Korchnoi Beats Hort 5.5-2.5 (UPDATED)
That headline would have been more interesting 30-40 years ago, but it's nice to see them both in action. This is especially so in Korchnoi's case, as his absence from the Olympiad led to me to wonder about his health. His play against Hort wasn't up to his standards of even a couple of years ago, but he did manage to win the match, albeit only in rapid play. They played four classical games, all drawn, but then Korchnoi went 3.5/4 in the rapid phase for an overall 5.5-2.5 match victory.
It wasn't as convincing as the score would suggest, though. He had nothing in the first rapid game, but by pressing in a drawn position he achieved a lost game on the board but (presumably) a win on time. (No increments?) [DM: Correction in the update below.] The next two wins were fine, but the last game was a bit odd as well. With scrappy defense Korchnoi reached the drawn ending rook vs. rook + f & h pawn. He defended accurately for a long time, as befits someone once known as Mr. Rook Endings, and continued to defend well after Hort sacrificed the h-pawn. Yet near the end, he blundered this elementary (but not trivial) ending into a loss, and Hort failed to capitalize! Chess is tough.
You can read more about the match (and replay the games) here. As for the aforementioned rook ending, I think I'll discuss it as part of my ChessVideos show for this week.
UPDATE: Game 1 of the rapid portion did not end where the ChessVibes presentation suggests. Here, according to Chess Today, the game did not end after 46...b5 but after the following moves: 47.axb5 a4(? - 47...Rxb5 is better, with some winning chances) 48.Ra8 a3 49.Ne5 Rxb5 50.Ra7+ Ke8?! (50...Kd6=) 51.Nxf7 Rd5 52.Kg6 Kf8? (52...Rd4!=) 53.Nh6!? Rd6? 54.Ng8+- e5+?? 55.Nf6 1-0.