124-Move Chess Game at a World Chess Championship 1978 - Of Korchnoi-Karpov Missed Checkmate and Stalemate

WEEKEND CHESS STORY#1
The Anatoly Karpov-Viktor Korchnoi World Chess Championship 1978 began with four draws. The fifth game was drawn as well, but not without 124 moves - the longest in the world chess championship match history - and spills, chills and thrills aplenty.

Korchnoi-Karpov, World Chess Championship, 1978

Korchnoi began the game with clear attacking signals going for the kill from the word go. By the 42 move, it was almost clear that Karpov was going to lose this. The game was adjourned and Karpov sealed his move.

Korchnoi played 42. Rh1 Can you guess the
move Anatoly Karpov sealed for the adjourned game? The main threat is 43.Bh4 and Black must also protect the f pawn.

Remember this is a time before those chip-powered things made chess so machine-like! Karpov sealed not the best move. He had sealed an unexpected move and Korchnoi went for the mating attack after accepting a sacrifice. Karpov led his King on a long-escape for life across the board. Korchnoi went on to miss a checkmate on the 55th move in extreme time trouble and diluted to an endgame with a piece up. 

Korchnoi played here 55.Be4. Can you see
what Korchnoi could have played here for the
checkmate combination and changed world chess history?

However, what ensued is the an unforgettable endgame in chess history. 

The 1978 World Chess Championship was played in Baguio City, Philippines from July 18-October 18, 1978 with Anatoly Karpov winning in the end. The match had controversies both on and off the board. There were the hypnotist and the blueberry yogurt, but all that's another story. 

For now, check out the full game in our Chess King applet.

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On Chess: High Standards Credited to Fischer

An interesting chess column in The Columbus Dispatch by Shelby Lyman. Read on:

Before the rise of Bobby Fischer, international chess — even among the vaunted Soviets — was sometimes a quasi-amateur affair. Several of the top Soviet grandmasters depended on inspiration rather than diligence and preparation. In a category of his own was the young Mikhail Tal, whose creative flair at the board astonished and terrified foes. Often, he seemed to make up his game as he went along. His moves weren’t always correct, but, in the hurly-burly of struggle, they were effective. He became world champion at 24.

At the other extreme were players such as Fischer, Efim Geller and Viktor Korchnoi: harbingers of a more radical work ethic to come, laboring with little respite at the chess grindstone. Mikhail Botvinnik set a new standard for preparation and performance.

But it was the young American, Fischer, who raised the professional banner and chess work ethic to its highest level. As he explained to fellow grandmaster Larry Evans, Fischer focused on the game, consciously or unconsciously, 24 hours a day.

The previous bohemian approach to chess is no longer workable. This is, as some older grandmasters wistfully and woefully explain, largely both the contribution and the curse of Robert James Fischer. (Shelby Lyman is a Basic Chess Features columnist.)

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