Viktor Korchnoi: My life for chess

Viktor Korchnoi (1931 - 2016) was undoubtedly one of the most fascinating personalities in the chess world. The two-time World Championship finalist played successful and attractive chess, even into old age. In 2006 he visited ChessBase and recorded his video biography “My life for chess”. With these recordings Korchnoi created a living memorial to himself and his great chess career. This historical document is now available again: remastered by ChessBase, playable on many platforms (Windows, Mac) or as a stream and supplemented with a game database.

Korchnoi presents many of his most brilliant efforts from the years 1949-2005, among them, games against Smyslov, Geller, Tal, Huebner, Karpov, Kasparov, Spassky and Short. In each case Korchnoi describes in detail the story of the game, never beating around the bush, sometimes criticising his opponents harshly, but also lavishing praise on them when due. Embedded in the game commentaries are many details of Korchnoi’s biography; for instance, before commenting on his game against Spassky, the veteran speaks extensively about his personal relationship with the exworld champion.

Throughout these lectures, you can feel Korchnoi’s enduring love for chess. Whenever the great master gets to the heart of an opening (King’s Indian, English and French) or shows an astonishing move, one can see the joy sparkling in his eyes. Little wonder – no other chess genius has lived chess as intensively as “Viktor the Terrible”. A must-have for every chess fan!

• Video running time: 7 h 36 min. (English)
• Database with more than 5,000 games by Viktor Korchnoi

System requirements:
Minimum: PC, 2 GHz, 1 GB RAM, Windows 8.1, DirectX11 graphic card with 256 MB RAM, DVD-ROM drive, Windows Media Player 9 and internet connection for program activation. Recommended: PC Intel Core i7, 2.8 GHz, 4 GB RAM, Windows 10, DirectX11 graphic card (or compatible) with 512 MB RAM or better, 100% DirectX10 compatible sound card, Windows Media Player 11, DVD-ROM drive and internet connection for program activation.