3rd USSR Championship — Moscow 1924
The first championship organised under Nikolai Krylenko brought two Russian-born masters back from abroad — and one of them, Efim Bogoljubow, tore through the field undefeated, winning 13 games and finishing two and a half points clear.
◈Krylenko takes charge
In 1924 Nikolai Krylenko — a leading Bolshevik jurist, and later a prosecutor in Stalin's purges — became chair of the newly formed All-Union Chess Section, and made the third championship his first major project. Determined to raise the standard of Soviet play, he secured the participation of two Russian-born masters then living in the West, Efim Bogoljubow and Alexey Selezniev.
The move set the tone for a decade of centralised, state-backed chess. Krylenko's section would soon absorb the game into the wider Soviet physical-culture apparatus, treating it as a tool for mass education rather than a private pastime.
◈A level above the field
Bogoljubow, fresh from strong results across Central Europe, was simply stronger than anyone in Moscow. He won thirteen games, drew four and lost none, finishing on 15/17 — two and a half points clear of Peter Romanovsky, who himself started with 7½ from his first eight games and still could not keep pace.
Third-placed Grigory Levenfish drew the sobering lesson of the event: cut off from international chess since the war, the home masters had fallen behind in opening theory and technique. That diagnosis — that isolation was the enemy — would shape Soviet chess policy for years, even as Bogoljubow himself would soon leave for good.
◈Final Standings
The standings below are the historical final result. Only 63 of the 153 games played survive in our source; the remaining 90 are lost and appear as · in the cross table.
| # | Player | Score | Record | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bogoljubow, Efim | 15/17 | +13 -0 =4 | games → |
| 2 | Romanovsky, Peter Arsenievich | 12½/17 | +11 -3 =3 | games → |
| =3 | Bohatirchuk, Fedor Parfenovich | 11½/17 | +9 -3 =5 | games → |
| =3 | Levenfish, Grigory | 11½/17 | +8 -2 =7 | games → |
| 5 | Rabinovich, Ilya Leontievich | 10/17 | +8 -5 =4 | games → |
| =6 | Nenarokov, Vladimir Ivanovich | 9½/17 | +7 -5 =5 | games → |
| =6 | Vilner, Yakov S | 9½/17 | +5 -3 =9 | games → |
| =6 | Selezniev, Alexey Sergeevich | 9½/17 | +5 -3 =9 | games → |
| 9 | Sozin, Veniamin | 9/17 | +7 -6 =4 | games → |
| =10 | Verlinsky, Boris | 8½/17 | +7 -7 =3 | games → |
| =10 | Dus Chotimirsky, Fedor Ivanovich | 8½/17 | +7 -7 =3 | games → |
| 12 | Rabinovich, Abram Isaakovich | 8/17 | +6 -7 =4 | games → |
| 13 | Ilyin Zhenevsky, Alexander | 7/17 | +4 -7 =6 | games → |
| 14 | Grigoriev, Nikolay Dmitrievich | 6½/17 | +4 -8 =5 | games → |
| 15 | Rozental, Solomon K | 5/17 | +2 -9 =6 | games → |
| =16 | Sergeev, Alexander S | 4/17 | +1 -10 =6 | games → |
| =16 | Freiman, Sergey Nikolaevich | 4/17 | +4 -13 =0 | games → |
| 18 | Smorodsky, Andrey Alexandrovic | 3½/17 | +1 -11 =5 | games → |
Cross Table
| Rank | Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bogoljubow, Efim | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | · | · | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | · | 1 | 1 | · | · | · | 1 | |
| 2 | Romanovsky, Peter Arsenievich | 0 | 1 | · | · | · | 1 | 1 | 0 | · | 1 | 1 | · | 1 | 1 | 1 | · | 1 | |
| 3 | Bohatirchuk, Fedor Parfenovich | 0 | 0 | · | 1 | 1 | · | · | · | · | · | · | 1 | 1 | · | · | 1 | · | |
| 4 | Levenfish, Grigory | 0 | · | · | 0 | ½ | · | · | 1 | 1 | · | · | 1 | · | 1 | · | · | · | |
| 5 | Rabinovich, Ilya Leontievich | 0 | · | 0 | 1 | 0 | · | · | · | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | · | 1 | · | 1 | · | |
| 6 | Nenarokov, Vladimir Ivanovich | · | · | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | · | · | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | 1 | |
| 7 | Vilner, Yakov S | · | 0 | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | |
| 8 | Selezniev, Alexey Sergeevich | ½ | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | ½ | · | 0 | · | 1 | · | 1 | · | · | 1 | |
| 9 | Sozin, Veniamin | ½ | 1 | · | 0 | · | · | · | ½ | · | · | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | · | |
| 10 | Verlinsky, Boris | 0 | · | · | 0 | 1 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | |
| 11 | Dus Chotimirsky, Fedor Ivanovich | 0 | 0 | · | · | 0 | · | 0 | 1 | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | 0 | |
| 12 | Rabinovich, Abram Isaakovich | · | 0 | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | 1 | 1 | 1 | · | 1 | · | |
| 13 | Ilyin Zhenevsky, Alexander | 0 | · | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | · | 0 | ½ | · | · | 0 | · | · | 1 | 1 | · | |
| 14 | Grigoriev, Nikolay Dmitrievich | 0 | 0 | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | 1 | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | |
| 15 | Rozental, Solomon K | · | 0 | · | 0 | 0 | · | 1 | 0 | 0 | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | |
| 16 | Sergeev, Alexander S | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | · | · | |
| 17 | Freiman, Sergey Nikolaevich | · | · | 0 | · | 0 | · | · | · | 0 | · | · | 0 | 0 | · | · | · | 1 | |
| 18 | Smorodsky, Andrey Alexandrovic | 0 | 0 | · | · | · | 0 | · | 0 | · | · | 1 | · | · | · | · | · | 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).
“It became clear that Soviet masters, cut off from foreign chess life, had been left behind both in opening study and technique.”