Masters of the past-66
Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi (23March1931–6 June 2016) was a chess
grandmaster and writer. He is considered one of the strongest
players never to have become World Chess Champion.Born in
Leningrad, Soviet Union, Korchnoi defected to the Netherlands
in 1976, and later resided in Switzerland from 1978, becoming a
Swiss citizen. Korchnoi played three matches against GM Anatoly
Karpov. In 1974, he lost the Candidates final to Karpov, who was
declared World Champion in 1975 when GM Bobby Fischer refused
to defend his title. He then won two consecutive Candidates cycles
to qualify for World Championship matches with Karpov in 1978
and 1981, losing both.
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 a four-time USSR
chess champion, a five-time member of Soviet teams that won the European championship, and a six-time member of Soviet teams that won the Chess Olympiad. In
September 2006, he won the World Senior Chess Championship.
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. 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. FIDEawarded him the title of International Master in 1954. 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 a massive 21 medals
for the USSR. Korchnoi won the USSR Chess Championship four times during his career.
From 2001 onwards, Korchnoi became a prolific author of books on his career, publishing
four new volumes, including two books of annotated games, an updated autobiography, and an overview (along with several other authors) of Soviet politics applying to
chess; he also wrote a book on rook endings.
On the January 2007 FIDE rating list Korchnoi was ranked number 85 in the world at
age 75, by far the oldest player ever to be ranked in the FIDE top 100. As of 2011,
Korchnoi was still active in the chess world with a notable win (in Gibraltar) with black
against the 18-year-old Fabiano Caruana, who was rated above 2700 and 61 years
Korchnoi's junior. Korchnoi became the oldest player ever to win a national championship when he won the 2009 Swiss championship at age 78. Korchnoi died aged 85 on
6 June 2016 in the Swiss city of Wohlen.
Courtesy: Wikipedia
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AICF CHRONICLE
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