Korchnoi Wins Botvinnik Memorial Senior Event

(That's a senior event memorializing Mikhail Botvinnik, not an event for Mikhail Botvinnik, Senior.) Viktor the terrible - Viktor Korchnoi - is at it again. True, it was "only" a senior event, but still: he's the second oldest player there and he keeps winning. His score of 7/9 (TPR: 2637) put him a full point ahead of Evgeni Vasiukov (perhaps best known as the victim of Tal's hippopotamus-in-the-marsh piece sac, but a great player in his own right; have a look at what he did as an "old" man against van Wely in 2002 for a glimpse of what he was capable of in his heyday) and two points ahead of the still-active Lajos Portisch.

The star event memorializing Botvinnik will take place in a couple of weeks. There will be a rapid event starting September 1 with a few good players you've probably heard of: Viswanathan Anand, Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian and Vladimir Kramnik. They will subsequently play in team matches with some strong female players - less interesting, but it's always nice to the big guns in action. (More on this here.)

Korchnoi Not Coming to St. Louis

Viktor Korchnoi was scheduled to play a match with Ben Finegold in St. Louis next week, concurrent with the Hikaru Nakamura-Ruslan Ponomariov match, but has had to cancel due to health concerns. According to the organizers, the concerns are not serious in the big picture, but are enough to impair Korchnoi's ability to travel internationally. It's a pity Finegold and for fans who hoped to see the legend in person, and of course for Korchnoi himself. There will still be a Finegold match, however, as Ray Robson has been enlisted to fill in.

Nakamura vs. Ponomariov and Korchnoi vs. Finegold in St. Louis

St. Louis is not just the place to be for the U.S. Championship; there are other big-time events going on there as well. Coming up in exactly two weeks (May 16) are a pair of matches featuring their resident GMs, Hikaru Nakamura and Ben Finegold. Nakamura (currently #8 in the world) will take on former FIDE k.o. champ (and current world #11) Ruslan Ponomariov while Finegold takes on the legendary Viktor Korchnoi.

Both are 10-game matches, consisting first of six games with a "classical" time control followed by four rapid contests. More info here.

Korchnoi's 80th Birthday Simul

A report, with pictures and games, is here.

Viktor Korchnoi's 80th Birthday Celebration

Featuring the man of honor giving a simul prior to the celebratory dinner. Invitees included Garry Kasparov, Mark Taimanov and others. A picture report on the event (with a musical link) is here.

A Contrarian on Korchnoi

A few days ago we wished Viktor Korchnoi a happy birthday, as did many other chess sites. Korchnoi's chess and fighting spirit are universally commendable, but although he is capable of coming across in pleasantly impish manner, he hasn't always been a beacon of sunshine and happiness. Here's how Korchnoi's contemporary and fellow GM, Evgeny Vasiukov, sees it.

Happy 80th Birthday, Viktor Korchnoi

Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi, one of the greatest players of the 20th century (and even now a strong GM) and certainly one of the strongest players never to become world champion, is 80 years old today. His accomplishments as a chess player are staggering, both qualitatively and quantitatively, for his exceptionally long career. He twice lost world championship matches - once by a single point - and twice lost in Candidates finals. (Once by a point, and that was probably a de facto world championship match.) He was a candidate on six other occasions, won four Soviet championships and a huge number of other tournaments, and was an elite player for approximately 40 years.

He has also lived a very interesting and colorful life, and here's wishing he'll add many more years to it. Happy birthday, Grandmaster Korchnoi!

Korchnoi at Amber

It's a rest day at the Amber Tournament, but at least there's a new video for us, featuring Viktor Korchnoi.

Gibraltar, Round 6: Ivanchuk Beats Short, Leads; Korchnoi Still Undefeated!

Vassily Ivanchuk's victory over the hitherto perfect (with respect to his tournament score, that is) Nigel Short propelled him into clear first with 5.5/6. Daniel Fridman and Victor Mikhalevski are tied for second with 5. Back, but still in the leading group, is Viktor Korchnoi, who drew with Black today with the 2690-rated Krishnan Sasikiran. He has 4/6, and continues to pick up rating points faster than a Ukranian junior. Go Viktor!

This Week's ChessVideos Show: Korchnoi's Win Over Caruana

It's such a good story, so how could I resist turning it into a video? Have a look here to see my presentation of Viktor "the Terrible" Korchnoi's win over Fabiano Caruana from the ongoing tournament in Gibraltar. As always, the show is free (free registration is required) and will be available on-demand for the next month or so.