Korchnoi rose to prominence within the Soviet chess school system, where he competed against 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.[13][14][15]
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. He
won at Kraków 1959 with 8½/11, shared 1st–2nd places with Samuel Reshevsky at Buenos Aires 1960 with 13/19, won at Córdoba, Argentina 1960 with 6/7.[16] After his victory at Budapest 1961 (Géza Maróczy Memorial) with 11½/15 ahead of Bronstein and Miroslav Filip each with 9½, Korchnoi was recognized as one of the world's best players.[17]
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.[10]
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 relatively poor showing at the 1964 Zonal tournament in Moscow, where he made 5½/12 for a shared 5–6th place, so did not advance to the Interzonal in the 1966 World Championship cycle. 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.[18]
In the 1969 World Championship cycle, he tied for 3rd–5th places at the URS-ch34, held in Tbilisi in 1966–67, with 12/20, and emerged from a three-way playoff, along with Aivars Gipslis, at Tallinn, 1967 to the Interzonal, staged at Sousse, Tunisia, later that year. A strong performance at the interzonal, with 14/22, for a shared 2nd–4th place, took him through to the Candidates' matches.[10] In his first match, he defeated American Samuel Reshevsky at Amsterdam in 1968 by (+3=5). His next opponent was Tal, against whom Korchnoi had had a large plus score in previous meetings. The match, held in Moscow 1968, was close, but Korchnoi won by (+2−1=7), and moved on to face Boris Spassky in the Candidates final. Spassky prevailed at Kiev 1968, winning (+4−1=5).[19]
Korchnoi, as the losing finalist, was exempt from qualifying for the 1972 World Championship cycle, and was seeded directly to the following Candidates' event. To prepare, he first played a secret training match with his friend David Bronstein in Leningrad 1970, losing 3½–2½. The games from this match were kept secret until 2007, when they were eventually published in Bronstein's last book, Secret Notes.[20] Then, he played a training match against Anatoly Karpov, with whom he was close at the time, at Leningrad 1971; this wound up drawn in six games. Korchnoi won his first round 1971 match against Efim Geller at Moscow by (+4−1=3), after which he went down to defeat in the semifinal versus Tigran Petrosian by (−1=9), also at Moscow, with the ninth game the only decisive result.[21]
In 1972, Korchnoi appeared in the chess-themed Soviet film Grossmeister along with several other grandmasters; he played the role of the lead actor's trainer.[22]
In the 1975 World Championship cycle Korchnoi and Karpov, the newest star of Soviet chess, tied for first in the 1973 Leningrad Interzonal.[23] In the 1974 Candidates' matches, Korchnoi first defeated the young Brazilian star Henrique Costa Mecking, (who had won the other Interzonal, in Petrópolis) by (+3−1=9) at Augusta, Georgia – in what he later described as a tough match in his autobiography. Korchnoi next played Petrosian at Odessa. The two were not on friendly terms, and it was even rumored that the two resorted to kicking each other under the table during this match; however, Korchnoi denies this. According to him, Petrosian just kicked his legs nervously and shook the table. Although the match was supposed to go to the first player to win four games, Petrosian resigned the match after just five games, with Korchnoi enjoying a lead of 3–1, with one draw.[24]
With his victory over Petrosian, Korchnoi advanced to face Karpov in the Candidates' Final, the match to determine who would challenge reigning World Champion Bobby Fischer in 1975. In the run-up to the match, Korchnoi was constantly subjected to threats and harassment, and was virtually unable to find any Grandmasters to assist him. Bronstein apparently assisted Korchnoi, for which he was punished. Bronstein, in his last book, Secret Notes, published in 2007, wrote that he advised Korchnoi before the match began, but then had to leave to play an event himself; when he returned, Korchnoi was down by three games. Bronstein then assisted Korchnoi for the final stages.[25] Korchnoi also received some assistance later in the match from two British masters, Raymond Keene and William Hartston.[26] Korchnoi trailed 3–0 late in the match, but won games 19 and 21 to make it very close right to the end. Karpov eventually won this battle, played in late 1974 in Moscow, by a 12½–11½ score. By default, Karpov became the twelfth world champion in April 1975, when Fischer refused to defend his title because of disputed match conditions.
Korchnoi, in a 2006 lecture in London, mentioned that the breakthrough that allowed him to resume international appearances came when Anatoly Karpov inherited the World Championship title (resigned by Bobby Fischer). Questions arose about how Karpov qualified to be a World Champion, when he had never played Fischer. Since Korchnoi was not publicly visible, it was largely believed that he (and Karpov) could not be very strong. Korchnoi was then allowed to play the 1976 Amsterdam tournament, as a means to prove Karpov was a worthy World Champion.[28]
Korchnoi was joint winner of the tournament along with Tony Miles. At the end of the tournament, Korchnoi asked Miles to spell "political asylum" for him. As a result, after the chess tournament in Amsterdam, Korchnoi was the first strong Soviet grandmaster to defect from the
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.[10]
World Champion title candidate
He first qualified as a candidate from the 1962 Stockholm Interzonal, scoring 14/22 for a shared 4–5th place finish, as Fischer won. The 1962 Candidates tournament, the last held in a round-robin format for some years, was held at Curaçao a few months later, and Korchnoi placed fifth out of eight with an even score, 13½/27, while Tigran Petrosian earned the right to challenge Botvinnik.[10]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 relatively poor showing at the 1964 Zonal tournament in Moscow, where he made 5½/12 for a shared 5–6th place, so did not advance to the Interzonal in the 1966 World Championship cycle. 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.[18]
In the 1969 World Championship cycle, he tied for 3rd–5th places at the URS-ch34, held in Tbilisi in 1966–67, with 12/20, and emerged from a three-way playoff, along with Aivars Gipslis, at Tallinn, 1967 to the Interzonal, staged at Sousse, Tunisia, later that year. A strong performance at the interzonal, with 14/22, for a shared 2nd–4th place, took him through to the Candidates' matches.[10] In his first match, he defeated American Samuel Reshevsky at Amsterdam in 1968 by (+3=5). His next opponent was Tal, against whom Korchnoi had had a large plus score in previous meetings. The match, held in Moscow 1968, was close, but Korchnoi won by (+2−1=7), and moved on to face Boris Spassky in the Candidates final. Spassky prevailed at Kiev 1968, winning (+4−1=5).[19]
Korchnoi, as the losing finalist, was exempt from qualifying for the 1972 World Championship cycle, and was seeded directly to the following Candidates' event. To prepare, he first played a secret training match with his friend David Bronstein in Leningrad 1970, losing 3½–2½. The games from this match were kept secret until 2007, when they were eventually published in Bronstein's last book, Secret Notes.[20] Then, he played a training match against Anatoly Karpov, with whom he was close at the time, at Leningrad 1971; this wound up drawn in six games. Korchnoi won his first round 1971 match against Efim Geller at Moscow by (+4−1=3), after which he went down to defeat in the semifinal versus Tigran Petrosian by (−1=9), also at Moscow, with the ninth game the only decisive result.[21]
Korchnoi (Amsterdam, 1972)
In the 1975 World Championship cycle Korchnoi and Karpov, the newest star of Soviet chess, tied for first in the 1973 Leningrad Interzonal.[23] In the 1974 Candidates' matches, Korchnoi first defeated the young Brazilian star Henrique Costa Mecking, (who had won the other Interzonal, in Petrópolis) by (+3−1=9) at Augusta, Georgia – in what he later described as a tough match in his autobiography. Korchnoi next played Petrosian at Odessa. The two were not on friendly terms, and it was even rumored that the two resorted to kicking each other under the table during this match; however, Korchnoi denies this. According to him, Petrosian just kicked his legs nervously and shook the table. Although the match was supposed to go to the first player to win four games, Petrosian resigned the match after just five games, with Korchnoi enjoying a lead of 3–1, with one draw.[24]
With his victory over Petrosian, Korchnoi advanced to face Karpov in the Candidates' Final, the match to determine who would challenge reigning World Champion Bobby Fischer in 1975. In the run-up to the match, Korchnoi was constantly subjected to threats and harassment, and was virtually unable to find any Grandmasters to assist him. Bronstein apparently assisted Korchnoi, for which he was punished. Bronstein, in his last book, Secret Notes, published in 2007, wrote that he advised Korchnoi before the match began, but then had to leave to play an event himself; when he returned, Korchnoi was down by three games. Bronstein then assisted Korchnoi for the final stages.[25] Korchnoi also received some assistance later in the match from two British masters, Raymond Keene and William Hartston.[26] Korchnoi trailed 3–0 late in the match, but won games 19 and 21 to make it very close right to the end. Karpov eventually won this battle, played in late 1974 in Moscow, by a 12½–11½ score. By default, Karpov became the twelfth world champion in April 1975, when Fischer refused to defend his title because of disputed match conditions.
Defection
In the lead-up to the Candidates' Final in 1974, as part of a campaign to promote Karpov over Korchnoi, Tigran Petrosian made a public statement in the press against Korchnoi. At the closing ceremony of the Candidates' Final, Korchnoi had made his mind up that he had to leave the Soviet Union. The central authorities prevented Korchnoi from playing any international tournaments, and even when invited by Paul Keres and Iivo Nei to participate in an International Tournament in Estonian SSR, Korchnoi was not allowed to play, and both Keres and Nei were reprimanded.[27]Korchnoi, in a 2006 lecture in London, mentioned that the breakthrough that allowed him to resume international appearances came when Anatoly Karpov inherited the World Championship title (resigned by Bobby Fischer). Questions arose about how Karpov qualified to be a World Champion, when he had never played Fischer. Since Korchnoi was not publicly visible, it was largely believed that he (and Karpov) could not be very strong. Korchnoi was then allowed to play the 1976 Amsterdam tournament, as a means to prove Karpov was a worthy World Champion.[28]
Korchnoi was joint winner of the tournament along with Tony Miles. At the end of the tournament, Korchnoi asked Miles to spell "political asylum" for him. As a result, after the chess tournament in Amsterdam, Korchnoi was the first strong Soviet grandmaster to defect from the
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