43rd USSR Championship — Yerevan 1975
Tigran Petrosian, the former world champion and one of the hardest players in chess to beat, won the 43rd Soviet Championship with 10/15, losing only once in fifteen rounds and finishing half a point ahead of four players tied for second. It was his fourth Soviet title, and he won it in Yerevan, capital of Soviet Armenia.
A half point clear
Petrosian scored 10/15 — six wins and eight draws against a single loss — to finish half a point ahead of a four-man group tied on 9½: Oleg Romanishin, Boris Gulko, Mikhail Tal, and Rafael Vaganian, the Yerevan-born Armenian who was the crowd's local favourite. Lev Polugaevsky, Efim Geller, and Yuri Balashov shared sixth on 8½.
It was Petrosian's fourth Soviet title, after 1959, 1961 and 1969, and it came in the capital of Soviet Armenia, a home win for the country's most famous Armenian grandmaster. Six years after losing the world title he had held from 1963 to 1969, he was still, at forty-six, almost impossible to beat.
Final standings
| # | Player | Score | Record | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Petrosian, Tigran V | 10/15 | +6 -1 =8 | games |
| =2 | Gulko, Boris F | 9½/15 | +7 -3 =5 | games |
| =2 | Romanishin, Oleg M | 9½/15 | +7 -3 =5 | games |
| =2 | Vaganian, Rafael A | 9½/15 | +7 -3 =5 | games |
| =2 | Tal, Mikhail | 9½/15 | +5 -1 =9 | games |
| =6 | Balashov, Yuri S | 8½/15 | +5 -3 =7 | games |
| =6 | Polugaevsky, Lev | 8½/15 | +5 -3 =7 | games |
| =6 | Geller, Efim P | 8½/15 | +4 -2 =9 | games |
| =9 | Beliavsky, Alexander G | 7½/15 | +5 -5 =5 | games |
| =9 | Bronstein, David Ionovich | 7½/15 | +4 -4 =7 | games |
| 11 | Dvoretzky, Mark | 6½/15 | +2 -4 =9 | games |
| 12 | Alburt, Lev O | 6/15 | +1 -4 =10 | games |
| 13 | Dorfman, Josif D | 5½/15 | +3 -7 =5 | games |
| 14 | Furman, Semen Abramovich | 5/15 | +2 -7 =6 | games |
| 15 | Doroshkievich, Vladimir K | 4½/15 | +2 -8 =5 | games |
| 16 | Klovans, Janis | 4/15 | +1 -8 =6 | games |
Cross Table
| Rank | Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Petrosian, Tigran V | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | |
| 2 | Gulko, Boris F | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | |
| 3 | Romanishin, Oleg M | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 4 | Vaganian, Rafael A | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | |
| 5 | Tal, Mikhail | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 6 | Balashov, Yuri S | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | |
| 7 | Polugaevsky, Lev | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | |
| 8 | Geller, Efim P | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | |
| 9 | Beliavsky, Alexander G | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 10 | Bronstein, David Ionovich | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | |
| 11 | Dvoretzky, Mark | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | |
| 12 | Alburt, Lev O | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | |
| 13 | Dorfman, Josif D | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | |
| 14 | Furman, Semen Abramovich | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | |
| 15 | Doroshkievich, Vladimir K | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | |
| 16 | Klovans, Janis | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 |
Each cell shows the row player's recorded results against the column player. ● = same player.