The tournament turned out to be a race between Mikhail Tal, who was approaching the best form in his career, and Tigran Petrosian. In the end it was Petrosian won his first of four USSR Championships as he went undefeated against a field that included over 10 past and future winners of the Soviet crown.
One of the top finishers was GM Ratmir Kholmov (May 13, 1925 - February 18, 2006) a professional player and the winner of many international tournaments in Eastern Europe during his career. In 1963 he would tie for the Soviet Championship with Boris Spassky and Leonid Stein, but lose the playoff. Stein won with Spassky second.
Kholmov wasn't well known outside of Russian because he never competed the West during his peak years. He was one of the strongest Soviet players from the mid-1950s well into the 1970s. Chessmetrics estimates his ranking to have been in the top 25 in the world from 1956 to 1970, with his peak ranking being 8th in 1960–61.
Kholmov learned chess at age 12, and was near Master strength by the of 15. He served in the Soviet merchant marine during World War II and after the war his chess career took off. His international debut came at Bucharest in 1954 with a tied 3rd–4th place. FIDE awarded Kholmov the IM title in 1954 and the GM title in 1960.
His last Soviet Final event came in 1972 where he finished tied 10th–11th place. In his late 40s his play had substantially fallen from his best years and a new crop of Soviet players had emerged.
Kholmov stayed active in competitive chess right to the end of his life and tied for first with Mark Taimanov, Janis Klovans and Alexander Chernikov in the 2000 World Senior Championship. The following year he tied for 2nd–4th. He continued to compete in tournaments virtually right up until his death in early 2006 at the age of 80.
He was known as The Central Defender in Soviet chess circles because of his great skill at repulsing his opponent's attacks. He was also a very dangerous attacker as his quick win against Keres in the following game from the 1959 Soviet Championship held in Tbilisi shows.
Ratmir Kholmov - Paul Keres
Result: 1-0
Site: Soviet Championship, Tbilisi
Date: 1959.02.07
Sicilian Defense,Rossolimo Variation
[...] 1.e4 c5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.♗b5 After 2...d6 this move is the Moscow Variation while after 2...Nc6 it is the Rossolimo Variation. The idea is to play Bxc6 and double the Ps. After black recaptures white will solidify his P-chain with d3 and continue his development. I have always been fond of 3. Bb5. 3...♘f6 Black's major responses are 3...g6 although 3...d6 and 3...e6 are frequently seen. 4.e5 This direct attempt at refutation of black's last move has actually been more successful than the more common 4.Nc3. 4...♘g4 5.♗xc6 dxc6 6.O-O
(9...O-O 10.a4⩲) 10.d4 cxd4 11.♘xd4 Now with 11...Nf5 black could have maintained equality. Instead Keres makes a surprising tactical mistake. 11...c5 12.♘c6 Black's Q has no good square. 12...♕d7
6.h3 This move is unbooked and leads to interesting play after 6...♘h6 7.O-O (7.d4 leads to a boring position. 7...cxd4 8.♕xd4 ♕xd4 9.♘xd4) 7...♘f5 8.d3 (8.c3 ♕d3 is awkward for white.) (8.♘c3 ♘d4) 8...g6 9.c3
6...g6 7.♖e1 ♗g7 8.h3
8.d3 O-O 9.♘c3 ♘h6 10.♘e4 b6 11.♘g3 ♘f5 12.♘xf5 ♗xf5 13.b3 with equal play. Steingrimsson,H (2550)-Moradiabadi,E (2578)/ Khanty-Mansiysk RUS 2010
8...♘h6 9.♘c3 b6
9...O-O 10.d3 ♘f5
10...f6 This doesn't look so good. 11.♗f4 g5 12.♗e3 b6 13.d4 and white went on to win. Valiente,C (2225)-Cubas,J (2486)/Asuncion 2013
11.a3 a5 12.♘a4 b6 13.♗f4 h6 14.c3 with equal play. Ma,L (2025)-Zhang,Z (2394)/Qinhuangdao CHN 2017 12...♕xd1 13.♖xd1 ♗b7 14.♘b5 with a huge advantage. Black can't take the N. 14...♗xc6 15.♘c7+ ♔f8 16.♘xa8 f5 17.exf6 ♗xf6
17...exf6 18.♖d6 ♗xa8 19.♗xh6 ♗xh6 20.♖e1 f5 21.♖d8+ ♔g7 22.♖e7+ ♔f6 23.♖xh8 ♔xe7 24.♖xa8
18.♗xh6+12...♕c7 Meets the same fate as the move played. 13.♘xe7 ♕xe7 14.♘d5 ♕d8 15.♘f6+ with a winning attack.
13.♘xe7 Black has no satisfactory way of meeting this move. 13...♔xe7
13...♕xd1 This is probably the best try. 14.♖xd1 ♘f5 15.♘cd5 ♔f8 16.♘xc8 ♖xc8 17.♗f4 and white has a significant positional advantage.
13...♕xe7 This fails miserably. 14.♘d5 ♕d8 15.♘f6+ ♗xf6 16.exf6+ ♗e6 17.♗xh6 ♕xd1 18.♖axd1 Black is only a P down, but his pieces are nearly useless.
14.♗xh6 This move was explained by both Damsky and Tal. A paradoxical decision: the B, which was predestined for an. (Damsky) But on the other hand, a major attacking principle is maintained...the tempo. The time that we don't have is more precious than the piece we do have. (Tal) 14...♗xh6
14...♕xd1 15.♗g5+ ♔d7 16.♖axd1+ ♔c7 17.♘d5+ ♔c6 18.♘e7+ ♔b7 19.♘xc8 ♖axc8 20.f4 and black will lose in the ending...it's only a matter of time.
15.♕f3 ♗g7
15...♖d8 Gets his R into play but it is met by 16.♕f6+ ♔f8 17.♕h8+ ♔e7 18.♕xh7 ♗f4 19.e6 and wins.
16.♘d5+ The only way to keep the attack going. White is winning.
16.♕xa8 runs into 16...♗b7 17.♕xa7 ♕c6 18.f3 ♖a8 Here white has a way to equalize. 19.♘d5+ ♕xd5 20.♕xb6 with complications owing to the unbalanced material situation.
16...♔d8 (16...♔f8 17.e6 ♕b7 18.e7+ ♔e8 19.♖ad1 is hopeless for black.) 17.♖ad1 ♗b7 18.♕b3 Black has no way out. Apparently Keres found resigning too embarrassing at this early point. 18...♗c6 19.♘xb6 axb6 20.♕xf7 ♗xe5 21.♖xd7+ ♗xd7 22.♖xe5 ♔c7 23.♖e7 ♖ad8 24.a4 g5 25.♕d5 ♖he8 26.♖xh7 g4
26...♖e1+ 27.♔h2 ♖ee8 28.a5 bxa5 29.♕xc5+ ♔b7 30.♕b5+ ♔c8 31.♕a6+ ♔c7 32.♕xa5+ ♔c6 33.♖g7
27.a5 Mopping up. 27...gxh3 28.axb6+ ♔xb6 29.♖xd7 Keres finally admitted defeat and resigned. Powered by Aquarium
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