USSR Women's Chess Championship explained

The Women's Soviet Chess Championship was played in the Soviet Union from 1927 through 1991 to determine the women's chess national champion.

The championship was not played on a regular basis in the years 1927–1937 and there was a break during World War II. From 1950 onward it was played regularly all years.

List of winners

#	Year	Place	Winner^[1] ^[2]	Score
1	1927	Moscow		8½ / 10
2	1931	Moscow	Olga Rubtsova	7½ / 9
3	1934		Olga Semenova Tyan-Shanskaya	7 / 9
4	1936	Leningrad	Olga Semenova Tyan-Shanskaya	9½ / 11
5	1937		Olga Rubtsova	12½ / 15
6	1945	Moscow		7½ / 9
7	1946	Moscow		14 / 16
8	1947	Moscow	Elisaveta Bykova	12 / 15
9	1948	Moscow	Olga Rubtsova	13 / 17
10	1950		Elisaveta Bykova	12½ / 15
11	1951			11½ / 17
12	1952			13 / 17
13	1953	Rostov-on-Don	Kira Zvorykina	13 / 17
14	1954			14 / 19
15	1955		Valentina Borisenko	13½ / 19
16	1956		Kira Zvorykina	13½ / 17
17	1957		Valentina Borisenko^[3]	12 / 17
18	1958		Larissa Volpert^[4]	14 / 21
19	1959		Larissa Volpert	12 / 18
20	1960	Riga	Valentina Borisenko^[5]	13 / 18
21	1961		Valentina Borisenko	13½ / 19
22	1962	Riga		13 / 19
23	1963	Baku	Maaja Ranniku^[6]	14 / 19
24	1964	Tbilisi		15 / 19
25	1965			13½ / 19
26	1966	Kiev	Nana Alexandria	14 / 19
27	1967		Maaja Ranniku	11 / 13
28	1968		Nana Alexandria^[7]	13½ / 19
29	1969		Nana Alexandria	15 / 19
30	1970	Beltsy	Alla Kushnir	14 / 19
31	1971	Sochi		14 / 19
32	1972		Marta Litinskaya	12 / 19
33	1973	Tbilisi	Nona Gaprindashvili	14 / 19
34	1974	Tbilisi		14 / 18
35	1975			10 / 16
36	1976	Tbilisi		12½ / 17
37	1977			13 / 17
38	1978			12½ / 17
39	1979	Tbilisi	Irina Levitina	12½ / 17
40	1980		Irina Levitina	12 / 15
41	1981	Ivano-Frankivsk	Nona Gaprindashvili  Nana Ioseliani^[8]	12 / 17
42	1982		Nana Ioseliani	12 / 17
43	1983	Vilnius	Nona Gaprindashvili	12½ / 17
44	1984	Kiev	Svetlana Matveeva  Anna Akhsharumova^[9]	9½ / 15
45	1985		Nona Gaprindashvili	12½ / 17
46	1986	Frunze	Nana Ioseliani	11½ / 16
47	1987	Tbilisi	Nana Ioseliani	14½ / 19
48	1988	Alma-Ata		12 / 17
49	1989			12½ / 17
50	1990			13 / 16
51	1991	Lvov	Svetlana Matveeva	13½ / 17

Winners of more titles

• • 5 titles : Valentina Borisenko, Nona Gaprindashvili 4 titles : Olga Rubtsova, Nana Ioseliani
  • 3 titles : Nana Alexandria, Elisaveta Bykova, Irina Levitina, Larissa Volpert, Kira Zvorykina 2 titles : Anna Akhsharumova, Svetlana Matveeva, Maaja Ranniku, Olga Semenova Tyan-Shanskaya

Notes

1. Book: Шахматы. Энциклопедический Словарь . Chess. Encyclopedic Dictionary . ru . . 458–459, 613–614 . 1990 . . 5-85270-005-3.
2. Web site: Bartelski . Wojciech . Women's Soviet Chess Championship summary . OlimpBase . 14 November 2023.
3. Valentina Borisenko won the title after a tiebreak match with Kira Zvorykina (2½ – ½)
4. Larissa Volpert won the title after a tiebreak match with Kira Zvorykina (2½ – 1½)
5. Valentina Borisenko won the title after a tiebreak match with Tatiana Zatulovskaya (4½ – 3½)
6. Maia Ranniku won the title after a tiebreak match with Tatiana Zatulovskaya (4–2)
7. Nana Alexandria won the title after a tiebreak match with Alla Chaikovskaya (3½ – ½)
8. The tiebreak match was not played.
9. The tiebreak match was not played.

Related pages

• Soviet Chess Championship