Viktor Korchnoi

Inducted 2017 1931 - 2016

Switzerland

Biography

Viktor Korchnoi was arguably the strongest player never to become world chess champion. He is best known for the three World Championship matches he played with Anatoly Karpov in 1974, 1978 and 1981—losing the first two by only a single game. The last two matches were played after he defected from the Soviet Union in 1976. A candidate for the World Chess Championship on ten occasions (1962, 1968, 1971, 1974, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1991), no player in the history of the game has played so well for as long as Korchnoi, who remained a world-class player into his late 70s.

Notable Games

Viktor Korchnoi vs. Mikhail Tal

1-0 USSR Championship Yerevan ARM 11 Dec 1962 Round: 14 ECO: A62

Viktor Korchnoi and Vassily Ivancuhk Compete in the Quarterfinal of the 1994 PCA/Intel Grand Prix (1994) | Collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame, gift of Raquel Browne

Netherlands against Russia from left to right: Viktor Korchnoi, Tigran Petrosian, and Jan Hein Donner (July 3, 1962) | Photographer: Harry Pot | Collection of the National Archive of the Netherlands