The Power of the Press: How Mikhail Gurevich Became the Soviet Champion in 1985

This story was told by Yakov Damsky in his 2000 book, The Century of Chess. Damsky was a chess master, who trained under Rashid Nezhmetdinov in the 1950s, and later became a respected chess writer, journalist and arbiter.

In the Soviet chess championship of 1985, three players finished with the same result (11/19): Viktor Gavrikov, Mikhail Gurevich and Aleksandr Chernin. For most part of the year, the Soviet Union had no champion (the tournament ended in February 1985, but the play-off tournament was held only in December 1985), and even after the play-off, the country almost didn't have a champion, if not for Damsky's timely interference.

Yakov Damsky himself tells the rest:

"The official tournament regulations had every possible case covered: if two players score an equal amount of points, they'll both be declared co-champions, and if all three score an equal amount of points, the medals will be awarded in accordance with the main tournament's coefficient.

The latter happened! Right after the last round of the play-off, I called the chief arbiter, my friend Efim Nuz (he was one of the greatest chess organizers in the whole country, for instance, he built, in every sense of the word, two Spartak chess clubs in Moscow after Tigran Petrosian got the permits), and asked to bring Mikhail Gurevich to the phone: all the Soviet champions have traditionally given interviews to the Mayak radio.

"You see", he answered sheepishly, "first of all, he's already gone to Kharkov, and, secondly, there is no champion. When the Deputy Chairman of the Soviet Sports Committee heard that all the games in play-off were drawn, he ordered to disregard the regulations and award everyone with a silver medal, and that's all. There wasn't even a proper closing ceremony..."

To be honest, I didn't care. I befriended and worked with the players of a different generation, have never seen Mikhail Gurevich in person, and even if I did, it was probably in a throng of kids playing in some Pioneers' Palace tournament. But the very fact that the powers that be decided to go against their own rules and throw a talented player under the bus enraged me.

"You haven't told me anything, okay?" I shouted.

And, after Efim agreed, I announced on Mayak and the 1st All-Union Radio (both stations' broadcast covered the entire Soviet Union and several foreign countries) that the play-off in Vilnius ended in all draws, and, according to the tournament regulations, the master from Kharkov became a new Soviet champion, and, according to the qualification rules again, he would be awarded with the grandmaster title.

As you see, I did not lie. After all, I was in Moscow and, in all fairness, may have really not known about the officials' directive that was more or less secretly sent to Vilnius by phone.

I narrated the news at 9:05 p.m. Moscow time. About twenty minutes later, the TASS teletype repeated my announcement: so, they actually didn't know about the voluntaristic decision. Having waited another half an hour, when the TASS sports department called it a day and so couldn't disavow their news anymore, I gloatingly called another official, the one from chess department:

"Misha, Gurevich became the champion, and..."

"You know nothing! You shouldn't report that, we'll publish the explanation tomorrow!"

"Mishenka, it's too late! It was already reported on the radio, TASS have already teletyped that, all the newspapers have printed the news. They'll be published tomorrow morning!"

I sincerely liked the reaction of the Deputy Chairman of the Soviet Sports Committee's Chess Department: Mikhail Beilin was a chess master himself, and his thinking was quicker than his supervisor's.

"Well, okay, we won't argue with the press."

And I liked the subsequent call to Kharkov even more.

"Hello, can I speak with the Soviet champion, Grandmaster Mikhail Gurevich?"

"What champion?! What grandmaster?! I'm nothing of the sort!! We're sitting here, writing the protest to the Sports Committee..."

"You shouldn't write anything. You should speak."

"Speak?! What?! To whom?!"

"To the Mayak radio listeners. How do you feel after getting your titles?"

...The interview aired on 11.05 p.m., as it should have. In the morning, the Sports Committee swallowed the pill silently. They gave the gold medal to Gurevich only a month and a half later though, in some corridor..."

Here's an excellent win by Gurevich over Boris Gulko in that tournament.