Viktor Korchnoi dies at 85

He was one of the truly great chess players, a legend. He played in three matches that produced the World Champion, but in each case lost to Anatoly Karpov. It made him the strongest player never to have won the title. In 1976 he defected from the Soviet Union and took up residence in Switzerland, where he continued to be active into his eighties in spite of a stroke. Now he has gone and leaves a grieving chess community.

I know that Chess is not the most popular spectator sport in this country, but I just learned about the passing of on the all-time greats of the game on June 6th. He was a warrior. He was a contender for the world championship from the early 1960's to the late 1980's, an extremely long time. His title match with Anatoly Karpov in 1981 was remarkable because of the political ramifications. Korchnoi, born in Leningrad, defected from the Soviet Union in the mid-seventies. When he faced Karpov, the Soviets arrested his wife and son on trumped up charges. Karpov defeated Korchnoi, and many attribute that the distraction of the condition of his family contributed to the loss.

Korchnoi preferred an agressive attacking style that went against the defensive dogma of Soviet sanctioned chess.

He became a Swiss citizen, and in 2009 he became the oldest person ever to win a national championship, when he won the Swiss championship at the age of 78. He won it again when he was 80.

He suffered a stroke in 2012, and though wheel chair bound, he managed to again play a few matches of competitive chess. Warrior, gentleman, maverick, hero. Viktor Korchnoi.

I played chess with my brothers as a boy and it's a noble game.

When I was writing my FR vanity, Ben Franklin & Trump: Bringing Business Smarts & Pride in Workmanship to Government, I came across an excellent article that Franklin wrote in 1779, On the Morals of Chess.

The full Franklin article linked above (not click bait) is worth reading in its entirety, but here's an excerpt:

Foresight, which looks a little into futurity, and considers the consequences that may attend an action; for it is continually occurring to the player, 'If I move this piece, what will be the advantages or disadvantages of my new situation?...
Circumspection, which surveys the whole chessboard, or scene of action; the relations of the several pieces and situations, the dangers they are respectively exposed to, the several possibilities of their aiding each other, the probabilities that the adversary may make this or that move, and attack this or the other piece, and what different means can be used to avoid his stroke, or turn its consequences against him.
Caution, not to make our moves too hastily. This habit is best acquired, by observing strictly the laws of the game; such as, If you touch a piece, you must move it somewhere; if you set it down, you must let it stand. And it is therefore best that these rules should be observed, as the game becomes thereby more the image of human life, and particularly of war . . .

Thank you for your excellent post and for the text from Franklin's view of chess. Wow. This is proof that Franklin did read Aristotle and possibly Aquinas. St. Thomas (1224-1274), Summa 2.2.48.1: "And the reason, in order to command correctly, requires to have three conditions. First, to order that which is befitting the end, and this belongs to foresight; secondly, to attend to the circumstances of the matter in hand, and this belongs to circumspection; thirdly, to avoid obstacles, and this belongs to caution." Review. Making a good plan requires foresight to find what is 'befitting the end,' circumspection to deal with the tools 'at hand,' and caution, to be on guard against 'obstacles.' High five to Ben Franklin.

Korchnoi preferred an agressive attacking style that went against the defensive dogma of Soviet sanctioned chess.

I don't where you read this, but this is not correct. There is no Soviet sanctioned chess [style].

Korchnoi was a dynamic player, not an "aggressive attacking player" (like Tahl or Alekhine to a great extent). Kochnoi's style was Lasker-esque.

Some Soviet players' style might be characterized as defensive (Petrosian). But the truth is that top players walk somewhere between acceptable risk and positional soundness. Some few engage is unclear sacrifices (Tahl).

Botvinnik, Karpov were both strategic geniuses. Tahl, Bronstein were combinative geniuses. Spassky was sharp. Kasparov and Alekhine were dynamic. Petrosian was positional.

None of these Soviet World Chess Champion's would be characterized as defensive. A sound position is a defensible one. Korchnoi didn't play unsound moves hoping his opponent wouldn't notice. This may be a pattern among weak players, but not among GMs (or anyone hoping to aspire past a B-rating.)

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