Play Chess Against Viktor Korchnoi

Viktor Korchnoi (1931-2016), the relentless fighter who forced the 1978 world championship match to a thirty-second game, sits across the board. Set the strength, clock, color and starting position, then press Start game.

Play Korchnoi now

Portrait of Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi — Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi, 1931-2016.

Black · Viktor Korchnoi10:00

Choose the settings, then press Start game.

White · You10:00

Viktor Korchnoihistorical player

Preparing the board.

Set the game on the right. Start unlocks the board and starts the side-to-move clock.

Set up your game against Viktor Korchnoi

Viktor Korchnoi stays selected. Choose the playing strength, clock, color and starting position.

OpponentViktor KorchnoiStrength1500Clock10+5You playWhite

Opponent

Viktor Korchnoi remains selected while you choose the settings for this game.

Viktor Korchnoi1931-2016

Playing strength

Legend playing strength100-point steps

1500

1500Korchnoi, 1500 Elo target2600

Time control

The first number is the starting time in minutes. The second is the increment after each completed legal move.

Your color

Starting position optional

All chess legends

Start game locks these settings and begins the selected clock. Change setup unlocks them for a new game.

About Viktor Korchnoi

Viktor Korchnoi (1931-2016) built one of chess's longest elite careers on stubborn defense, sharp counterplay and a refusal to accept easy draws. A survivor of the Siege of Leningrad, he won four Soviet championships and played in ten Candidates cycles across three decades. He sought political asylum in the Netherlands in 1976, then fought through two consecutive Candidates cycles to challenge Anatoly Karpov in 1978 and 1981. Korchnoi kept competing long after his contemporaries retired, winning the World Senior Championship at seventy-five and the Swiss title at eighty.

2x world title challengerFaced Anatoly Karpov for the crown in Baguio in 1978 and Merano in 1981

4x USSR championWon the Soviet championship in 1960, 1962, 1964 and 1970

Ten Candidates cyclesPlayed in ten Candidates events between 1962 and 1991

Swiss champion at 80Won his fifth Swiss title in 2011, five years after becoming World Senior Champion

1931
Born in Leningrad
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi was born on 23 March 1931 in Leningrad, now Saint Petersburg. He learned chess from his father at five.
1943
Chess during the siege
While the Siege of Leningrad was still under way, he joined the city's Pioneer Palace and began studying with its chess teachers.
1960
First Soviet title
Won the USSR championship in Leningrad, the first of four victories in one of the strongest events in world chess.
1974
One point from Karpov
Lost the twenty-four-game Candidates final to Anatoly Karpov by 12.5-11.5. Karpov became world champion the next year when Bobby Fischer did not defend his title.
1976
Asylum after Amsterdam
Shared first at the IBM tournament in Amsterdam, then sought political asylum in the Netherlands and left the Soviet system behind.
1978
The Baguio comeback
Trailing Karpov by five wins to two, won three of the next four games to level the world championship match at 5-5. Karpov took game 32 and the title.
1981
Second title match
Won another Candidates cycle and challenged Karpov again in Merano, where the champion won by six victories to two.
2006
World Senior Champion
At seventy-five, won the World Senior Championship in Italy with nine points from eleven games.
2011
Swiss champion at 80
Beat Joe Gallagher in a playoff to win his fifth Swiss championship, a few months after his eightieth birthday.
2016
Death in Switzerland
Died in Wohlen on 6 June 2016. Few elite careers matched his combination of longevity, resilience and appetite for a fight.