1978 USSR Chess Championship

The 1978 Soviet Chess Championship was the 46th edition of USSR Chess Championship. Held from 1–27 December 1978 in Tbilisi. Mikhail Tal and Vitaly Tseshkovsky shared the title. The qualifying tournaments took place in Daugavpils and Ashkhabad. This edition marked the debut of the future world champion Garry Kasparov in the Soviet championships.

Qualifying

Swiss Qualifying

The Swiss Qualifying was held in Daugavpils from 27 June to 16 July 1978 with 64 players. Garry Kasparov won gaining a direct promotion to the final.

First League

The top seven qualified for the final.

Final

The final at Tbilisi featured the qualifiers plus Tamaz Giorgadze as the local Georgian representative and the players who were entered directly for their historical performance in previous championships.

References

1. USSR Chess Championship
2. List of strong chess tournaments
3. World Junior Chess Championship
4. World Chess Championship
5. 1977 USSR Chess Championship
6. 1979 USSR Chess Championship
7. Mikhail Tal
8. 1955 USSR Chess Championship
9. European Junior Chess Championship
10. USSR Women's Chess Championship
11. Bobby Fischer
12. World Youth Chess Championship
13. Viktor Korchnoi
14. List of World Chess Championships
15. FIDE titles
16. Arbiter (chess)
17. Mikhail Botvinnik
18. 1960 USSR Chess Championship
19. World Chess Championship 1978
20. Fast chess