Moscow brought together sixteen masters to honor Mikhail Chigorin, the founder of the Russian school of chess, in one of the first great international tournaments held in the Soviet capital after the war. Mikhail Botvinnik won it outright, just months before the 1948 match-tournament that made him World Champion.
Honouring the father of Russian chess
The tournament carried the name of Mikhail Chigorin (1850–1908), the leading Russian player of his day and, in the Soviet telling, the founder of the national school of chess. Chigorin twice challenged Wilhelm Steinitz for the world title in the 1890s and passed his imaginative, combative style to the generations that followed.
The 1947 event belonged to a scattered, irregular run of Chigorin memorials held before the tournament finally settled into an annual fixture at Sochi in 1963. Staging it in Moscow, so soon after the war, was itself a declaration that Soviet chess intended to lead the world.
A field on the eve of a world championship
The world title had stood vacant since Alexander Alekhine's death in 1946, and the great 1948 match-tournament to fill it was only months away. For Botvinnik, Paul Keres and Vasily Smyslov — three of that match-tournament's five contenders — the Chigorin Memorial was a final competitive test before the crown was decided.
The field reached beyond the Soviet Union. Yugoslavia sent Svetozar Gligorić and Petar Trifunović, Czechoslovakia sent Luděk Pachman and Čeněk Kottnauer, and Poland's Kazimierz Plater and Bulgaria's Alexander Tsvetkov joined a strong home contingent of Ragozin, Boleslavsky, Kotov, Bondarevsky and others.
Botvinnik out in front
Botvinnik won with 11 points from 15 games, finishing half a point clear of his long-time trainer and second Viacheslav Ragozin, who took a fine sole second on 10½. Isaak Boleslavsky and Smyslov shared third on 10, with Alexander Kotov fifth on 9½ and Keres among the group on 9.
It was the champion-in-waiting doing exactly what the moment demanded. Within a year Botvinnik would win the 1948 World Championship match-tournament outright and open the long era of Soviet dominance of the title.
Final standings
| # | Player | Score | Record | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Botvinnik, Mikhail | 11/15 | +8 -1 =6 | games |
| 2 | Ragozin, Viacheslav | 10½/15 | +8 -2 =5 | games |
| =3 | Boleslavsky, Isaak | 10/15 | +6 -1 =8 | games |
| =3 | Smyslov, Vasily V | 10/15 | +6 -1 =8 | games |
| 5 | Kotov, Alexander | 9½/15 | +6 -2 =7 | games |
| =6 | Keres, Paul | 9/15 | +6 -3 =6 | games |
| =6 | Novotelnov, Nikolay Alexandrovi | 9/15 | +6 -3 =6 | games |
| 8 | Pachman, Ludek | 8½/15 | +5 -3 =7 | games |
| 9 | Trifunovic, Petar | 8/15 | +3 -2 =10 | games |
| 10 | Gligoric, Svetozar | 7½/15 | +4 -4 =7 | games |
| 11 | Bondarevsky, Igor Tsakharovich | 6½/15 | +3 -5 =7 | games |
| 12 | Kholmov, Ratmir D | 5½/15 | +3 -7 =5 | games |
| 13 | Kottnauer, Cenek | 5/15 | +1 -6 =8 | games |
| =14 | Plater, Kazimierz | 4/15 | +1 -8 =6 | games |
| =14 | Sokolsky, Alexey Pavlovich | 4/15 | +1 -8 =6 | games |
| 16 | Tsvetkov, Alexandar K | 2/15 | +0 -11 =4 | games |
Cross Table
| Rank | Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Botvinnik, Mikhail | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2 | Ragozin, Viacheslav | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 3 | Boleslavsky, Isaak | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | |
| 4 | Smyslov, Vasily V | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 5 | Kotov, Alexander | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 6 | Keres, Paul | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | |
| 7 | Novotelnov, Nikolay Alexandrovi | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | |
| 8 | Pachman, Ludek | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | |
| 9 | Trifunovic, Petar | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | |
| 10 | Gligoric, Svetozar | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | |
| 11 | Bondarevsky, Igor Tsakharovich | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 12 | Kholmov, Ratmir D | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | |
| 13 | Kottnauer, Cenek | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | |
| 14 | Plater, Kazimierz | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | |
| 15 | Sokolsky, Alexey Pavlovich | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | |
| 16 | Tsvetkov, Alexandar K | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ |
Each cell shows the row player's recorded results against the column player. ● = same player.