Grandmaster and Soviet Champion
He tied for third place in the 1961 Soviet Championship, at Moscow, defeating Tigran Petrosian on the way. He won his first Soviet title at Leningrad 1963; he tied with Boris Spassky and Ratmir Kholmov in the tournament itself, then won the playoffs. He won again at Tallinn, 1965, and repeated the next year, 1966, at Tbilisi. Two outstanding international tournament victories were attained at Moscow 1967 (commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1917 October Revolution), and Moscow 1971 (Alekhine Memorial, equal with Anatoly Karpov). Further international tournament victories were scored at East Berlin 1962, Sarajevo 1967, Hastings 1967–68, Kecskemét 1968, Tallinn 1969, Pärnu 1971, and Las Palmas 1973. From 1962–1973, Stein was in the top ten players in the world, or just outside that range.
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Famous quotes containing the words soviet and/or champion:
“In the Soviet Union everything happens slowly. Always remember that.”
—A.N. (Arkady N.)
“What a terrible thing has happened to us all! To you there, to us here, to all everywhere. Peace who was becoming bright-eyed, now sits in the shadow of death; her handsome champion has been killed as he walked by her very side. Her gallant boy is dead. What a cruel, foul, and most unnatural murder! We mourn here with you, poor, sad American people.”
—Sean O’Casey (1884–1964)