Overview

The fourth and final volume of FM Hans Renette and IM Tibor Karolyi's treatise on the life and games of Viktor Korchnoi will surprise you. Covering the period from 1992 until the maestro's death in 2016 at the age of 85, it contains a bumper 208 highly instructive games and fragments. Fighting games, attacks, endgames, theoretical battles, time scrambles, classical and rapid - it has the lot. And Korchnoi was no weakling in his incredible late career! He won the category 16 Madrid tournament in 1995 at the age of 64 ahead of Short, Salov, Yusupov, Polgar and Timman among others. His first place at Sarajevo in 1998 saw him achieve a tournament performance rating of 2831 at the age of 67. He was the highest-rated 70-year old ever with an Elo of 2639 in 2001. In that same year he won the category 17 double-round robin tournament at Biel, ahead of Gelfand, Svidler, Lautier, Grischuk and Pelletier. In 2004 he achieved a tournament performance rating of nearly 2800 in the city of Paks, Hungary, at the age of 73. Viktor was still unleashing opening novelties in his late 70s, playing tournaments around the world and winning some of them. Notably, he was World Senior Champion in 2006 and was ranked in the world's top hundred as late as 2007, when aged 75. He became Swiss champion for the fifth time in 2011 at the age of 80 and he even introduced a novelty in a game with Uhlmann in 2015 when aged almost 84. This book contains games against Magnus Carlsen (whom he beat in 2004), Fabiano Caruana (whom he beat in 2011), Kasparov, Karpov, Spassky, Gelfand, Timman, Short, Ponomariov, Yusupov, Svidler, Uhlmann, Hort, Beliavsky, Piket, Speelman, Tiviakov, Adams, Sadler, Romanishin, Vallejo, Vasiukov, Sutovsky, Gashimov, Ashley, and the legendary trainer Mark Dvoretsky among many others. It also contains 80 tournament and family photos, the vast majority of them published in a book for the first time. This book is available in three editions - paperback, hardback and full-colour hardback. The full-colour hardback is only available for purchase from the publisher's website and specialised chess book stockists. Check out the Elk and Ruby website for special offers on this and other books!

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9781916839083

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Reviews

""I have to say - echoing Tibor's Epilogue - that this series has been a revelation to me. Of course, I knew how strong Viktor was, but I only truly appreciated the magnitude after seeing his career unfold year after year throughout this series... A wonderful tribute to a unique player. 5 stars!"" - Grandmaster Matthew Sadler, New In Chess magazine, July 2025 ""There are 669 games (or game fragments), and as many Korchnoi stories as one could possibly want across the four magnificent volumes. Hans Renette and Tibor Karolyi have done a simply wonderful job in collating the treasures of Korchnoi's life and career, fully augmented by an excellent selection of photographs. Very few players will have a multi-volume series of books published about them, long after their death (although Elk and Ruby have already started such a task about Alexander Alekhine, of course). What a magnificent series! Congratulations to all concerned."" - Sean Marsh, CHESS Magazine, July 2025 ""Once again, the deadly combination of Hans Renette (historian) and Tibor Karolyi (analyst) strikes to create an amaz-ing story summing up Korchnoi's last years, 1992-2016... I can't recommend this four-volume series enough. Yes...I am biased, because Korchnoi is one of my favorite players, but the work that Karolyi and Renette have put in is nothing short of breathtaking."" - Mark Capron, The Chess Journalist, July 2025 ""This series is truly a masterpiece and deserves shelf space among all of Korchnoi's fans."" - FIDE Master Carsten Hansen, ACM, October 2025

""FM Hans Renette and IM Tibor Karolyi complete their detailed tribute to one of the game's greatest-ever fighters by looking at the last 24 years of Viktor Korchnoi's life, during which time he frequently had stunning results despite his age, such as winning Madrid 1995 ahead of Polgar, Salov, Short, Timman and Yusupov, or when he defeated Fabiano Caruana at Gibraltar in 2011. In all there are 208 games and fragments, as well as 80 photos, many of which will be new to even the most ardent of Korchnoi fans in this typically impressive production from Elk and Ruby."" - Sean Marsh, CHESS magazine, June 2025

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