Bronstein. He made the field for his first Soviet final at Tbilisi 1959 (URS-26ch), where he finished tied 16th-17th with 7/19; Tigran Petrosian won. However, he regrouped with his third Moscow Championship title in 1960. Grandmaster, peak form Vasiukov scored his best result when he won the 1961 Belgrade Open, ahead of Svetozar Gligorić. Then, in the Moscow International of 1961, he tied for first place with Smyslov at 7½/11. These two fine finishes earned him the title of Grandmaster later that year. In the 1961 Moscow Championship, he tied for 3rd–5th places with 11/17, behind winners Bronstein and Leonid Shamkovich. Qualifying again for the Soviet final at Baku 1961 (URS-29ch), he showed improvement to tie for 4th–5th places, with 12/20, as Spassky won. This would prove to be his best performance at that level. At the 1962 Moscow International, Vasiukov ended up second with 9½/15, behind winner Yuri Averbakh. Vasiukov proved his grandmastership at East Berlin 1962 with a powerful victory, at 11½/15, ahead of Leonid Stein. Vasiukov also tied for first in the 1962 Moscow Championship, his fourth title there. During his peak years, from the early 1960s to the mid-1970s, Vasiukov scored wins in individual games over many top Soviet players, such as Smyslov, Bronstein, Tigran Petrosian, Mikhail Tal, Paul Keres, Mark Taimanov, Efim Geller, and Lev Polugaevsky. He was unable to defeat top-ranking Soviet stars such as Viktor Korchnoi, Anatoly Karpov, Boris Spassky, or Stein. 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% 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. At Alma Ata 1968 (URS-ch36) he scored 10½/19, good for a tied