Evgeni Vasiukov - Soviet Championship Frustrations

Soviet Championship Frustrations

The Soviet Championships were usually the strongest tournaments in the world during Vasiukov's main competitive period, surpassing the strength of Interzonals, with very few if any weaker opponents, since the arduous qualifying process eliminated the outsiders. Other than his superb showing in 1961, Vasiukov usually played below his expectations in these finals. He qualified for the finals a total of eleven times. At Kiev 1964-5 (URS-ch32), he scored 8/19 to tie 13-14th place; the winner was Korchnoi. At Tallinn 1965 (URS-ch33), he again made only 8/19 for a tied 14-17th place; the winner was Stein. At Tbilisi 1966 (URS-ch34), also a Zonal, he scored below 50 per cent once more with 9/20, for a tied 14-16th place, as Stein won again. The next year at Kharkov (URS-ch35), the format was a Swiss System, and Vasiukov was just above the middle of the pack, as Tal and Polugaevsky won. He was quite respectable at Alma Ata 1968 (URS-ch36) with 10.5/19, good for a tied 6-10th spot, as Polugaevsky tied with Alexander Zaitsev. At Moscow 1969 (URS-ch37), also a Zonal, he managed just 9.5/22 for 15th place; the winners were Polugaevsky and Tigran Petrosian. At Baku 1972 (URS-ch40), he did well with 11.5/21 for a tied 6-7th finish; the winner was Tal. At Leningrad 1974 (URS-ch42), he ended with 7/15 for a tied 12-13th place; the winners were Tal and Alexander Beliavsky. In the 1975 Vilnius Zonal, he scored 7.5/15 for tenth place, as the winners were Boris Gulko, Vladimir Savon, Yuri Balashov, and Vitaly Tseshkovsky. Finally at Vilnius 1980-81 (URS-ch49), he placed tied 11-12th with 8.5/17, as the winners were Beliavsky and Lev Psakhis.

Since Vasiukov never placed near the top in Soviet Zonal competition, he was unable to earn an opportunity to play in an Interzonal tournament, where he might have done well in the mixed-strength fields featured there, as he excelled in similar circumstances in regular International tournaments.