Born in 1931, Viktor Korchnoi is 84 years old and his opponent, Wolfgang Uhlmann, is 80
The two are up against each other in a four game rapid match with a time control of 25 minutes each + 20 seconds increment per move. For me this match is the ultimate display of “love for the game”. Definitely, it is only the love for chess that can motivate a person who suffered from a dangerous stroke two years ago and is now confined to a wheelchair to participate in this exhibition match.
Below Korchnoi’s name is written “Ex-Vizeweltmeister”, which translates to ex-vice World Champion.
Viktor Korchnoi played Anatoly Karpov twice for the World Championship title, 1978 and 1981.
Wolfgang Uhlmann is considered by many as the German chess hero and won the individual gold medal on board one in the 1964 Olympiad. He had also qualified to the quarter-finals of the 1970 Candidates cycle.
Out of curiosity I decided to find the player in the world who has played the maximum number of recorded games of chess. Mega Database which has nearly six million games in it was the perfect source for me.
I found that Viktor Korchnoi (spelt as Kortschnoj) was way ahead of others with 5106 recorded games.
Uhlmann was not far behind with 3556 games to his credit. Phew! What an appetite for chess!
Korchnoi’s wife Petra waiting for the games to begin
“I hope you remember the latest theory in the English!” Final instructions before the game.
Uhlmann started with 1.c4, a move that has been his main weapon in the past. The players played the theoretical line of the English Four Knights. Korchnoi refrained from exchanging the knight on c3 with his bishop on b4. This seemed to throw Uhlmann in a bit of doubt as he weakened his d4-square with the move 9.e4?!
After 14 moves Korchnoi almost had a technically winning position with his strong d4 knight against Uhlmann’s passive light squared bishop
Korchnoi’s 17…f5 proved to be incorrect as it opened the bishop up on g2
The game became quite complicated and after a few inaccuracies by both sides, it was Uhlmann who had the upper hand. He played the endgame with good amount of precision and won the first game.
So Wolfgang Uhlmann drew first blood in the four-game match
In the front seat, middle, chess lover and the mastermind of this event: Oleg Skvortsov;
on the left Edvins Lobinsh and his wife Oksana, on the right Dutch GM and author Genna Sosonko.
Arturo Perez Reverte with journalist Leontxo Garcia. Arturo is a Spanish novelist
and has written the very famous book named….
… The Flanders Panel which tells the story of a mysterious Flemish painting
Watching from the sidelines: Ljubomir Ljubojevic, who was at one point number three in the world
Viktor Korchnoi had the white pieces in game two
Korchnoi also opened the game with 1.c4 but the game soon transposed into the King’s Indian. Viktor the Terrible chose the Averbakh setup with 5.Bg5:
Korchnoi has recorded two DVDs for ChessBase entitled “My life for Chess part I and II”. In one of the lectures he explains his view on the King’s Indian Defence:
“Young people of every generation willingly play the King’s Indian Defence. It’s a question for me, why are they so eager to play it? Well, first of all it is very easy to learn. Black will develop his kingside with bishop to g7 and castle and then he is ready to undertake actions in the centre. During this time, White uses his time to seize the centre, squares, to build up a strong pawn centre. Never mind, Black is ready to fight against this pawn centre, to break it and finally win superiority in the centre. Well I personally have a very large arsenal of weaponry against the King’s Indian Defence. I sometimes play the Saemisch with the pawns on c4, d4, e4 and f3. Sometimes I play the Four Pawns Attack with f4. Sometimes I play with Nf3 and Be2 or sometimes I fianchetto my bishop. Perhaps these games are the best known. I won many interesting games with bishop on g2. Still every new generation starts playing the King’s Indian. It is so easy. The ideas have been developed by the famous masters of the past by Bolesalvsky, Bronstein, Geller, Gligoric, Fischer, and recently Kasparov took it over. So everything is well known. The black knight comes to c6 or d7, Black sometimes plays c7-c5 or sometimes e7-e5. Everything was elaborated by the strong people of the past and young people have to just imitate the play! Nothing special! [Shrugs] To me, this is boring. But for them, they achieve certain practical success and they cannot stop playing it. One needs to punish them many times before finally they give it up! (smiles)”
As a 1.d4 player these are my favourite words and give me great confidence whenever my opponent plays the King’s Indian Defence.
Korchnoi gains more space in the centre by pushing his pawn to f4
Something went horribly wrong for Uhlmann as he played his queen to a5 and followed it up with b5. The move b5 is very common in such structures but it is not played with the queen on a5. Here it gave Korchnoi the opportunity to take the b5 pawn with his knight, as the queen on a5 is hanging and Qxd2 would be met with Nxd2 defending the e4 pawn.
So Uhlmann retreated his queen but after that it was just one way traffic. Korchnoi fortified his centre and very soon won another pawn. It was smooth sailing for Viktor Lvovich, and in 46 moves he chalked up the revenge.
Things went badly wrong for Uhlmann in game two
The match stands evenly balanced with a score of 1-1. With two more games to be played on 16th of February we are in for a treat tomorrow. Korchnoi’s past record of 9-1 (not counting the rapids) against Uhlmann and seeing the quality of today’s games, it seems that “Viktor the terrible” is the favourite to win the match. But you never know! Anything is possible.
Starting from 6 min 50 sec the video shows the Uhlmann-Korchnoi match
Both the legendary players have recorded DVDs for ChessBase.
Pictures by Eteri Kublashvili
LinksThe games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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