Efim Bogoljubov vs Viktor Korchnoi
Two chess prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
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The record, side by side
| Efim Bogoljubov | Viktor Korchnoi | |
| Field | Sports | Sports |
| Sub-field | Chess | Chess |
| Born | 1889 | 1931 |
| Died | 1952 | 2016 |
| Country of birth | Russia | Russia |
| Star sign | Aries | Pisces |
Who they are
Efim Bogoljubov
A story — possibly apocryphal, certainly too good not to record — holds that when someone asked Efim Bogoljubov why he was so confident before a particular game, he replied: "When I have White, I win because I have White. When I have Black, I win because I am Bogoljubov." The line captures the man perfectly: large ego, enormous confidence, an infectious delight in chess, and enough genuine talent to partially justify every bit of it. Bogoljubov was not quite the best chess player of his era, but he was very nearly so, and the…
Full biography of Efim Bogoljubov →
Viktor Korchnoi
There are players who fight for the World Championship, and there are fighters who make the World Championship tremble. Viktor Korchnoi was the second kind — a man of such consuming competitive fury that he challenged for the chess crown twice in the late 1970s under conditions that would have broken most players: stripped of Soviet support, separated from his family held hostage in the USSR, playing across the board from the Soviet machine's handpicked champion. He was known as "Viktor the Terrible," a nickname that captured something true about his nature: the ferocity, the…
Full biography of Viktor Korchnoi →
What they share
- Both are held here under Sports.
- Same sub-field: Chess.
- Both born in Russia.
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Where they part
- 42 years separate their births (1889 and 1931).
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Efim Bogoljubov or Viktor Korchnoi?
- Efim Bogoljubov. Efim Bogoljubov was born in 1889, Viktor Korchnoi in 1931.
- What field is each of them in?
- Efim Bogoljubov is filed under Sports (Chess). Viktor Korchnoi is filed under Sports (Chess).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.