Karpov-Korchnoi: 40 years after

by Macauley Peterson
10/17/2018 – Today 40 years ago, on October 17th, 1978, a battle of nerves, which lasted over four months and 32 games, ended in Baguio City, the Philippines. The Soviet defector Viktor Korchnoi fought against the Soviet loyalist World Champion Anatoly Karpov for the chess world's highest title. We take a look at a few more details of the match, with photos and discussion of the new feature documentary "Closing Gambit" with producer Alan Byron. | Photos: Screenbound Pictures

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"Nobody is black or white, everybody has shades of grey"

Alan Byron was an English junior chess player, a contemporary of grandmasters Daniel King, Peter Wells and Julian Hodgson. Like so many others of his generation, Bryon became interested in chess as a result of the Fischer vs Spassky match. At his peak, he was a 2300-rated player, but he's been inactive for about 25 years (other than a lone 2008 tournament in Switzerland). Instead, he pursued a career in the music and film business — his previous film was "Bowie: The Man Who Changed the World", and he's currently working on a documentary about The Beatles called "Made on Merseyside".

Byron remembers Korchnoi vs Karpov as an amazing political event. "It was fascinating", he notes, and the drama of Korchnoi's comeback after being far behind in the match, plus the interesting personalities, was key to getting his latest film "Closing Gambit" off the ground. "To non-chess players, it's not actually a 'chess story' — it's actually a very personal story".


Watch the first three minutes:

Screenbound Pictures YouTube Channel


The lead up to this match began four years earlier in Moscow, when the rising young star of Soviet chess, Anatoly Karpov, met the final candidate for the World Championship Viktor Korchnoi — already 43 years old but in dazzling form. Korchnoi knew Karpov as a youth when he played against him in a 1961 simultaneous exhibition. For an older player, to face someone he previously considered young and inexperienced but who's suddenly surpassing him is a particular sort of challenge.

Karpov won the candidate's final and qualified to challenge World Champion Bobby Fischer. Of course, the American did not compete in the scheduled 1975 match and so Karpov became the 12th World Champion without a fight.

Korchnoi felt he had been treated unfairly by the Soviet chess authorities and was outspoken about it. The resulting state of pressure led him to decide to defect from the Soviet Union. He was not the first player to do so, but he was the most prominent, and from then on Korchnoi was a dissident in the eyes of the Soviet leadership, which forced USSR players to boycott events in which Korchnoi participated. That was not an option for official FIDE tournaments that were part of the World Championship cycle, however.

Korchnoi

Korchnoi in 1978 | "Closing Gambit" frame courtesy Screenbound Pictures

As a candidate finalist from 1974, Korchnoi was automatically qualified for the next candidates tournament in the following cycle. In 1977, he first defeated Tigran Petrosian in the quarterfinals, then he beat Lev Polugajevsky in the semifinal, before facing Boris Spassky in the final. The two former friends from Leningrad fought a veritable war of psychology. Korchnoi believed that members of the Soviet's team "irradiated" him from the auditorium and opted to play with mirrored sunglasses. Spassky felt blinded by the reflections of light and eventually came to the stage armed with diving goggles. The whole competition was not one likely to improve the reputation of chess grandmasters in the rest of the world. Korchnoi earned the nickname "Victor the Terrible", but beat Spassky 10½:7½ in 18 games.

The psychological machinations between Spassky and Korchnoi were child's play, however, compared to what was to come. Knowing that Korchnoi believed in things like parapsychology, Karpov hired his own expert, Vladimir Suchar, who sat in the auditorium during matches and stared at Korchnoi, driving him mad. To neutralize the psychological attack, Korchnoi took on a pair of Indian gurus.

Korchnoi with gurus

Korchnoi with his gurus  | "Closing Gambit" frame courtesy Screenbound Pictures

At that time the game was still played according to the old "Fischer-rule" with the winner to be the first player to win six games with no predefined game limit. After an initial string of seven draws, Karpov struck first with a win in the eighth game. Korchnoi equalised with a win of his own in game eleven but Karpov proceeded to build up a large lead with victories in the 13th, 14th and 17th games. The 21st game went to Korchnoi, but the 27th to Karpov, who led 5:2 and was one win away from defending his title. 

But then Korchnoi went on a tear, winning the 28th, 29th and 31st games to even the score. FIDE officials were getting nervous — no one had expected the match to go on this long and the beginning of the Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires was imminent.

For the 32nd game, played on October 17, 1978, Korchnoi had Black and prepared an opening surprise: 6...c5 in the Pirc Defence. Karpov, however, was unfazed and played quickly. Soon it was Korchnoi who was under pressure. The tension had reached the boiling point — with the match tied 5:5, the one who would win the next game would be World Champion.

 
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1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be2 0-0 6.0-0 c5 Back then this move had been rarely played. 6...c6 6...Bg4 6...Nc6 7.d5 Na6 8.Bf4 Nc7 9.a4 Now the players reached a kind of Benoni position in which White's pawn is still on c2 and Black did not yet open the e-file. 9.Nd2 b5 10.Nxb5 Nxb5 11.Bxb5 Rb8 12.a4 Nh5 13.Bg5 Bxb2 14.Rb1 Bg7 15.Nc4 Nf6 16.Re1 Ng4 17.Qd2 Qc7 18.h3 Ne5 19.Qa5 Rb7 20.Qxc7 Rxc7 21.Nxe5 Bxe5 22.Bd2 f5 23.Bc6 Bd7 24.Ba5 Rxc6 25.dxc6 Bxc6 26.exf5 Rxf5 27.Bd2 Bxa4 28.c4 Bc6 29.Rb3 Bd4 30.Rxe7 Rxf2 31.Be3 Rxg2+ 32.Kf1 Rb2 33.Rxb2 Bxb2 34.Bf4 Ba4 35.Rb7 Bd4 36.Bxd6 Bd1 37.Ke1 Bc2 38.Rc7 Bf5 39.h4 Be6 40.Bxc5 Be5 41.Rxa7 Bxc4 42.Kf2 1/2-1/2 (42) Najdorf,M-Tal,M Moscow (Russia) 1967 MCL [Dolmatov, S] 9...b6 10.Re1 Bb7 11.Bc4 Nh5 11...a6 12.h3 Nh5 13.Bh2 b5 14.axb5 axb5 15.Nxb5 Nxb5 16.Bxb5 Bxb2 17.Rb1 Bg7 18.e5 dxe5 19.Bc4 Ra4 20.Rxb7 Rxc4 21.Bxe5 Bxe5 22.Rxe5 Nf4 23.Rbxe7 f6 24.Re1 Nxd5 25.Ra7 Rf7 26.Rxf7 Kxf7 27.Qd3 Rc3 28.Qd2 Qa8 29.Rd1 Ke6 30.Qe1+ 1-0 (30) Panno,O (2580) -Quinteros,M (2480) Buenos Aires 1978 12.Bg5 Nf6 12...h6!? 13.Bc1 a6 13.Qd3 a6 14.Rad1 Rb8 15.h3 Nd7 16.Qe3 Ba8 17.Bh6 b5 The thematic advance for black in this type of position. 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.Bf1 Nf6 Intending bxa4 and Rb4. 20.axb5 axb5 21.Ne2 Bb7 22.Ng3 Ra8 23.c3 Ra4 24.Bd3 Qa8 25.e5 A thematic break in the Benoni structure. dxe5 26.Qxe5 Ncxd5 27.Bxb5 Ra7 28.Nh4 Threatening to play Nf5 at an appropriate moment. Bc8 29.Be2 Better was 29.c4 Nb4 30.Qxc5 29...Be6 30.c4 Nb4 31.Qxc5 White won a pawn. The passed pawns on the queenside can become quite powerful. Qb8 32.Bf1 Rc8 32...h6!? 33.Rd2 Rb7 33.Qg5 Kh8 34.Rd2 Nc6 35.Qh6 Threatening Nxg6. Rg8 Black managed to defend himself for a long time but now Black's position collapses. 35...Ne5± 36.Nf3 Qf8 36...Rd7 37.Ng5 Rxd2 38.Rxe6 Qf8 39.Qxf8 Rxf8 40.Rxc6± 37.Qe3 Black is outmanoeuvred. Kg7 38.Ng5 Bd7 39.b4 Qa8 40.b5 Na5 41.b6 Rb7 The position is hopeless for Black and the game was adjourned. But Korchnoi neither wanted to resume the game nor resign. It was Raymond Keene who finally resigned the game officially. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Karpov,A2725Korchnoi,V26651–01978A43World-ch28 Karpov-Kortschnoj +6-5=2132

Karpov celebrates a win

Karpov won Game 32 and remained World Champion | "Closing Gambit" frame courtesy Screenbound Pictures

Beating a World Champion

"Karpov is a very nice, warm, friendly [and] interesting person to talk to", says Bryon, who interviewed the former World Champion for the film (Korchnoi, unfortunately, died prior to the project being "greenlit" for production). As a young man in 1982, Byron played in a simul against Karpov and beat him! We had him dig up the game for posterity:

 
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1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d6 3.d4 g6 4.e4 Bg7 5.f3 0-0 6.Be3 e5 7.d5 c6 8.Bd3 Na6 9.Nge2 Bd7 10.0-0 c5 11.g4 h5 12.h3 hxg4 13.fxg4 Bxg4!? 14.Bg5?! 14.hxg4 Nxg4 15.Rf3 Qh4 16.Bf2 Qh2+ 17.Kf1 Nb4 18.Ng1 f5 19.Bb1 b5 20.cxb5 fxe4 21.Nxe4 Rxf3 22.Qxf3 Nxf2 23.Nxf2 Rf8 24.Qg2 Qxg2+ 25.Kxg2 Nxd5∞ 14...Bxh3 15.Ng3 15.Rf3 Bg4 16.Rf2 Nb8 17.Qb3 b6 18.Raf1 Nbd7 19.Rh2 Qc7 15...Bxf1 16.Qxf1 Nb8-+ 17.Re1 Re8 18.Re2 Nbd7 19.Rf2 Qe7 20.Nd1 Qf8 21.Bxf6 Nxf6 22.Rxf6 Bxf6 23.Qxf6 Qe7 24.Qf3 Qg5 25.Bf1 Qf4 26.Kg2 Qxf3+ 27.Kxf3 Kf8 28.a3 Ke7 29.Nf2 Rh8 30.Kg2 Raf8 31.Bd3 Rh4 32.b3 Rfh8 33.Nf1 R8h5 34.Ng3 Rh2+ 35.Kg1 Rh8 36.Nf1 R2h5 37.Ng3 Rh4 38.Kg2 Kf6 39.Kf3 Rf4+ 40.Kg2 Kg5 41.Be2 Rfh4 42.Kf3 Rh2 43.Nf1 R8h3+ 44.Nxh3+ Rxh3+ 45.Kf2 Rxb3 46.a4 Rb4 47.a5 Ra4 48.Kg3 Ra3+ 0–1
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Karpov,A-Byron,A-0–11982E88Karpov v England Juniors - Clock Simul

Byron news clippings

It's not every day you get to play (and win!) against a reigning World Champ!

Byron says chess training has helped him throughout his life being able to keep a lot of material in mind at once and seeing how things fit together. He remains a 2100-rated player.

The film has already been released in some territories; it was out in July in the USA, September in Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg). In November, it will make its debut in the UK and some Baltic states. The USA's Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is due to broadcast the documentary later this year and there will be various digital launches in various countries. You might also encounter the film on an airline entertainment system one day soon! So the film is doing well.

"I think [Magnus (the 2016 documentary)] started to break the mould", Byron observes, adding that peaking the interest of non-chess players is one of his goals. And "for chess players, there has never been a more interesting time for content".

Bryon and Sosonko

Alan Byron with GM Genna Sosonko (interviewed in the film) in Cannes earlier this year

Andre Schulz contributed to this story.

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Macauley served as the Editor in Chief of ChessBase News from July 2017 to March 2020. He is the producer of The Full English Breakfast chess podcast, and was an Associate Producer of the 2016 feature documentary, Magnus.

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