Viktor Korchnoi: The Greatest Chess Player Part -1
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Hope you are safe due to COVID-19
So in the previous blog, we read about ASIAN INDIVIDUAL, TASHKENT PART - 1 Here's the link - https://www.chess.com/blog/Apoorva_rastogi/asian-individual-tashkent-part-1
NOW TODAY WE GOING TO READ ABOUT SOME INFORMATION OF Victor Korchnoi
SO NOT WASTING YOUR TIME LET'S START!!!
The greatest chess player never to have won the World Championship, Victor Korchnoi, has passed away, at 85.
Born March 23, 1931, at St Petersburg (then known as Leningrad) in Russia, he died on June 6, 2016, at Wohlen, Switzerland his adopted country. He is survived by his wife and son Igor.
The 1974 Candidates Finals between Karpov and Korchnoi became a title match later because Fischer, as World Champion, refused to play the 1975 World Championship match over a wrangle over the rules. Korchnoi played in two World Championship Matches against Karpov in 1978 and 1981.
When he faced Anatoly Karpov, age was against him. He was 20 years older and lost the three matches by narrow margins. the margin (6-2 for Karpov) at Merano in Switzerland was the biggest Karpov could achieve. To come through the Candidates cycle more than three times is already a big achievement and the mark of a chess genius.
In the next cycle, Korchnoi beat Kasparov in the very first game with the black pieces in the Candidates semi-finals in London 1983 but lost the match overall and his opponent went on to unseat World Champion Karpov.
It must be remembered that Karpo, and earlier Botvinnik, were proud members of the ruling Communist Party of the Soviet Union and got all the advantages and privileges that were denied to people like Korchnoi. The mind boggles to think how many great players could have emerged from the Soviet Union had every citizen been really equal instead of some being more equal than the others!
Korchnoi played two training matches against 'Friend' David Bronstein in 1970 that was revealed in the book Secret Notes of Bronstein in 2007. Korchnoi also was close to Karpov and played such a match in 1971.
During the peak of his career, in 1976, Korchnoi defected from the Soviet Union while playing in a tournament in the Netherlands.
During the early years of his defection, the USSR Chess Federation avoided sending its top players to events in which he played. Korchnoi's high rating was at risk and FIDE, under its morally right and courageous President Max Euwe, brought special laws to protect it. Under this, Korchnoi would not lose rating if he won a tournament clearly.
As a Soviet defector, he faced several problems from his native country which still held his wife and son in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) and refused to let them go. Organizers in the West who were naturally sympathetic to Korchnoi were often told that their best players would not play in the tournament if Korchnoi was a participant.
He suffered the most from the USSR Chess Federation, post defection. When he defected, they did not let his wife and son join him. When he found another partner in Petra, then they let them go!
