Joins The Soviet Elite, Soviet Champion
Bondarevsky joined the Soviet élite by placing sixth at the 11th USSR Championship, Leningrad 1939, with 10/17, a performance sufficient to automatically qualify him for the 12th final. He reached his career peak the following year by sharing first place with Andor Lilienthal at the 12th USSR championship, Moscow 1940, ahead of Paul Keres, Isaac Boleslavsky and Botvinnik. He was then invited to play in the 1941 "Absolute USSR Championship", staged in Leningrad and Moscow, a competition between the top six finishers of the 12th final. This was one of the strongest tournaments ever held up to then, with six of the world's top fifteen players. Botvinnik won the event, with the runner-up being Keres, after which came Boleslavsky, Vasily Smyslov, Lilienthal and Bondarevsky in last place.
Bondarevsky played in the 1948 Interzonal at Saltsjöbaden, sharing sixth-ninth place, and qualifying for the Candidates Tournament at Budapest 1950, but he was unable to play because of illness. Thereafter he played only a few tournaments, a notable result being his second place behind Svetozar Gligorić at the Hastings Congress 1960/61.
He was among the 27 players named International Grandmaster in 1950 by the World Chess Federation (FIDE) on its inaugural list. He was awarded the International Arbiter title in 1954, and the International Grandmaster of Correspondence Chess (GMC) title in 1961. He was an economist by profession.
Read more about this topic: Igor Bondarevsky
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