Vladimir Alexeyevich Alatortsev (, pronounced "a LAH tart sev"; 14 May 1909 – 13 January 1987) was a Soviet chess player, author, and administrator. During his career, he became champion of both Leningrad and Moscow, and played in the Soviet Chess Championship finals nine times, with his best competitive results in the 1930s. He placed clear second in the 1933 Soviet final. He retired from most competitive play in the early 1950s, moving into roles as a chess organizer, teacher, and coach. He served as chairman of the All-Union chess section from 1954 to 1959 and as chairman of the USSR Chess Federation from 1959 to 1961. By profession, he was a hydraulics engineer. Early years, peaks pre-war Alatortsev was an early Leningrad chess rival of Mikhail Botvinnik, who later became World Champion. However, Botvinnik, who was two years younger, established complete dominance over Alatortsev right from the start, and wound up with a 9-0 lifetime won-loss score with two games drawn. Alatortsev's first important high-level result was a shared 3rd-6th place in the Soviet Championship, Moscow 1931, with a score of 10 points out of 17; Botvinnik won. Alatortsev was again runner-up to Botvinnik in the 1932 Leningrad Championship with 7/11. Alatortsev made his best Soviet Championship result in 1933 at Leningrad (URS-ch08), when he placed clear second with 13/19, as Botvinnik won his second title. At Tbilisi 1933, he tied for 1st-2nd places with Viktor Goglidze at 10/14. He shared the Leningrad title in 1933–34 with Georgy Lisitsin on 11/15. In the 1934 Leningrad International Alatortsev scored 4½/11, as Botvinnik won to continue his dominance, and scored 7/13 in the Leningrad National tournament in May 1934 for 8th place, as Ilya Rabinovich won. In the 1934 Soviet Championship at Leningrad, he scored 10½/19 for a tied 5th-8th place; Grigory Levenfish and Ilya Rabinovich won. He earned a place in the 1935 Moscow International tournament, the strongest Soviet event since 1925, and finished with a even score of 9½ /19, as Botvinnik and Salo Flohr won. Alatortsev drew a 12-game match (+4 =4 −4) with the Hungarian Andor Lilienthal in 1935. He was jointly champion of Moscow in both 1936 and 1937. Then in the 1937 Soviet Championship at Tbilisi, Alatortsev made 9½/19 to tie 10th-12th places. Alatortsev posted his second best pre-war result when he tied for 1st-2nd places with Leonid Shamaev in a strong tournament at Leningrad