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.
Early life, family, and education
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 graduated from Leningrad State University with a major in history.
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