12th USSR Championship — Moscow 1940
The twelfth championship delivered a genuine shock: Andor Lilienthal and Igor Bondarevsky shared first on 13½/19 while Botvinnik and Keres trailed — a result the authorities found so unsatisfactory that they staged a special "Absolute Championship" the next year to settle matters.
◈A surprise at the top
The strongest Soviet field yet assembled — now including the newly annexed Baltic star Paul Keres and a rising Vasily Smyslov — produced an unexpected finish. The Hungarian-born Andor Lilienthal, undefeated across the whole event, tied for first with Igor Bondarevsky on 13½/19, both ahead of the eighteen-year-old Smyslov.
Botvinnik, the country's acknowledged number one, could only share fifth or sixth. Keres, widely rated the strongest challenger of the day, finished fourth. For the Soviet chess leadership, a championship in which neither of the two best players finished on top was a problem to be corrected.
◈The 1941 Absolute Championship
The answer was an extraordinary event held the following spring: the 1941 "Absolute Championship of the USSR," a quadruple round-robin among the six leading finishers, staged across Leningrad and Moscow to determine, beyond dispute, the country's best player.
Botvinnik dominated it, scoring 13½/20 to finish two and a half points clear of Keres, and reasserted the standing that the 1940 tournament had briefly cast into doubt. The 1940 championship remained Lilienthal's and Bondarevsky's on the record, but the reckoning of 1941 confirmed who Soviet chess would build its world-title challenge around.
◈Final Standings
| # | Player | Score | Record | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =1 | Bondarevsky, Igor Tsakharovich | 13½/19 | +10 -2 =7 | games → |
| =1 | Lilienthal, Andor | 13½/19 | +8 -0 =11 | games → |
| 3 | Smyslov, Vassily V | 13/19 | +8 -1 =10 | games → |
| 4 | Keres, Paul | 12/19 | +9 -4 =6 | games → |
| 5 | Botvinnik, Mikhail | 11½/19 | +8 -4 =7 | games → |
| 6 | Boleslavsky, Isaak | 11½/19 | +7 -3 =9 | games → |
| 7 | Veresov, Gavriil N | 10½/19 | +8 -6 =5 | games → |
| 8 | Dubinin, Peter Vasilievich | 10½/19 | +7 -5 =7 | games → |
| 9 | Makogonov, Vladimir Andreevich | 10½/19 | +6 -4 =9 | games → |
| 10 | Petrovs, Vladimirs | 9/19 | +6 -7 =6 | games → |
| =11 | Lisitsin, Georgy M | 8½/19 | +5 -7 =7 | games → |
| =11 | Ragozin, Viacheslav | 8½/19 | +5 -7 =7 | games → |
| 13 | Stolberg, Mark Moiseevich | 8/19 | +5 -8 =6 | games → |
| 14 | Panov, Vasily N | 8/19 | +4 -7 =8 | games → |
| =15 | Konstantinopolsky, Alexander Markovich | 8/19 | +3 -6 =10 | games → |
| =15 | Mikenas, Vladas Ivanovich | 8/19 | +3 -6 =10 | games → |
| 17 | Gerstenfeld, Eduard Issakovich | 7/19 | +4 -9 =6 | games → |
| 18 | Kotov, Alexander | 6½/19 | +5 -11 =3 | games → |
| 19 | Levenfish, Grigory | 6½/19 | +1 -7 =11 | games → |
| 20 | Rudakovsky, Iosif | 5½/19 | +1 -9 =9 | 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 | Bondarevsky, Igor Tsakharovich | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | |
| 2 | Lilienthal, Andor | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | |
| 3 | Smyslov, Vassily V | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | |
| 4 | Keres, Paul | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| 5 | Botvinnik, Mikhail | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | |
| 6 | Boleslavsky, Isaak | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | |
| 7 | Veresov, Gavriil N | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 8 | Dubinin, Peter Vasilievich | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | |
| 9 | Makogonov, Vladimir Andreevich | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | |
| 10 | Petrovs, Vladimirs | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | |
| 11 | Lisitsin, Georgy M | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | |
| 12 | Ragozin, Viacheslav | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | |
| 13 | Stolberg, Mark Moiseevich | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | |
| 14 | Panov, Vasily N | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | |
| 15 | Konstantinopolsky, Alexander Markovich | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | |
| 16 | Mikenas, Vladas Ivanovich | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | |
| 17 | Gerstenfeld, Eduard Issakovich | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | |
| 18 | Kotov, Alexander | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | |
| 19 | Levenfish, Grigory | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | |
| 20 | Rudakovsky, Iosif | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ |
Each cell shows the row player's per-game results against the column player (in round order). ● = same player.