Master Class Vol.15 - Viktor Korchnoi by Dr. Karsten Müller, Mihail Marin, Oliver Reeh, Yannick Pelletier

Viktor Korchnoi (born in 1931 in Leningrad) is one of the great players in chess history. He first qualified for a Candidates Tournament for the World Championship as early as 1962, and subsequently took part many times in further Candidates Matches. His final candidates match was against Kasparov in 1983. For decades Korchnoi belonged to the absolute world elite. In the late 1970s he was number two in the world rankings behind Anatoly Karpov.

After Korchnoi fled the USSR as a dissident in 1976, he engaged in two exciting and politically heated competitions for the world championship against Karpov, in 1978 and 1981. In 1978, Korchnoi lost by a narrow margin. He continued to play at a high level in many tournaments well into his later years. He cultivated a very combative, concrete style, and was a master of defence. He gladly accepted sacrifices, or won and then defended a material advantage until victory. Korchnoi had outstanding knowledge of the endgame, and was probably the world’s best expert on rook endgames. In this video course, experts including Yannick Pelletier, Mihail Marin, Karsten Müller and Oliver 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. Finally, you’ll get a glimpse of his tactical abilities in the Tactics section. This edition features an additional video by Yannick Pelletier, who looks back on Korchnoi’s life, and shares the memory of his experiences with one of the greatest players of all time.

• Video running time: 7 hours 53 minutes(English)
• Interactive tactics test with video feedback
• “Korchnoi Powerbooks”: Korchnoi’s opening repertoire as a variation tree
• Tactical training with 24 games
• Extra video by Yannick Pelletier

Sample video

1. Introduction
2. Short biography
3. Viktor Korchnoi Spotlight
4. Opening
5. Introduction
6. Leningrad Dutch
7. King's Indian Defence
8. Classical Openings
9. English Opening
10. Black vs 1.d4
11. Black vs 1.e4
12. Conclusion
13. Strategy
14. Introduction
15. Kortschnoj-Petrosian 1980
16. Korchnoi-Petrosian, Candidates 1980
17. Kortschnoj-Jussupov 1981
18. Korchnoi-Jussupow, Lone Pine 1981
19. Karpov-Kortschnoj 1978
20. Karpov-Korchnoi, World Championship Game 28 1978
21. Gruenfeld-Kortschnoj 1985
22. Gruenfeld-Korchnoi, Brussels 1985
23. Kortschnoj-Polugaevsky 1987
24. Korchnoi-Polugaevsky, Candidates 1977
25. Kortschnoj-Plakhetka 1969
26. Korchnoi-Plachetka, Luhacovice International 1969
27. Caruana-Kortschnoj 2011
28. Caruana-Korchnoi, Gibraltar 2011
29. Tactics 1-10
30. Korchnoi-Shapkin 1949
31. Korchnoi-Cherepkov 1953
32. Korchnoi-Gusev 1956
33. Fuchs-Korchnoi 1965
34. Byrne-Korchnoi 1967
35. Corral-Korchnoi 1968
36. Kozma-Korchnoi 1969
37. Korchnoi-Balashov 1971
38. Korchnoi-Ree 1972
39. Ivanov-Korchnoi 1973
40. Tactics 11-20
41. Korchnoi-Karpov 1974
42. Langeweg-Korchnoi 1976
43. Huss-Korchnoi 1979
44. Sigurjonsson-Korchnoi 1980
45. Korchnoi-Huebner 1981
46. Portisch-Korchnoi 1983
47. Korchnoi-Beliavsky 1990
48. Korchnoi-Timman 1991
49. Korchnoi-Wade 1992
50. Korchnoi-Romanishin 1992
51. Tactics 21-25
52. Ballmann-Korchnoi 1995
53. Fressinet-Korchnoi 1996
54. Korchnoi-Lepelletier 1996
55. Korchnoi-Bach 1997
56. Korchnoi-Solak 2002
57. Endgames
58. Introduction
59. Rook endings
60. The cut-off
61. Reaching the Lucena position
62. The rook belongs behind the passed-pawn
63. Kasparov's king advance
64. Kasparov's king retreat
65. Korchnoi's king
66. The power of the passed e-pawn
67. The power of connected passed pawns
68. Races with hurdles
69. The world championship match Karpov-Korchnoi Baguio City 1978
70. The will to win
71. Karpov's cut off
72. Deep problems
73. Korchnoi's initiative
74. Karpov's drawing zone
75. Rook vs bishop
76. The dangerous corner
77. A non-standard draw
78. Powerplay on the light squares
79. Powerplay on the dark squares
80. Rook and knight vs rook
81. Coordination problems
82. Queen endgame
83. Queen plus h- and f-pawn win against queen
84. Knight vs bishop endgame
85. Zugzwang is the sharpest endgame weapon
86. The knight strikes back
87. Bonus
88. Training Questions
89. All Games
90. Korchnoi book with White
91. Korchnoi book with Black