press conference in Dresden, Boris mentioned about one of the biggest highlights in his illustrious career, the 1973 Soviet Championship. He believes that his peak years were around 1969-1971. Even after a devastating loss against Bobby Fischer in the 1972 historic World Championship match, he came back and won one of the strongest Soviet Championships by a full point over Karpov, Petrosian, Polugaevsky, Tal, Korchnoi, Geller, Keres, Smyslov, Taimanov, etc.
Here is the full crosstable:
41st Soviet Championship
Rank Names ——1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 Spassky ——– * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 11½
2 Karpov ———½ * 0 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 10½
3 Petrosian ——-½ 1 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 10½
4 Polugaevsky —-½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 10½
5 Korchnoi ——-½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 10½
6 Kuzmin ——–½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 10½
7 Geller ———-½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 0 8½
8 Grigorian ——½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 8½
9 Keres ———-½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ * ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 8
10 Taimanov —- 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 8
11 Savon ———1 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 8
12 Tal ————½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 0 ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 8
13 Tukmakov —-0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 7½
14 Rashkovsky —0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 7½
15 Averkin ——-0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ 0 1 7
16 Smyslov ——0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 7
17 Sveshnikov— 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ * 0 6½
18 Beliavsky —- 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 * 4½
They sure knew how to draw in those days! It is not a new problem.
I think the problem is not the big number of draws but the crowd of people who cannot estimate chess as it is: There are so many games that must be a draw, because they are played nearly perfectly.
Honour to these players!
okay
A list of giants !
The collapse of the CCCP was the worst thing that could have happened for Chess.