The 47th Soviet Chess Championship was a category XII event held in the city of Minsk from November 29th to December 27th, 1979. Eighteen of the Soviet Union's best grandmasters and masters participated in the round robin tournament, including (in order of ELO): Mikhail Tal (2615), Yuri Balashov (2600), Alexander Beliavsky (2595), Rafael Vaganian (2570), Oleg Romanishin (2560), Vitaly Tseshkovsky (2560), Efim Geller (2550), Garry Kasparov (2545), Evgeni Sveshnikov (2545), Viktor Kupreichik (2540), Tamas Georgadze (2535), Sergey Makarichev (2500), Nukhim Rashkovsky (2500), Sergey Dolmatov (2495), Artur Yusupov (2490), Konstantin Lerner (2475), Yuri Razuvaev (2470), and Yuri Anikaev (2455). Geller, who had last won the USSR championship in 1955, finished clear first with six wins and eleven draws. He set a record for the longest number of years between winning Soviet crowns at 24 years. Alas, it was to be Geller's last hurrah at an event of this magnitude, but he showed he still had the goods even if it was well after his prime. The final standings and crosstable are as follows:

1 Geller 11.5/17 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1

2 Yusupov 10.5/17 ½ * 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 0

3 Kasparov 10/17 ½ 1 * ½ ½ 1 1 1 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 0 ½

4 Balashov 10/17 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1

5 Makarichev 9.5/17 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 0 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1

6 Georgadze 9.5/17 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ * 1 1 ½ ½ 0 1 0 1 1 ½ ½ 1

7 Kupreichik 9.5/17 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 * 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 0 1 1

8 Vaganian 9/17 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 0 0 * 1 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½

9 Lerner 8.5/17 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 * ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½

10 Rashkovsky 8/17 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½

11 Beliavsky 8/17 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 0 0 * ½ 0 0 0 1 1 ½

12 Razuvaev 8/17 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½

13 Romanishin 8/17 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ * 1 1 ½ 0 1

14 Dolmatov 7.5/17 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 1 1 0 0 * ½ 1 1 ½

15 Tal 7.5/17 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ * 0 1 1

16 Sveshnikov 7/17 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 1 * 1 ½

17 Anikaev 5.5/17 0 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 0 0 0 * ½

18 Tseshkovsky 5.5/17 0 1 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ *