1st USSR Championship — Moscow 1920
Held as the All-Russian Chess Olympiad in the middle of the Civil War, this tournament was only later recognised as the first Soviet Championship. Alexander Alekhine won it undefeated with 12 out of 15 — his last competitive event on Russian soil before he left for the West and, seven years on, the world title.
◈A tournament summoned out of chaos
In October 1920 the country was still torn by civil war, and it was not even certain which of its masters were alive. Organised under the auspices of Vsevobuch — the Bolshevik universal-military-training body whose chess section Alexander Ilyin-Zhenevsky ran — the event gathered sixteen players in Moscow, some mobilised by telegram and billeted in an unheated military hostel on soldiers' rations.
Conditions were harsh enough that seven players signed a petition threatening to strike unless the food improved and a cigarette ration was added. Alekhine did not sign, but declared his solidarity with the strikers, saying he did not think it right to play against hungry opponents. The organisers relented with a little extra bread and cheese, and play went on.
◈Alekhine, a point clear and unbeaten
The tournament opened as a three-way race: after eight rounds Abram Rabinovich held a half-point lead over Alekhine and Peter Romanovsky. Rabinovich then faded badly, scoring just two points from his last seven games to slip to a share of fifth, while Alekhine surged home with 6/7.
He finished on 12/15 without losing a single game, a clear point ahead of Romanovsky (11) and two ahead of Grigory Levenfish (10). Prizes matched the moment: silver items requisitioned from pawnshops, certificates, and an ivory chess set for the champion.
Because the Soviet Union was not formally founded until December 1922, the event ran as the All-Russian Chess Olympiad and was only retroactively counted as the 1st USSR Championship — stretching the tradition back a couple of years. It also proved to be Alekhine's farewell to Russian chess: granted leave to travel west in 1921, he never returned, and in 1927 he took the World Championship from Capablanca.
◈Final Standings
The standings below are the historical final result. Only 54 of the 120 games played survive in our source; the remaining 66 are lost and appear as · in the cross table.
| # | Player | Score | Record | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alekhine, Alexander | 12/15 | +9 -0 =6 | games → |
| 2 | Romanovsky, Peter Arsenievich | 11/15 | +10 -3 =2 | games → |
| 3 | Levenfish, Grigory | 10/15 | +7 -2 =6 | games → |
| 4 | Rabinovich, Ilya Leontievich | 9½/15 | +8 -4 =3 | games → |
| =5 | Grigoriev, Nikolay Dmitrievich | 8½/15 | +8 -6 =1 | games → |
| =5 | Rabinovich, Abram Isaakovich | 8½/15 | +7 -5 =3 | games → |
| =5 | Kubbel, Arvid Ivanovich K | 8½/15 | +7 -5 =3 | games → |
| 8 | Blumenfeld, Benjamin Markovich | 8/15 | +4 -3 =8 | games → |
| =9 | Ilyin Zhenevsky, Alexander | 7/15 | +5 -6 =4 | games → |
| =9 | Daniuszewski, Dawid | 7/15 | +3 -4 =8 | games → |
| =11 | Zubarev, Nikolay | 6½/15 | +5 -7 =3 | games → |
| =11 | Pavlov Pianov, Nikolay | 6½/15 | +5 -7 =3 | games → |
| 13 | Tselikov, Nikolay | 5½/15 | +5 -9 =1 | games → |
| 14 | Mund, August | 4½/15 | +3 -9 =3 | games → |
| 15 | Pavlov, Dmitry Nikolaevich | 4/15 | +1 -8 =6 | games → |
| 16 | Golubev, Ivan Petrovich | 3/15 | +2 -11 =2 | games → |
Cross Table
| Rank | Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alekhine, Alexander | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | · | 1 | · | ½ | ½ | · | 1 | 1 | · | · | ½ | |
| 2 | Romanovsky, Peter Arsenievich | ½ | 1 | · | 1 | 1 | · | · | 1 | · | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | · | · | |
| 3 | Levenfish, Grigory | ½ | 0 | · | 1 | ½ | · | · | · | · | 1 | 1 | · | 1 | · | · | |
| 4 | Rabinovich, Ilya Leontievich | 0 | · | · | 0 | 0 | 0 | · | · | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | · | |
| 5 | Grigoriev, Nikolay Dmitrievich | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | · | 1 | · | 0 | · | 1 | 1 | · | · | 1 | · | |
| 6 | Rabinovich, Abram Isaakovich | · | 0 | ½ | 1 | · | · | ½ | 1 | · | 0 | 1 | 0 | · | · | · | |
| 7 | Kubbel, Arvid Ivanovich K | 0 | · | · | 1 | 0 | · | · | 1 | · | ½ | 1 | 1 | · | 1 | · | |
| 8 | Blumenfeld, Benjamin Markovich | · | · | · | · | · | ½ | · | 0 | · | 0 | 1 | · | · | · | · | |
| 9 | Ilyin Zhenevsky, Alexander | ½ | 0 | · | · | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | · | ½ | · | · | · | · | |
| 10 | Daniuszewski, Dawid | ½ | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | 0 | · | ½ | · | · | · | · | |
| 11 | Zubarev, Nikolay | · | 0 | 0 | · | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | |
| 12 | Pavlov Pianov, Nikolay | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | |
| 13 | Tselikov, Nikolay | 0 | 0 | · | · | · | 1 | 0 | · | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | |
| 14 | Mund, August | · | 0 | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | ½ | · | · | 0 | |
| 15 | Pavlov, Dmitry Nikolaevich | · | · | · | · | 0 | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | |
| 16 | Golubev, Ivan Petrovich | ½ | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | 0 | · | 1 | · |
Each cell shows the row player's per-game results against the column player (in round order). ● = same player. · = game played but lost (not preserved in our source).
“I arrived from Petrograd on the day before the first round and was billeted in an unheated room of a military training hostel… The hunger and destruction caused by the intervention and the civil war could be felt at every step, and the food was more than modest.”