Game of the Week: A masterpiece by Korchnoi

by Merijn van Delft
8/26/2020 – In his “Game of the Week” show, Merijn van Delft relives a game played by “Viktor the Terrible”. Korchnoi was one of the top grandmasters that firmly believed that White is better against the King’s Indian Defence. In 1993, against Friso Nijboer, he proved how the strong white centre can create havoc on Black’s position. | Merijn's show is freely available at 15.00 UTC (17:00 CEST, 11:00 EDT) for a limited time, and on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here. | Pictured: Korchnoi in Hoogovens 1985 | Photo: Rob Croes / Anefo
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Game of the Week #426

Today we will complete our summer trilogy of classical games, based on my new book Mastering Positional Sacrifices. A few weeks ago we saw a most impressive game by the first World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz, last week we saw a legendary creation by David Bronstein and today we will see a true piece of art by Viktor Kortschnoi. What connects these games, is that they don’t consist of single astonishing moves, but show some of the deepest strategical concepts ever created in chess.

“Viktor the Terrible” was one of the top grandmasters that firmly believed that White is better against the King’s Indian Defence. In 1993, against Friso Nijboer, he proved how the strong white centre can create havoc on Black’s position.

Warming-up question: What would you play here with White?

 
Viktor Korchnoi vs. Friso Nijboer, Dutch Ch. 1993
Position after 13...h5

The live show is free to watch for a limited time, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium accounts.

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Sagar Shah shows you on this DVD how you can use typical patterns used by the Master of the past in your own games. From opening play to middlegame themes.

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Merijn van Delft is an International Master from the Netherlands who lived in Hamburg for many years and is currently based in Amsterdam. After scoring a GM norm in 2017 he is eager for more. His ChessBase show on Wednesday evenings has been running for over ten years now.

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