Iosif Rudakovsky

Zagoriansky – Rudakovsky · 1936 · 0–1

Soviet trade unions championship final, January 1936 — the earliest game in the archive, played with Black. Rudakovsky lets the pawn structure be wrecked with 21...exf3 22.gxf3 to open lines at the white king, plants the bishop on h3, and 31...Rxe3 32.Rg1 Rxb3 tears the cover away for good.

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Rudakovsky – Pimenov · 1936 · 1–0

The same 1936 event, twenty-nine moves. Rudakovsky gives up both centre pawns to open the position — 10.Bxe4 fxe4 11.f3 exf3 — swings the rook across with 25.Rd8 and 26.Rh8, and the finish is 27.Qh5+ Qg6 28.Rxh7+ Kf6 29.Bxg5+.

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Keres – Rudakovsky · 1940 · 0–1

USSR Championship final 1940 with Black against Paul Keres, then two years past sharing first at AVRO and rated among the very best in the world. Seventy-eight moves, the longest game in the archive: Rudakovsky nurses a passed d-pawn from move fifty-two, forces 72.Rxd2 Rxd2 73.Kxd2, and the king-and-bishop ending ends with 78...Kxb3.

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Stolberg – Rudakovsky · 1940 · 0–1

USSR Championship semifinal 1940 with Black against Mark Stolberg, one of the brightest Soviet talents of the era and killed in the war three years later. Rudakovsky runs the a-pawn while under fire — 28...a4, 29...a3, 37...axb2 38.Kxb2 — and 40...Qc3+ 41.Ka4 Qxc2+ finishes the king hunt.

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Rudakovsky – Chekhover · 1940 · 1–0

USSR Championship semifinal 1940 against Vitaly Chekhover, the endgame study composer and himself a study player in this archive. Rudakovsky gives up three queenside pawns to run one of his own: 25.a4, 28.a5, 29.a6, 31.a7, and 33.Qxb6 Rxe4 34.Qb3 leaves the pawn one square from queening.

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Rudakovsky – Alatortsev · 1940 · 1–0

Also from the 1940 semifinal — twenty-five moves, the shortest game in the archive, against Vladimir Alatortsev, twice a USSR Championship runner-up. Black wins the b-pawn with 21...Qxb2 and never comes back: 22.Nf5 h6 23.Qd4 f6 24.Qg4 Kh7 25.Rg3, with every white piece aimed at g7.

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Konstantinopolsky – Rudakovsky · 1940 · 0–1

The 1940 semifinal again, with Black against Alexander Konstantinopolsky — another study player here, and one of the Soviet school's great trainers. Fifty-six moves ending in a race that Rudakovsky wins by a single tempo: 46...f1=Q 47.Rxf1+ Kxf1 48.a7 Ra3, and the rook gets back just in time.

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Rudakovsky – Zhukhovitsky · 1940 · 1–0

USSR Championship semifinal 1940, thirty-two moves. Black pushes a pawn to g2 and it means nothing: 27.Rxf8+ Rxf8 28.Ba2+ Kh7 29.Rxe5 wins a piece outright, and 30.Rf5 Rf6 31.Rxf6 gxf6 32.Qxd6 collects the rest.

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Rudakovsky – Konstantinopolsky · 1945 · 1–0

USSR Championship final 1945 — the strongest field Rudakovsky ever played in, and the archive holds seven of his wins from it. Konstantinopolsky again: 15.h4 opens the file, 27.Rh6 and 29.Rxg6+ Kh8 sacrifice the rook into the king's position, and 30.Nxf6 Nxf6 31.Rxg5 leaves nothing standing.

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Rudakovsky – Ragozin · 1945 · 1–0

The same 1945 final, against Viacheslav Ragozin — Botvinnik's long-time training partner and a study player in this archive. 17.Nxf7 offers the knight in the middle of the board, 22.Nxe6 Rxe6 forces the trade Rudakovsky wants, and 26.Nxg6 and 28.Qxh6 clear the last defenders away.

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Rudakovsky – Kotov · 1945 · 1–0

Also from 1945, against Alexander Kotov, later a Candidate and the author of *Think Like a Grandmaster*. The whole game is one kingside attack: 30.Nxh6+ Kh7, 33.g5, 35.Nxg7, 38.g6 fxg6 39.Qxg6+, and when Black gives the exchange back with 41...Rxf5 42.exf5, 45.fxe6 queens next move.

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Rudakovsky – Tolush · 1945 · 1–0

1945 again, this time against Alexander Tolush, the most uncompromising attacker in Soviet chess and later Spassky's trainer — beaten in a Fianchetto King's Indian with quiet play. 28.Ne6 Bxe6 29.fxe6 buries a pawn on the sixth, and 33.Nxf6+ Nxf6 34.Bxf6 Bxf6 35.Qxf6 strips the king bare.

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Rudakovsky – Lilienthal · 1945 · 1–0

The 1945 final against Andor Lilienthal, who five years earlier had shared the Soviet title. Sixty moves, and both sides queen within two moves of each other — 47...Rxh5 48.Rxh5 a1=Q 49.g8=Q — after which Rudakovsky wins the queen ending: 57.Rc8+ Kb3 58.Rxc3+ dxc3 59.Qd3 Kb2 60.Qb5+.

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Kan – Rudakovsky · 1945 · 0–1

The 1945 final with Black against Ilia Kan, also a study player in this archive. Rudakovsky's bishop pair and rooks strip the queenside methodically — 32...Bxc4 33.Rxc4 Rxb2, 36...Rxa3, 37...Raa2 — and 45.Rxd4 Bxd4 46.Kd2 a3 leaves the pawn unstoppable.

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Goldberg – Rudakovsky · 1945 · 0–1

The last of the 1945 wins in the archive, twenty-eight moves with Black in a Grünfeld. White attacks with 16.h5 and 17.h6, and Rudakovsky simply counts better: 24...exd4 25.Qxf4 Nxe4 26.Qxe4 d3 27.Nc1 Rxg4 28.Qxg4 Qf2 and the white king is the one with no cover.

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