English Chess Forum

Some sad news on the ChessVibes site today. They report that Viktor Korchnoi suffered a stroke at the end of September (haven't seen any reference to this in the chess media, but maybe I missed it) and is now back in a clinic with heart trouble. ChessVibes speculate that he may not play again in which case it would be the end of an international career of matchless longevity.

Very sad news. Let's hope he gets better, even if he doesn't get back to playing.

Korchnoi's amazing longevity as a player (Smyslov and perhaps Lasker are the only even vaguely comparable examples I can think of) somehow gave all of us ageing wood-pushers hope that we hadn't necessarily played our best game(s) yet. I remember that Boris Gelfand mentioned Korchnoi's example (and words) in an interview a year or two back discussing his own development as a player and how he kept working to improve in his mid 40s.

I see A Friend Of Ours has posted his own tribute (with only a minor sideswipe at Termitery), including one of Korchnoi's best games. It's the 1960 one against Geller that VK annotated in Keene's Learn From The Grandmasters. The game is also on chessgames.com with Korchnoi's commentary from the book reproduced in the kibitzing thread.

Smyslov, Lasker..........and Reshevsky

Dunno about a stroke, but he played wretchedly in the Swiss championship last summer - coming last without a win and spending most of the time in a wheelchair. A subsequent event showed a bit of a return to form, but it seems clear that something has happened

Matt Mackenzie wrote:Smyslov, Lasker..........and Reshevsky

Dunno about a stroke, but he played wretchedly in the Swiss championship last summer - coming last without a win and spending most of the time in a wheelchair. A subsequent event showed a bit of a return to form, but it seems clear that something has happened

Forgot Reshevsky. I guess Bronstein is another candidate.

It seems there are varied reasons to keep playing into your 70s - the need to make a living (Lasker, Bronstein, prob. Reshevsky?), devotion to the art (Smyslov, Bronstein, and I dare say that had Tal lived that long he'd still have been playing), and sheer obsession (Viktor K).

Did read that bit about Korchnoi's terrible Swiss Ch result, which does indeed suggest something was amiss then.

Jacques Mieses played well into his eighties, his international career must have stretched over at least 60 years.
Blackburn also had a pretty decent innings.

carstenpedersen wrote:Blackburn also had a pretty decent innings.

Well yes, I am still going strong at 62.... I think that you probably meant Blackburne though, with an "e"

carstenpedersen wrote:Jacques Mieses played well into his eighties, his international career must have stretched over at least 60 years.
Blackburn also had a pretty decent innings.

Blackburne (from my adopted home of Manchester, and born not a mile from the University where I work) was a 'making a living' player, touring as far away as Australia giving simuls. I'm looking forward to Tim Harding's promised book about 'The Black Death' in a year or two.

I always had Mieses pegged more as a 'for love of the game' type, though he must presumably have been a chess professional into his later years. I always liked the famous story of him as an 80-something year old defeating a chap a couple of years younger and declaring 'youth has triumphed'. I think we discussed that one before on here and someone noted the exact occasion.

AustinElliott wrote:Forgot Reshevsky. I guess Bronstein is another candidate

Najdorf is probably a better example - Bronstein mostly sustained himself by writing in his later years, though he did also play a bit (not least over here, of course)

Matt Mackenzie wrote:

AustinElliott wrote:Forgot Reshevsky. I guess Bronstein is another candidate

Najdorf is probably a better example - Bronstein mostly sustained himself by writing in his later years, though he did also play a bit (not least over here, of course)

Aha - that gives me a nice excuse to post this classic example of later-ish years Bronstein (well, 65, so British retirement age), playing the 22 year old Stuart Conquest in London:
[Event "London (England)"] [Site "London (England)"] [Date "1989.??.??"] [EventDate "?"] [Round "8"] [Result "0-1"] [White "Stuart Conquest"] [Black "David Bronstein"] [ECO "B10"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "52"] 1. e4 c6 2. c4 d5 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. exd5 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Bc4 Bg7 7. Nge2 O-O 8. O-O Na6 9. d4 Nc7 10. Nf4 b6 11. a4 Bb7 12. Qb3 Rb8 13. Be3 a6 14. Rfc1 g5 15. Nfe2 h6 16. h4 b5 17. axb5 axb5 18. Bd3 b4 19. hxg5 hxg5 20. Na4 Ncxd5 21. Bxg5 Qd6 22. Ng3 Ng4 23. Be2 Nxf2 24. Qf3 Bxd4 25. Nf5 Ng4+ 26. Kf1 Nh2+ 0-1

Getting back to the initial thread topic, anyone got a similar favourite 'later years' Korchnoi game?

Mark Taimanov is another who had an extremely long career. Taimanov was active from about 1938 (there a telephone game against Lisitsin on chessgames.com) and his last FIDE rated tournament was 2008 so that makes him active for 70 years! That's possibly even longer than Najdorf?

Chris Goddard wrote:Mark Taimanov is another who had an extremely long career. Taimanov was active from about 1938 (there a telephone game against Lisitsin on chessgames.com) and his last FIDE rated tournament was 2008 so that makes him active for 70 years! That's possibly even longer than Najdorf?

Cheers, Chris. Taimanov is definitely another for the 'veterans gallery'.

Looking at Taimanov's recent opponents in veterans' events suggests a few more who played on at decent strength into their later years. Portisch's first game on chessgames is 1955, when he was 18, so if he keeps playing a few more years he will reach at least 60 active years - though I dare say he was playing a lot as a junior in his teens. Vlastimil Hort has racked up at least 50 years. Vasiukov and Uhlmann are other names. Interesting that all of the ones in the more modern era are players from the former Eastern Bloc.

Korchnoi back playing at Zurich after Christmas
http://www.chessdom.com/37th-zurich-christmas-open/