23 March 2016
Victor Korchnoi is 85!
The chess legend celebrates his birthday.
March 23 is a birthday of Victor Korchnoi – two-time World Chess Championship challenger, 4-time USSR champion, winner of countless international tournaments, and a prolific chess writer.
Victor Korchnoi played his first USSR championship more than 60 years ago – in 1952, and finished on the respectable 6th place on that occasion. In the next championship he tied for 2nd-3rd places, and in 1956 he received the grandmaster title. In the next three years he did a lot of work rebuilding his style, and in 1960 celebrated his biggest victory, winning the USSR championship in Leningrad, and won his first international tournament abroad, in Buenos Aires.
In 1961 he qualified for the candidates tournament in Curacao, however, despite a good start finished it on the disappointing 5th place.
Korchnoi stubbornly tried to qualify for the World Championship match. In 1968 he lost the candidates final match to Spassky, in 1971 lost the semifinal to Petrosian. In 1974 he once again advanced to the candidates final, but lost to the rising star of Soviet chess – Anatoly Karpov.
In 1976 Korchnoi left USSR and finally achieved his dream of challenging the crown. His two matches with Karpov, in 1978 and 1981, were epic and tough battles, especially the first one, lost with the narrowest of margins, 5-6. In the next cycle, Korchnoi was defeated in the semifinal by another rising star, Garry Kasparov.
Despite recent problems with health, Victor Korchnoi still finds time to play chess, and follows all major chess news with lively interest.
Russian Chess Federation congratulates the legendary grandmaster on his anniversary!
