Moscow 1925 chess tournament
The international super tournament, organised by Nikolai Krylenko, was held in Moscow, the Soviet Union, from 10 November to 8 December 1925. It was the world's first state-sponsored chess tournament.[1] There were eleven foreign stars and ten Soviet masters. World champion José Raúl Capablanca and his predecessor Emanuel Lasker were lured to Moscow by gold. A race between them, like in the New York 1924 chess tournament, was expected before the tournament, but Efim Bogoljubow became a sensational winner. Lasker finished again ahead of Capablanca.
The event aroused great interest among the citizens. Hundreds of spectators followed the games in Hotel Metropol and ten thousands watched demonstration boards downtown. Bogoljubow's win was regarded as a Soviet victory. However, ironically, he left the Soviet Union (similarly like Alexander Alekhine) and became a German citizen in 1926. Later Bogoljubow and Alekhine were called renegades.[2]
The results and standings:[3][4]
# Player 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Total 1 Efim Bogoljubow (Soviet Union)/
Ukraine
x ½ 0 ½ 1 1 0 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 15.5 2 Emanuel Lasker (Germany)
½ x ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 14.0 3 José Raúl Capablanca (Cuba)
1 ½ x 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 13.5 4 Frank James Marshall (United States)
½ 0 0 x ½ 0 1 1 ½ 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 12.5 5 Savielly Tartakower (Poland)
0 ½ 0 ½ x ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 12.0 6 Carlos Torre Repetto (Mexico)
0 1 ½ 1 ½ x ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 1 1 1 1 12.0 7 Richard Réti (Czechoslovakia)
1 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ x 1 0 1 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 11.5 8 Peter Romanovsky (Soviet Union)/
Russia
½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 x 1 0 ½ 1 0 0 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 11.5 9 Ernst Grünfeld (Austria)
0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 x 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 10.5 10 Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky (Soviet Union)/
Russia
0 0 1 1 ½ ½ 0 1 0 x ½ 0 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 10.5 11 Fedor Bogatyrchuk (Soviet Union)/
Ukraine
½ 0 0 0 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ ½ x ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 10.0 12 Boris Verlinsky (Soviet Union)/
Ukraine
0 0 1 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ x 1 1 1 ½ 0 1 ½ 1 0 9.5 13 Rudolf Spielmann (Austria)
0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 1 ½ 0 ½ 0 x 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 1 9.5 14 Akiba Rubinstein (Poland)
½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 0 0 0 x 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 9.5 15 Grigory Levenfish (Soviet Union)/
Russia
0 1 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 0 0 x 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 9.0 16 Ilya Rabinovich (Soviet Union)/
Russia
0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 0 x 1 ½ 1 1 1 8.5 17 Frederick Yates (England)
0 0 0 ½ 0 1 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 0 0 x 1 ½ 0 1 7.0 18 Friedrich Sämisch (Germany)
0 ½ 0 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 x 0 1 0 6.5 19 Solomon Gotthilf (Soviet Union)/
Russia
0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 x 0 ½ 6.5 20 Fyodor Duz-Khotimirsky (Soviet Union)/
Ukraine
0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 x 1 6.0 21 Nikolai Zubarev (Soviet Union)/
Russia
0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 1 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 ½ 0 x 4.5