VIKTOR KORCHNOI (born Mar-23-1931, died Jun-06-2016, 85 years old) Russia (federation/nationality Switzerland) PRONUNCIATION: [what is this?] Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi was born in Leningrad, USSR. His father taught him chess when he was seven years old. He won the Soviet Championship four times: USSR Championship (1960), USSR Championship (1962), USSR Championship (1964/65) and USSR Championship (1970). He made eight appearances in the world championship candidates cycle. He reached the Spassky - Korchnoi Candidates Final (1968), but failed to beat Spassky. In the next cycle he won his quarterfinal Korchnoi - Geller Candidates Quarterfinal (1971), but lost his semifinal match to Tigran Petrosian. He made it to the Karpov - Korchnoi Candidates Final (1974), but lost. Korchnoi defected from the USSR in 1976, and two years later he finally managed to win the Candidates and qualify for the Karpov - Korchnoi World Championship Match (1978). Trailing late with just two victories to Karpov's five, Korchnoi staged a comeback, winning three games to level the score at 5-5. However, Karpov then won the final game, thereby taking the match and retaining the crown. Korchnoi qualified again for the Karpov - Korchnoi World Championship Match (1981), but was beaten 6-2. In the next Candidates cycle he was beaten by the rising young Soviet star Garry Kasparov. He continued to play at a very high level throughout the 1980s and 1990s, though he never contended for the world title again. He did, however, capture the 2006 World Senior Championship, scoring 9-2. Though never World Champion himself, Korchnoi defeated nine players who at some time held the title: Petrosian, Spassky, Karpov, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Mikhail Tal, Robert James Fischer, Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen. After defecting, Korchnoi settled in Switzerland, which he represented at Olympiads and other international events. He was ranked in the top 100 on the FIDE world rating list as late as January 2007 (aged 75), the oldest player ever so ranked. Korchnoi suffered a stroke in December 2012, but returned to competitive chess beginning in 2014. He died in Wohlen, Switzerland on June 6, 2016, aged 85. Wikipedia article: Viktor Korchnoi Last updated: 2025-03-20 08:50:37

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page 1 of 196; games 1-25 of 4,876  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Y Rovner vs Korchnoi 1-0 20 1945 Leningrad C45 Scotch Game 2. Korchnoi vs Razov 1-0 27 1946 Leningrad C50 Giuoco Piano 3. Zikov vs Korchnoi 0-1 20 1946 Leningrad B00 Uncommon King's Pawn Opening 4. Petrosian vs Korchnoi 1-0 23 1946 URS-ch U18 A94 Dutch, Stonewall with Ba3 5. L Aronson vs Korchnoi 0-1 43 1947 Leningrad D44 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 6. V Shiyanovsky vs Korchnoi 0-1 35 1947 Leningrad D47 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 7. Y Vasilchuk vs Korchnoi 0-1 60 1947 Leningrad B74 Sicilian, Dragon, Classical 8. Korchnoi vs Spassky 1-0 12 1948 Leningrad B71 Sicilian, Dragon, Levenfish Variation 9. Korchnoi vs S Giterman 1-0 36 1948 USSR Junior Championship sf-A C07 French, Tarrasch 10. L Omelchenko vs Korchnoi 0-1 32 1949 Leningrad C77 Ruy Lopez 11. Korchnoi vs N Levin 1-0 31 1949 URS-ch qf E03 Catalan, Open 12. Korchnoi vs Y Sakharov   1-0 30 1949 URS-ch qf D11 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 13. Korchnoi vs Spassky 0-1 51 1949 Leningrad Junior Championship B71 Sicilian, Dragon, Levenfish Variation 14. Korchnoi vs V P Zakharov   ½-½ 40 1949 Leningrad Junior Championship D11 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 15. V Golenishchev vs Korchnoi 0-1 42 1949 USSR Junior Team Championship A90 Dutch 16. Korchnoi vs Shapkin 1-0 18 1949 USSR Junior Team Championship D08 Queen's Gambit Declined, Albin Counter Gambit 17. Korchnoi vs G Borisenko 0-1 38 1950 URS-ch sf Tula C34 King's Gambit Accepted 18. M Aizenshtadt vs Korchnoi 0-1 34 1950 URS-ch qf D35 Queen's Gambit Declined 19. N Bakulin vs Korchnoi 0-1 39 1950 URS-ch qf B00 Uncommon King's Pawn Opening 20. S Khavsky vs Korchnoi 0-1 31 1950 URS-ch qf B21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4 21. Korchnoi vs S Zhukhovitsky 1-0 55 1950 Leningrad Championship B62 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer 22. Sikov vs Korchnoi 0-1 44 1950 Leningrad A85 Dutch, with c4 & Nc3 23. Taimanov vs Korchnoi 0-1 35 1950 Leningrad Championship A97 Dutch, Ilyin-Genevsky 24. Korchnoi vs A Cherepkov 1-0 68 1950 Leningrad Championship C58 Two Knights 25. Averbakh vs Korchnoi 1-0 43 1950 URS-ch sf Tula B45 Sicilian, Taimanov  page 1 of 196; games 1-25 of 4,876

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 76 OF 101 ·  Later Kibitzing> Oct-03-13    HeMateMe: Goodness, that's a huge list for one player. but...are any of them actually named for him say, when this site puts up a GOD? Oct-03-13    docbenway: HeMateMe: "Goodness, that's a huge list for one player. but...are any of them actually named for him say, when this site puts up a GOD?" Yesterday I played the Bobotsov Korchnoi Petrosian Samiesh Variation King's Indian Defense. The game lasted only slightly longer than it took to type it. Oct-03-13    HeMateMe: I think only one name should be used. Whichever player was most dominant with an opening gets to pee on it and get published with it. No "Fischer/Sozin attack". Make mine Fischer. Oct-03-13    docbenway: HMM-Off hand I can't think of another opening that shares 3 names like the one I mentioned. Oct-22-13    Domdaniel: The Korchnoi Gambit against the Dutch: 1.d4 f5 2.h3 Nf6 3.g4 ... Nov-02-13    tjipa: I am currently reading the memoirs of Alexander Koblenz (or Koblencs, or Koblents), the coach of Mikhail Tal. The book was published in 1986, USSR, and it is so morbidly fascinating to read of the 1960 USSR Olympiad team: "The honour of our country was defended by Tal, Botvinnik, Keres, Smyslov, Petrosian, etc." The sixth, missing member of the Soviet team (etc!) was of course Korchnoi. I was 17 in 1986, and I remember the atmosphere of fear and omnipresent lies and compromises that started to lift off gradually in 1988, yet I guess, many people of the following generations can have only a general idea and theoretical knowledge of what it was like. Viktor Korchnoi remains one of my heroes. Dec-03-13    Maatalkko: What was Viktor's last competitive game to date? Dec-04-13    Chessdreamer: <Maatalkko> methinks this was Viktor's last competitive game to date... [Event "Ch Switzerland (team) 2012"] [Site "Switzerland"] [Date "2012.09.23"] [Round "7"] [White "Godena, Michele"] [Black "Korchnoi, Viktor"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C08"] [WhiteElo "2526"] [BlackElo "2517"] 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.exd5 exd5 6.Bb5+ Bd7 7.Bxd7+ Nbxd7 8.O-O Be7 9.dxc5 Nxc5 10.Nb3 Nce4 11.Nfd4 Qd7 12.f3 Nd6 13.Nc5 Qc8 14.Nd3 O-O 15.Bf4 Re8 16.Re1 Qd8 17.c3 Nc4 18.Qb3 Na5 19.Qc2 Qb6 20.Kh1 Bf8 21.Be3 Nc4 22.Bf2 Qc7 23.Rxe8 Rxe8 24.Re1 Rxe1+ 25.Bxe1 a6 26.Bf2 g6 27.g3 Bd6 28.Qc1 Qd7 29.Kg2 Nh5 30.b3 Ne5 31.Nxe5 Bxe5 32.Qe3 Bf6 33.Ne2 Ng7 34.Qf4 Qd8 35.Qb4 Qd7 36.Qf4 Qd8 37.Qb4 b5 38.Qa3 Qe8 39.Qxa6 Qxe2 40.Qxf6 Nf5 41.Qg5 h6 42.Qf4 Qxa2 43.Qb8+ Kh7 44.Qe8 Qxb3 45.Qxf7+ Ng7 46.Qf6 Qb2 47.Qc6 d4 48.cxd4 b4 49.d5 Nf5 50.Qb7+ Kg8 51.Qb8+ Kf7 52.Qa7+ Kf8 53.Qc5+ Kf7 54.Qc7+ Kg8 55.Qd8+ Kf7 56.Qd7+ Kf8 57.Qc8+ Kg7 58.Qc7+ Kg8 59.Qc8+ Kg7 60.g4 Nd6 61.Qd7+ Nf7 62.Qb7 g5 63.d6 Qd2 64.d7 Kf6 65.Kf1 Qd3+ 1/2-1/2 Dec-13-13    Chnebelgrind: more games coming soon http://www.weihnachtsopen.ch/contao... Dec-21-13    whiteshark: <Viktor Korchnoi to Return to the Chess Board> Viktor Korchnoi will soon return to competitive chess - at least for one tournament. The 82-year-old chess legend suffered a stroke in September 2012, and it was feared that he would never play chess again. However, "Viktor the Terrible" can be found in the participants list of the <Zurich Christmas Open>* ! He seems indistructible. Viktor Kortchnoi, until recently the oldest active grandmaster and famous for playing at a very high level for his age, suffered a stroke last year and had to say goodbye to tournament chess — or so it seemed. Apparently the 82-year-old grandmaster, arguably the strongest player never to become world champion, has recovered enough to be able to try it again! This was reported by Franz Jittenmeier earlier this week on Schach-Ticker (http://www.chess-international.de/). * The 37th Zurich Weihnachtsopen is taking place from 26th to 30th December at the Crowne Plaza Zürich in Zurich, Switzerland. http://www.chess.com/news/viktor-ko... Dec-22-13    HeMateMe: Thanks, <whiteshark:> That's our Vic--gonna have to take him out on his shield. He wouldn't have it any other way. Dec-24-13    alexmagnus: So, Korchnoi tries it again. Let's see if the stroke and a 15 month pause from chess affected his playing strength. Dec-25-13    another user: <Korchnoi has defeated ten players who at some time held the official title: three reigning champions (Petrosian, Spassky, and Karpov), five former or future champions (Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal, Fischer, Kasparov) and two future FIDE champions (Topalov and Ponomariov).> Someone should add Carlsen to the list of future world champions beaten by Korchnoi. Korchnoi vs Carlsen, 2004 Dec-26-13    alexmagnus: I see Korchnoi is no longer on the participant list. Doesn't he play after all? Dec-26-13    Stonehenge: No he doesn't because of health reasons. Dec-26-13    lost in space: So sad. I hoped he is ready to enter the ring again Dec-26-13    offramp: < whiteshark: <H#M> I googled that for you: https://www.google.com/search?q=%22... > Your google was pointless since you used one of the least-used spellings of Kortschnoj. So google it for him again, properly this time. Dec-26-13    Petrosianic: <Someone should add Carlsen to the list of future world champions beaten by Korchnoi.> And subtract Topalov and Ponomariov. Neither one was ever undisputed world champion. So, Korchnoi's total should be 9. Nine is also Paul Keres' total: (Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal, Petrosian, Spassky, Fischer). Dec-26-13    offramp: < docbenway: HMM-Off hand I can't think of another opening that shares 3 names like the one I mentioned.> The TMB in the QGD. Jan-07-14    offramp: If Fischer had been as active as VK he would have left us 2,500 games of chess, not 800. Feb-18-14    diagonal: Lubomir Kavalek coined the claim of Carlsen: Magnus as the <<Mozart of Chess>>. Here comes the <<Rolling Stone of Chess>>: Viktor Korchnoi: A man and his passion! <<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwHw...>> (1 min) Watch this touching and not often linked sequence of a simul exhibition against students and teachers at the University of Leipzig with rolling Victor: June 2012, Korchnoi and his wife Petra who apparently worked in earlier days at this University, were invited as special guests of the economic faculty - and visiting afterwards the new Paulinum (former church, now assembly hall with an oratory) of the University of Leipzig. Feb-23-14    Poisonpawns: Who are the greatest defenders of all ages? Korchnoi?Petrosian?Schlecter?Lasker? Feb-23-14    RedShield: Bobby Moore. Feb-23-14    Karposian: Lawrence Taylor. Feb-24-14    HeMateMe: I had to click in, when I saw Lawrence Taylor mentioned on a chess site. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 101) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 76 OF 101 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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