4th USSR Championship — Leningrad 1925
In the city now called Leningrad, Efim Bogoljubow took his second consecutive Soviet title with 14/19 — the crown of an extraordinary year in which he was champion of two countries at once, and, as it turned out, his farewell to Soviet chess.
◈The champion's second title
Petrograd had been renamed Leningrad the year before, and the fourth championship was held in the city's House of Scientists, directed by Professor Alexander Ilyin-Zhenevsky, the organiser who had helped summon the very first championship out of the Civil War. Twenty players contested a full round-robin; of the 190 scheduled games, seven went unplayed as forfeits.
Bogoljubow again finished on top, taking 14/19 to edge Grigory Levenfish by a point — the same order as 1924. Ilya Rabinovich (12½) and Boris Verlinsky (12) completed a top four that was closer than the year before, but the champion's authority was never seriously in doubt.
◈Champion of two countries, then a non-person
1925 was Bogoljubow's summit. Beyond retaining the Soviet title he also won the German championship that year — the only player ever to hold both national crowns at once — and then triumphed at the powerful Moscow 1925 international, finishing ahead of world champion José Raúl Capablanca and the former champion Emanuel Lasker.
Yet he could no longer travel to play abroad without Krylenko's permission, and in 1926 he settled permanently in Germany. His name was struck from Soviet chess literature, and he became a 'non-person' in the country he had just twice been champion of. This was his last Soviet championship.
◈Final Standings
The standings below are the historical final result. Only 57 of the 190 games played survive in our source; the remaining 133 are lost and appear as · in the cross table.
| # | Player | Score | Record | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bogoljubow, Efim | 14/19 | +11 -2 =6 | games → |
| 2 | Levenfish, Grigory | 13/19 | +11 -4 =4 | games → |
| 3 | Rabinovich, Ilya Leontievich | 12½/19 | +11 -5 =3 | games → |
| 4 | Verlinsky, Boris | 12/19 | +9 -4 =6 | games → |
| 5 | Dus Chotimirsky, Fedor Ivanovich | 11½/19 | +8 -4 =7 | games → |
| =6 | Gothilf, Solomon Borisovich | 11/19 | +6 -3 =10 | games → |
| =6 | Ilyin Zhenevsky, Alexander | 11/19 | +7 -4 =8 | games → |
| =6 | Romanovsky, Peter Arsenievich | 11/19 | +9 -6 =4 | games → |
| =9 | Rabinovich, Abram Isaakovich | 10/19 | +8 -7 =4 | games → |
| =9 | Sergeev, Alexander S | 10/19 | +6 -5 =8 | games → |
| =11 | Vilner, Yakov S | 9½/19 | +6 -6 =7 | games → |
| =11 | Kubbel, Arvid Ivanovich K | 9½/19 | +5 -5 =9 | games → |
| =11 | Zubarev, Nikolay | 9½/19 | +5 -5 =9 | games → |
| 14 | Selezniev, Alexey Sergeevich | 9/19 | +2 -3 =14 | games → |
| 15 | Grigoriev, Nikolay Dmitrievich | 8/19 | +6 -9 =4 | games → |
| 16 | Kaspersky, Anton Antonovich | 7/19 | +4 -9 =6 | games → |
| 17 | Sozin, Veniamin | 6½/19 | +4 -10 =5 | games → |
| 18 | Nenarokov, Vladimir Ivanovich | 6/19 | +4 -11 =4 | games → |
| 19 | Freiman, Sergey Nikolaevich | 5/19 | +2 -11 =6 | games → |
| 20 | Kutuzov, Nikolay Nikolaevich | 4/19 | +1 -12 =6 | games → |
Cross Table
| Rank | Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bogoljubow, Efim | 0 | 1 | 0 | · | ½ | · | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | · | · | · | · | 1 | · | 1 | |
| 2 | Levenfish, Grigory | 1 | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | ½ | 1 | · | · | · | · | 1 | · | |
| 3 | Rabinovich, Ilya Leontievich | 0 | · | 0 | 0 | · | · | 1 | 1 | ½ | · | 0 | 1 | · | · | · | · | 1 | · | · | |
| 4 | Verlinsky, Boris | 1 | · | 1 | · | · | · | 1 | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | |
| 5 | Dus Chotimirsky, Fedor Ivanovich | · | 0 | 1 | · | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | |
| 6 | Gothilf, Solomon Borisovich | ½ | · | · | · | · | 0 | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | |
| 7 | Ilyin Zhenevsky, Alexander | · | · | · | · | · | 1 | 0 | 0 | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | |
| 8 | Romanovsky, Peter Arsenievich | 0 | · | 0 | 0 | 0 | · | 1 | · | 1 | 1 | 1 | · | · | 1 | · | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | |
| 9 | Rabinovich, Abram Isaakovich | 0 | 1 | 0 | · | · | 1 | 1 | · | · | 0 | 0 | 0 | · | · | · | · | 1 | · | · | |
| 10 | Sergeev, Alexander S | ½ | · | ½ | · | · | · | · | 0 | · | 1 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | |
| 11 | Vilner, Yakov S | 1 | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | 0 | 1 | 0 | · | ½ | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | |
| 12 | Kubbel, Arvid Ivanovich K | ½ | · | 1 | · | 1 | · | 0 | 0 | 1 | · | · | · | · | · | · | ½ | · | · | · | |
| 13 | Zubarev, Nikolay | 0 | ½ | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | 1 | · | ½ | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | |
| 14 | Selezniev, Alexey Sergeevich | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | 1 | · | · | |
| 15 | Grigoriev, Nikolay Dmitrievich | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | 1 | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | |
| 16 | Kaspersky, Anton Antonovich | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | |
| 17 | Sozin, Veniamin | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | 1 | ½ | · | · | 0 | 1 | 1 | · | 1 | |
| 18 | Nenarokov, Vladimir Ivanovich | 0 | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | ½ | 0 | · | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | 0 | · | · | |
| 19 | Freiman, Sergey Nikolaevich | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | |
| 20 | Kutuzov, Nikolay Nikolaevich | 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).