Moscow 1935 was the second international

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

tournament held in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, taking place from 15 February to 15 March 1935.

Salo Flohr Salomon Mikhailovich Flohr (November 21, 1908 – July 18, 1983) was a Czechoslovak and Soviet chess player and writer. He was among the first recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. Flohr dominated many tournam ...

and future world champion

Mikhail Botvinnik Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik (; ; – May 5, 1995) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster who held five world titles in three different reigns. The sixth World Chess Champion, he also worked as an electrical engineer and computer sci ...

tied for first, followed by former world champions

Emanuel Lasker Emanuel Lasker (; December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher. He was the second World Chess Champion, holding the title for 27 years, from 1894 to 1921, the longest reign of any officially ...

and

José Raúl Capablanca José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (19 November 1888 – 8 March 1942) was a Cuban chess player who was the third World Chess Championship, world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. A chess prodigy, he was widely renowned for his exceptional Chess ...

Tournament field

The single

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & ...

was organized along the lines of Moscow 1925, with twelve

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

players and eight international players. Of the twelve Soviets, only four,

Grigory Levenfish Grigory Yakovlevich Levenfish (; – 9 February 1961) was a Soviet chess player who scored his peak competitive results in the 1920s and 1930s. He was twice Soviet champion, in 1934 (jointly with Ilya Rabinovich) and 1937. In 1937 he drew a m ...

Peter Romanovsky Pyotr Arsenyevich Romanovsky (; 29 July 1892 – 1 March 1964) was a Russian and Soviet chess player and author. He won the Soviet Championship in 1923 and, jointly, 1927. Biography At the beginning of his career in Saint Petersburg, he shared f ...

Ilya Rabinovich Ilya Leontievich Rabinovich (; 11 May 1891 – 23 April 1942) was a Russian and later Soviet chess player, among the best in his country for three decades, from 1910 to 1940. His best result was a shared first place in the 9th Soviet Championship ...

and

Fedir Bohatyrchuk Fedir Parfenovych Bohatyrchuk (also ''Bogatirchuk'', ''Bohatirchuk'', ''Bogatyrtschuk''; ; ; 27 November 1892 – 4 September 1984) was a Ukrainian–Canadian chess player, doctor of medicine (radiologist), political activist, and writer. Russ ...

had played at the 1925 event.

(Czechoslovakia) was internationally renowned and considered a world championship contender. Later, Flohr would be in the inaugural group to receive the grandmaster title when it was introduced by

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...

in 1950.

(Soviet Union) was known as a rising star at age 24 and two years earlier had drawn a match with Flohr. He would later become

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

in 1948. Botvinnik and Flohr (together with Levenfish) jumped out to an early lead in the tournament. After round 15, Flohr led Botvinnik by half a point. Botvinnik won in round 16 while Flohr only

drew Drew may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places ;In the United States * Drew, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Drew, Mississippi, a city * Drew, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Drew, Oregon, an unincorporated community * Drew County, Arkansas ...

to bring the two into a first-place tie, the tournament's ultimate result as both players drew all their games in the final three rounds. Botvinnik had scored only 50% in his final nine games.

(Germany) and

(Cuba) were former world champions. At age 66, Lasker was undefeated, beating Capablanca in their individual game and finishing third, a half point ahead of Capablanca in fourth place.

Reuben Fine Reuben C. Fine (October 11, 1914 – March 26, 1993) was an American chess player, psychologist, university professor, and author of many books on both chess and psychology. He was one of the strongest chess players in the world from the mi ...

hailed Lasker's result at age 66 as "a biological miracle." Rudolph Spielmann (Austria), finished fifth.

Crosstable

Notes

References

* * * *{{citation , last=Pachman , first=Ludĕk , authorlink=Ludek Pachman , year=1972 , origyear=English trans. 1975, Dover ed. 1987 , title=Decisive Games in Chess History , publisher=Dover , isbn=0-486-25323-6 Invitational chess tournaments Chess in the Soviet Union Sports competitions in Moscow 1935 in chess 1935 in Moscow 1935 in Soviet sport