Russian Chess Championship

The Russian Chess Championship has taken various forms.

Imperial Russia

In 1874, Emanuel Schiffers defeated Andrey Chardin in a match held in St. Petersburg with five wins and four losses. Schiffers was considered the first Russian champion until his student, Mikhail Chigorin, defeated him in a match held in St. Petersburg in 1879. Chigorin won with seven wins, four losses, and two draws.

In 1899 the format of the championship was changed to a round-robin tournament known as the All-Russian Masters' Tournament. The winners were:

#	Year	City	Winner
1	1899	Moscow	Mikhail Chigorin
2	1900/1901	Moscow	Mikhail Chigorin
3	1903	Kiev	Mikhail Chigorin
4	1905/1906	St. Petersburg	Gersz Salwe
5	1907/1908	Łódź	Akiba Rubinstein
6	1909	Vilna	Akiba Rubinstein
7	1912	Vilna	Akiba Rubinstein
8	1913/1914	St. Petersburg	Alexander Alekhine & Aron Nimzowitsch

RSFSR

After the formation of the USSR the USSR Chess Championship was established as the national championship. However the Russian championship continued to exist as the championship of the RSFSR. The first two USSR championships in 1920 and 1923 were also recognized as RSFSR championships; the modern numbering of Russian championships begins with these two tournaments. The cities Moscow and Leningrad held their own championships and their players were ineligible to play in the RSFSR championship. However, some did participate as outside competitors: for example, Taimanov finished with the same number of points as Tarasov in the 1960 championship, but only Tarasov was awarded the title as Taimanov was from Leningrad.

Rashid Nezhmetdinov held the record of five wins of the Russian Chess Championship.

#	Year	City	Winner
1	1920	Moscow	Alexander Alekhine
2	1923	Petrograd	Peter Romanovsky
3	1928	Moscow	Peter Izmailov
4	1934	Moscow	Sergey Belavenets
5	1935	Gorky	Alexander Tolush
6	1946	Sverdlovsk	Isaac Boleslavsky
7	1947	Kuibyshev	Nikolay Novotelnov
8	1948	Saratov	Nikolay Aratovsky, Georgy Ilivitsky
9	1949	Yaroslavl	Peter Dubinin, Georgy Ilivitsky
10	1950	Gorky	Rashid Nezhmetdinov
11	1951	Yaroslavl	Rashid Nezhmetdinov
12	1952	Tula	Lev Aronin, Nikolai Krogius
13	1953	Saratov	Rashid Nezhmetdinov
14	1954	Rostov-na-Donu	Leonid Shamkovich
15	1955	Leningrad	Anatoly Lutikov
16	1956	Kislovodsk	Leonid Shamkovich
17	1957	Krasnodar	Rashid Nezhmetdinov
18	1958	Sochi	Rashid Nezhmetdinov
19	1959	Voronezh	Anatoly Lutikov
20	1960	Perm	Vitaly Tarasov, Mark Taimanov (off contest)
21	1961	Omsk	Lev Polugaevsky
22	1963	Chelyabinsk	Anatoly Lein
23	1964	Kazan	Nikolai Krogius
24	1966	Saratov	Igor Zakharov, Anatoly Lein, Vladimir Sergievsky
25	1968	Grozny	Alexander Zaitsev
26	1970	Kuibyshev	Anatoly Karpov
27	1971	Penza	Oleg Dementiev, Valery Zilberstein
28	1972	Rostov-na-Donu	Vitaly Tseshkovsky
29	1973	Omsk	Valeri Korensky, Jurij Rusakov, Vitaly Tseshkovsky
30	1974	Tula	Nukhim Rashkovsky
31	1976	Novosibirsk	Nukhim Rashkovsky
32	1977	Volgograd	Valerij Zhuravliov, Lev Psakhis
33	1979	Sverdlovsk	Alexander Panchenko
34	1980	Kazan	Alexander Petrushin
35	1981	Vladimir	Pavel Zarubin
36	1982	Stavropol	Anatoly Vaisser, Valery Chekhov
37	1984	Briansk	Gennady Tunik
38	1985	Sverdlovsk	Alexander Petrushin
39	1986	Smolensk	Veniamin Shtyrenkov
40	1987	Kursk	Andrei Kharitonov
41	1988	Voronezh	Ratmir Kholmov, Vadim Ruban
42	1989	Gorky	Alexey Vyzmanavin
43	1990	Kuibyshev	Andrei Kharlov, Vladimir Kramnik, Ruslan Sherbakov, Maxim Sorokin
44	1991	Smolensk	Sergei Rublevsky

Post-USSR

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Championship was re-established as a national championship, and players from Moscow and St. Petersburg were allowed to participate. Prior to 2004, the championship was organized as a Swiss-style tournament except for 1997 and 1999, where a knockout format was used. In 2004, the tournament reverted to a round robin with the strongest players in the country directly seeded into the final (called the Superfinal) held in Moscow while others progress through qualifying tournaments.

#	Year	City	Winner	Reference
45	1992	Orel	Alexei Gavrilov
46	1993	Tyumen	Alexei Bezgodov
47	1994	Elista	Peter Svidler
48	1995	Elista	Peter Svidler
49	1996	Elista	Alexander Khalifman
50	1997	Elista	Peter Svidler
51	1998	St. Petersburg	Alexander Morozevich
52	1999	Moscow	Konstantin Sakaev
53	2000	Samara	Sergey Volkov
54	2001	Elista	Alexander Motylev, on tiebreak over Alexander Lastin
55	2002	Krasnodar	Alexander Lastin
56	2003	Krasnoyarsk	Peter Svidler, on tiebreak over Alexander Morozevich
57	2004	Moscow	Garry Kasparov
58	2005	Moscow	Sergei Rublevsky
59	2006	Moscow	Evgeny Alekseev, after a playoff match with Dmitry Jakovenko
60	2007	Moscow	Alexander Morozevich
61	2008	Moscow	Peter Svidler, after a playoff with Evgeny Alekseev and Dmitry Jakovenko
62	2009	Moscow	Alexander Grischuk
63	2010	Moscow	Ian Nepomniachtchi, after a playoff with Sergey Karjakin
64	2011	Moscow	Peter Svidler
65	2012	Moscow	Dmitry Andreikin, after a rapid playoff with Sergey Karjakin, Dmitry Jakovenko, Vladimir Potkin, Evgeny Alekseev and Peter Svidler
66	2013	Nizhny Novgorod	Peter Svidler, after a playoff match with Ian Nepomniachtchi
67	2014	Kazan	Igor Lysyj
68	2015	Chita	Evgeny Tomashevsky

Women

#	Year	City	Winner
1.	1992	?	Svetlana Prudnikova
2.	1993	?	Ludmila Zaitseva
3.	1994	Elista	Ekaterina Kovalevskaya
4.	1995	Elista	Julia Demina
5.	1996	Elista	Ludmila Zaitseva
6.	1997	Elista	Alisa Galliamova
7.	1998	Elista	Svetlana Prudnikova
8.	1999	Moscow	Julia Demina
9.	2000	Elista	Ekaterina Kovalevskaya
10.	2001	Elista	Olga Zimina
11.	2002	Elista	Tatiana Kosintseva
12.	2003	Elista	Irina Slavina Turova
13.	2004	Kazan	Tatiana Kosintseva
14.	2005	Samara	Alexandra Kosteniuk
15.	2006	Gorodets	Ekaterina Korbut
16.	2007	Moscow	Tatiana Kosintseva
17.	2008	Moscow	Nadezhda Kosintseva
18.	2009	Moscow	Alisa Galliamova
19.	2010	Moscow	Alisa Galliamova
20.	2011	Moscow	Valentina Gunina
21.	2012	Moscow	Natalia Pogonina
22.	2013	Nizhny Novgorod	Valentina Gunina
23.	2014	Kazan	Valentina Gunina
24.	2015	Chita	Aleksandra Goryachkina