Shortest game in a Soviet Championship!? Ten moves!

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  • Shortest game in a Soviet Championship!? Ten moves!

    I believe the shortest-ever game in a Soviet Championship is ten moves long! This event was played 58 times between 1920 and 1991, when the USSR ceased to exist.

    GM Alexander Tolush (2637) -- M. Lev Aronson (2566)
    24th USSR Championship, Moscow 1957, penultimate round
    Queen's Gambit, Chigorin Def., D07
    [Note: these ratings are from chessmetrics.com, run by Jeff Sonas, who calculated historical ratings using FIDE algorithms; FIDE ratings did not come in until the late 1960s]
    [Note: GM Tolush, an early trainer of future World Champion GM Boris Spassky in Leningrad, was a veteran GM, and was contending for the title; he lost to 20-year-old Mikhail Tal in the final round, making Tal the champion. Lev Aronson had been awarded the Soviet Master of Sport designation; he did not earn an International title from FIDE]
    [Note: Aronson had earlier defeated Tolush in a 1954 Soviet event!]

    1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6 3.cxd5 Qxd5 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.Nc3 Qa5 6.d5 O-O-O 7.Bd2 Bxf3 8.exf3 Nb4 9.Bd2 Nxd5 10.Na4, 1-0.
    [Black's Queen is trapped!]

  • #2
    Probably shortest non-draw. This game is in Soviet Chess Miniatures. You've made me feel better Frank. I lost some short games in the Chigorin Defence but never this bad.

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    • #3
      Correction Frank. I think 9.Be2 instead of Bd2.

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      • #4
        Actually I did mess up on the score, but in a different way than Hans pointed out.

        The correct score, as per chessgames.com, is:
        1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6 3.cxd5 Qxd5 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.Nc3 Qa5 6.d5 O-O-O 7.Bd2 Bxf3 8.exf3 Nb4 9.a3 Nxd5 10.Na4, 1-0.
        The B/f1 remained at home.

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