László Szabó 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
| László Szabó | Viktor Korchnoi | |
| Field | Sports | Sports |
| Sub-field | Chess | Chess |
| Born | 1917 | 1931 |
| Died | 1998 | 2016 |
| Country of birth | Hungary | Russia |
| Star sign | Pisces | Pisces |
Who they are
László Szabó
In the spring of 1950, chess's governing body FIDE organized the first official World Championship Candidates Tournament in Budapest — and it was played on Hungarian soil, in front of Hungarian crowds, with a Hungarian player competing seriously for the right to challenge world champion Mikhail Botvinnik. That player was László Szabó, and while he finished fifth in a field containing the greatest players alive, his presence alone announced something unmistakable: Hungarian chess had arrived at the summit of the game, and Szabó had carried it there.
Full biography of László Szabó →
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.
- Both Pisces.
Where they part
- Born in different countries: Hungary and Russia.
- 14 years separate their births (1917 and 1931).
Questions people ask
- Who came first, László Szabó or Viktor Korchnoi?
- László Szabó. László Szabó was born in 1917, Viktor Korchnoi in 1931.
- What field is each of them in?
- László Szabó is filed under Sports (Chess). Viktor Korchnoi is filed under Sports (Chess).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.