José Raúl Capablanca vs Viktor Korchnoi
Two chess prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
%2C%20Bestanddeelnr%20933-9735%20(cropped).jpg?width=640)
The record, side by side
| José Raúl Capablanca | Viktor Korchnoi | |
| Field | Sports | Sports |
| Sub-field | Chess | Chess |
| Born | 1888 | 1931 |
| Died | 1942 | 2016 |
| Country of birth | Cuba | Russia |
| Star sign | Libra | Pisces |
Who they are
José Raúl Capablanca
The story begins, as so many chess legends do, with a four-year-old watching his father play. In Havana, Cuba, in 1892, José Raúl Capablanca sat beside his father and watched the pieces move across the board. He had not been taught the rules. No one had explained the moves. But children observe what adults say cannot be taught, and when his father's knight moved incorrectly, young José spoke up. His father, startled, challenged the boy to a game. He lost. The child who had never formally learned chess had already mastered it.
Full biography of José Raúl Capablanca →
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.
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Where they part
- Born in different countries: Cuba and Russia.
- 43 years separate their births (1888 and 1931).
Questions people ask
- Who came first, José Raúl Capablanca or Viktor Korchnoi?
- José Raúl Capablanca. José Raúl Capablanca was born in 1888, Viktor Korchnoi in 1931.
- What field is each of them in?
- José Raúl Capablanca is filed under Sports (Chess). Viktor Korchnoi is filed under Sports (Chess).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.