Key Concepts of Chess - Pawn Structures Vol.1 and 2
In this two-part course the emphasis will be on typical pawn-structures.
Viktor Kortchnoi was born in Leningrad on March 23, 1931, and passed away in Wohlen, Switzerland, on June 6, 2016. He was the main rival of world champion Anatoly Karpov, competing against him for the World Chess Championship in 1974, 1978, and 1981. Kortchnoi was a four-time Soviet Union champion (1960, 1962, 1964, and 1966). In 1976, he sought and was granted political asylum in the Netherlands. From 1978, he lived in Switzerland, where he eventually became a citizen and lived until his death.
Kortchnoi applied for political asylum after the IBM tournament in Amsterdam in 1976 and went into hiding at various addresses. During his time in the Netherlands, he quickly became the national champion (in Leeuwarden 1977) and played for the sponsored Rotterdam chess club Volmac/Rotterdam for many years. He also became Swiss champion five times (1982, 1984, 1985, 2009, and 2011).
At the age of 16, Kortchnoi became the Soviet Union youth champion, and at 20, he was awarded the title of Russian master, the youngest player to receive this honor at the time. He became a grandmaster in 1956 and participated in the national championship for the first time. In 1961, he qualified for the Curaçao Candidates Tournament in 1962 through the Stockholm Interzonal Tournament but did not make a significant impact. However, he won the Soviet Championship again in 1962 and 1964. Throughout the 1960s, Kortchnoi won several major tournaments and in 1967, he re-entered the world championship cycle by performing well in the Sousse Interzonal Tournament. In the 1968 Candidate Matches, he defeated Samuel Reshevsky (5½-2½) and Mikhail Tal (5½-4½) but lost to Boris Spassky (3½-6½) in the final.
Kortchnoi represented the Soviet Union in six Chess Olympiads (1960, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1972, and 1974) and later represented Switzerland in several Olympiads.
In 1974, Kortchnoi advanced through the Candidate Matches by defeating Henrique Mecking (7½-5½) and Tigran Petrosian (3½-1½, with Petrosian withdrawing). He faced Karpov in the final, narrowly losing 11½-12½. When Fischer decided not to defend his title, in 1975 Karpov became the new world champion by default.
We've previously discussed Kortchnoi's intense World Championship match against Karpov in Baguio City (Philippines, 1978). Kortchnoi became challenger by defeating Petrosian (6½-5½), Lev Polugaevsky (8½-4½), and Boris Spassky (10½-7½) in 1977. In the thrilling match against Karpov, Kortchnoi narrowly lost 16½-15½.
From the Baguio City match, the fifth game stands out for several reasons. After Kortchnoi, who was playing with White, missed a mate in time trouble, a complex endgame arose, in which White was left only with his black-squared bishop and his a-pawn. This endgame is a well-known draw if no other pieces remain on the board and the black king reaches a8 - though White is a bishop and a pawn up, he cannot queen the a-pawn.
However, in the game Karpov still had his a- and his b-pawn, which gave White winning chances. But in the end Karpov managed to draw.
The diagram position shows an endgame study by Averbakh, which illustrates the difficulties Karpov faced. Do you see how White forces a win and can you identify the mechanism for achieving it?
Master Class Vol.15 - Viktor Korchnoi
In this video course, experts (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) examine the games of Viktor Korchnoi. Let them show you which openings Korchnoi chose to play, where his strength in middlegames were, or how he outplayed his opponents in the endgame.
This week’s show (for Premium Members only)
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