His best international result was first place (+10−1=8) at Bucharest 1953, ahead of Petrosian, Smyslov, Boleslavsky, and Spassky.
Tolush never played in the Olympiads, but represented the USSR in two European Team Chess Championships.
Although he never reached the very highest level of chess, Tolush was an imaginative attacking player.
He worked as a chess journalist, and was a noted trainer whose pupils included Keres and Spassky.
His biography Alexander Tolush (1983) was compiled by his wife Valentina and includes 92 games.