9th USSR Championship — Leningrad 1934/35
With Botvinnik sitting the event out, the ninth championship went to two pre-revolutionary masters — Grigory Levenfish and Ilya Rabinovich shared first on 12/19, a reminder that the older Leningrad school could still hold its own.
◈A championship without Botvinnik
By the mid-1930s Mikhail Botvinnik was the acknowledged standard-bearer of Soviet chess, fresh from his 1933 title and a hard-fought drawn match with Salo Flohr. He did not play in the ninth championship, and in his absence the field was wide open across a twenty-player round-robin held over the New Year in Leningrad.
The tournament turned into a contest between the established Leningrad masters and the rising younger players, with Fedor Bohatyrchuk and the sharp Muscovite Nikolai Riumin among those pressing at the top.
◈Levenfish and Rabinovich share the crown
At the finish Grigory Levenfish and Ilya Rabinovich stood level on 12/19, and with no play-off they were declared joint champions. Both belonged to the generation that had learned the game before the Revolution and, unlike Alekhine or Bogoljubow, had chosen to stay: Levenfish in particular became a bridge between the old Russian school and the first Soviet-trained talents.
The shared title was Levenfish's first national championship. He would win again outright in 1937 — the peak of a career that produced classic manuals on the openings and, with Vasily Smyslov, a celebrated book on rook endings.
◈Final Standings
| # | Player | Score | Record | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =1 | Rabinovich, Ilya Leontievich | 12/19 | +9 -4 =6 | games → |
| =1 | Levenfish, Grigory | 12/19 | +8 -3 =8 | games → |
| 3 | Bohatirchuk, Fedor Parfenovich | 11½/19 | +8 -4 =7 | games → |
| 4 | Riumin, Nikolay Nikolaevich | 11½/19 | +7 -3 =9 | games → |
| =5 | Alatortsev, Vladimir | 10½/19 | +7 -5 =7 | games → |
| =5 | Lisitsin, Georgy M | 10½/19 | +7 -5 =7 | games → |
| =5 | Ragozin, Viacheslav | 10½/19 | +7 -5 =7 | games → |
| 8 | Chekhover, Vitaly A | 10½/19 | +6 -4 =9 | games → |
| =9 | Kan, Ilia Abramovich | 10/19 | +7 -6 =6 | games → |
| =9 | Makogonov, Vladimir Andreevich | 10/19 | +7 -6 =6 | games → |
| =11 | Belavenets, Sergey Vesevolodovi | 10/19 | +5 -4 =10 | games → |
| =11 | Yudovich, Mikhail Mikhailovic | 10/19 | +5 -4 =10 | games → |
| 13 | Veresov, Gavriil N | 9/19 | +9 -10 =0 | games → |
| 14 | Panov, Vasily N | 9/19 | +7 -8 =4 | games → |
| 15 | Savitsky, Leonid | 8½/19 | +6 -8 =5 | games → |
| 16 | Mazel, Isaak | 8½/19 | +5 -7 =7 | games → |
| 17 | Rauzer, Vsevolod | 7½/19 | +4 -8 =7 | games → |
| 18 | Ilyin Zhenevsky, Alexander | 7/19 | +6 -11 =2 | games → |
| 19 | Dubinin, Peter Vasilievich | 7/19 | +5 -10 =4 | games → |
| 20 | Freiman, Sergey Nikolaevich | 4½/19 | +1 -11 =7 | 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 | Rabinovich, Ilya Leontievich | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | |
| 2 | Levenfish, Grigory | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 3 | Bohatirchuk, Fedor Parfenovich | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | |
| 4 | Riumin, Nikolay Nikolaevich | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | |
| 5 | Alatortsev, Vladimir | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | |
| 6 | Lisitsin, Georgy M | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | |
| 7 | Ragozin, Viacheslav | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 8 | Chekhover, Vitaly A | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | |
| 9 | Kan, Ilia Abramovich | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 10 | Makogonov, Vladimir Andreevich | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | |
| 11 | Belavenets, Sergey Vesevolodovi | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | |
| 12 | Yudovich, Mikhail Mikhailovic | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | |
| 13 | Veresov, Gavriil N | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 14 | Panov, Vasily N | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 15 | Savitsky, Leonid | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 16 | Mazel, Isaak | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | |
| 17 | Rauzer, Vsevolod | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 18 | Ilyin Zhenevsky, Alexander | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | |
| 19 | Dubinin, Peter Vasilievich | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 20 | Freiman, Sergey Nikolaevich | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 |
Each cell shows the row player's per-game results against the column player (in round order). ● = same player.