2nd USSR Championship — Petrograd 1923
Three years after the first championship, the tradition was revived in Petrograd — and Peter Romanovsky, the first real star of Soviet chess, lost his opening game to Grigory Levenfish and then won everything that mattered, finishing a clear point ahead on 10/12.
◈A championship reborn
After the 1920 Olympiad the fledgling tradition lapsed, and no national championship was held for nearly three years. In July 1923 the All-Russia Chess Union was re-formed — thirty-two affiliated groups and some 1,159 registered players — and its first act was to organise a national championship in Petrograd. The title formally at stake was champion of the Russian Soviet Republic; only later was the event counted back as the 2nd Soviet Championship.
Thirteen masters played a single round-robin over a little more than two weeks. The field was led by the two strongest figures of early Soviet chess, Romanovsky and Levenfish, and the tournament quickly became a duel between them.
◈A first-round loss, then eleven games without a stumble
Romanovsky began badly, losing his very first game to Levenfish. It would be his only defeat of the event. From there he scored 10 out of his remaining 11 games, overhauling his rival and finishing a clear point ahead — 10/12 to Levenfish's 9.
Behind the two leaders, Fedor Bohatyrchuk, Fedor Duz-Khotimirsky and Vladimir Nenarokov shared third on 7½. Romanovsky, already runner-up to Alekhine in 1920, was now the outright champion of the country; contemporaries regarded him as the heart of Leningrad chess, and he would go on to be named the Soviet Union's first Honoured Master of Sport in chess.
◈Final Standings
The standings below are the historical final result. Only 31 of the 78 games played survive in our source; the remaining 47 are lost and appear as · in the cross table.
| # | Player | Score | Record | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Romanovsky, Peter Arsenievich | 10/12 | +9 -1 =2 | games → |
| 2 | Levenfish, Grigory | 9/12 | +7 -1 =4 | games → |
| =3 | Bohatirchuk, Fedor Parfenovich | 7½/12 | +6 -3 =3 | games → |
| =3 | Dus Chotimirsky, Fedor Ivanovich | 7½/12 | +6 -3 =3 | games → |
| =3 | Nenarokov, Vladimir Ivanovich | 7½/12 | +6 -3 =3 | games → |
| 6 | Kubbel, Arvid Ivanovich K | 6/12 | +5 -5 =2 | games → |
| =7 | Ilyin Zhenevsky, Alexander | 5½/12 | +3 -4 =5 | games → |
| =7 | Rabinovich, Ilya Leontievich | 5½/12 | +5 -6 =1 | games → |
| 9 | Grigoriev, Nikolay Dmitrievich | 5/12 | +3 -5 =4 | games → |
| 10 | Zubarev, Nikolay | 4/12 | +3 -7 =2 | games → |
| =11 | Vilner, Yakov S | 3½/12 | +2 -7 =3 | games → |
| =11 | Vigodchikov, Konstantin A | 3½/12 | +1 -6 =5 | games → |
| =11 | Lebedev, Sergey Fedorovich | 3½/12 | +2 -7 =3 | games → |
Cross Table
| Rank | Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Romanovsky, Peter Arsenievich | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | · | 1 | 1 | · | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2 | Levenfish, Grigory | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | · | · | |
| 3 | Bohatirchuk, Fedor Parfenovich | 0 | ½ | · | · | 0 | 1 | · | · | · | · | 1 | 1 | |
| 4 | Dus Chotimirsky, Fedor Ivanovich | 0 | 0 | · | · | ½ | · | · | 1 | 0 | · | · | · | |
| 5 | Nenarokov, Vladimir Ivanovich | ½ | 1 | · | · | 0 | · | 1 | · | 1 | · | · | 1 | |
| 6 | Kubbel, Arvid Ivanovich K | 0 | · | 1 | ½ | 1 | · | 1 | · | · | · | 1 | · | |
| 7 | Ilyin Zhenevsky, Alexander | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | |
| 8 | Rabinovich, Ilya Leontievich | 0 | 0 | · | · | 0 | 0 | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | |
| 9 | Grigoriev, Nikolay Dmitrievich | 0 | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | 1 | · | · | |
| 10 | Zubarev, Nikolay | · | · | · | 1 | 0 | · | · | 0 | · | · | 1 | · | |
| 11 | Vilner, Yakov S | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | 1 | |
| 12 | Vigodchikov, Konstantin A | 0 | · | 0 | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | |
| 13 | Lebedev, Sergey Fedorovich | 0 | · | 0 | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | 0 | · |
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).
“The heart of chess in Leningrad seemed to be wherever Pyotr Arsenievich Romanovsky was… He was looked on as a deity and his influence was measured in decades.”