Viktor Korchnoi

Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi (Russian: Виктор Львович Корчной, IPA: [vʲiktər ˈlʲvovʲɪtɕ kɐrtɕˈnoj]; 23 March 1931 – 6 June 2016) was a Soviet and later Swiss chess grandmaster and chess writer. He is considered one of the strongest players never to have become World Chess Champion.

Born in Leningrad, Korchnoi defected to the Netherlands in 1976, and resided in Switzerland from 1978, becoming a Swiss citizen in 1980.

Korchnoi effectively played Anatoly Karpov three times for the World Championship. In 1974, he lost to Karpov in the Candidates Tournament final, and Karpov became World Champion after Bobby Fischer declined to defend the title. Then in the next two world championship cycles, 1978 and 1981, Korchnoi won the Candidates but lost the World Championship match to Karpov.

Korchnoi was a candidate for the World Championship on ten occasions (1962, 1968, 1971, 1974, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1988, and 1991). He was also four times a USSR Chess Champion, five times a member of Soviet teams that won the European championship, and six times a member of Soviet teams that won the Chess Olympiad. He played competitive chess until old age. At age 75, he won the 2006 World Senior Chess Championship and became the oldest person ever to be ranked among the world's top 100 players.

Korchnoi was born on 23 March 1931 in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, to a Jewish mother and a Polish-Catholic father. His mother, Zelda Gershevna Azbel (1910—?), a daughter of the Yiddish writer Hersh Azbel, was a pianist and alumna of Leningrad Conservatory of Music; his father, Lev Merkuryevich Korchnoi (1910–1941), was an engineer, who worked at a candy factory.

Both parents came to Leningrad with their families from Ukraine in 1928: mother from Borispol and father from Melitopol. After their divorce, Victor lived with his mother until 1935, then with his father and paternal grandmother. They suffered under the siege of Leningrad during which Victor's father was killed in 1941. Victor's stepmother and adoptive mother Roza Abramovna Fridman then took responsibility for his upbringing. (She would later live with him in Switzerland.)

He learned to play chess from his father at the age of five. In 1943, he joined the chess club of the Leningrad Pioneer Palace, and was trained by Abram Model, Andrei Batuyev, and Vladimir Zak. Model had earlier played a major role in the development of future World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik, while Zak, who later co-authored a book with Korchnoi, had also helped train future World Champion Boris Spassky.

In 1947, Korchnoi won the Junior Championship of the USSR, with 11½/15 at Leningrad, and shared the title in 1948 with 5/7 at Tallinn, Estonia.

In 1951, he earned the Soviet Master title, following his second-place finish in the 1950 Leningrad Championship, with 9/13.

One year later, Korchnoi qualified for the finals of the USSR Chess Championship for the first time. In the semifinal at Minsk, 1952, he scored 10½/17 for a shared 2nd–4th place, to advance. In the 20th Soviet final, held at Moscow, he scored 11/19 for sixth place, as GM Mikhail Botvinnik and GM Mark Taimanov came joint first. The next year, he again had to qualify through the semifinal event held at Vilnius 1953, with 9/14 for a shared 3rd–4th place. Korchnoi improved on the previous year's showing with his shared 2nd–3rd place in URS-ch21 at Kiev 1954, on 13/19, as GM Yuri Averbakh won.

This high championship placing was rewarded with his first international opportunity, a participation in Bucharest 1954, where he finished in clear first place with 13/17. FIDE awarded him the title of International Master in 1954. He won the 1955 Leningrad Championship with a massive score of 17/19, and shared 1st–2nd places at Hastings 1955–56 on 7/9. He was awarded the Grandmaster title at the FIDE Congress in 1956.

Korchnoi earned his first international team selection for the Soviet student team in 1954, joined the full national team for the European Team Championship three years later, and would represent the USSR through 1974. He won 21 medals for the USSR. His complete Soviet international team play results follow:

Oslo 1954, Student Olympiad, board 1, 4½/7 (+3−1=3), team silver

Uppsala 1956, Student Olympiad, board 1, 6/7 (+5−0=2), team gold

Vienna 1957, European Team Championship, board 8, 5½/6 (+5−0=1), team gold, board gold

Leipzig 1960 Olympiad, board 4, 10½/13 (+8−0=5), team gold; board bronze

Korchnoi rose to prominence within the Soviet chess school system, where he competed against his contemporaries and future GM stars such as Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrosian, and Boris Spassky, following in the path laid out by Mikhail Botvinnik. Korchnoi's playing style initially was an aggressive counterattack. He excelled in difficult defensive positions.

His results during the 1950s were often inconsistent. One particularly bad result was his 19th place (only one from bottom) at the URSch-22, Moscow 1955, with 6/19. During the 1960s he became more versatile, as he gained experience at the top level. He won at Kraków 1959 with 8½/11, shared 1st–2nd places with GM Samuel Reshevsky at Buenos Aires 1960 with 13/19, and won at Córdoba, Argentina 1960 with 6/7. After his victory at Budapest 1961 (Géza Maróczy Memorial) with 11½/15 ahead of GMs David Bronstein and Miroslav Filip, each with 9½, Korchnoi was recognized as one of the world's best players.

Korchnoi won the USSR Chess Championship four times during his career. At Leningrad 1960 for URS-ch27, he scored 14/19. He won at Yerevan 1962, URS-ch30, with 13/19. He won at Kiev 1964–65 with 15/19. His final title was at Riga 1970, for URS-ch38, with 16/21.

He first qualified as a candidate from the 1962 Stockholm Interzonal, scoring 14/22 for a shared 4th–5th-place finish, a tournament won by Fischer. The 1962 Candidates tournament, the last held in a round-robin format until 1985, was held at Curaçao a few months later and Korchnoi placed fifth out of eight with an even score, 13½/27, which Tigran Petrosian won, winning the right to challenge Botvinnik. Korchnoi's results included two victories over Fischer, one a brilliant win employing the Pirc Defense with the black pieces.

Korchnoi won at Havana 1963 with 16½/21, but fared less well in the next Soviet Championship, URS-ch31 at Leningrad, with just 10/19 for 10th place. He missed qualifying for the next world championship cycle, 1964–66, because of a poor showing at the 1964 Zonal tournament in Moscow, where he made 5½/12 for a shared 5th–6th place, so did not advance to the Interzonal. Korchnoi regained his form with an overwhelming triumph at Gyula, Hungary, in 1965 with 14½/15. He won at Bucharest 1966 with 12½/14, and at the Chigorin Memorial in Sochi 1966 with 11½/15.