Max Euwe 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
| Max Euwe | Viktor Korchnoi | |
| Field | Sports | Sports |
| Sub-field | Chess | Chess |
| Born | 1901 | 1931 |
| Died | 1981 | 2016 |
| Country of birth | Netherlands | Russia |
| Star sign | Aries | Pisces |
Who they are
Max Euwe
In December 1935, in a match played across fifteen Dutch cities, a mild-mannered Amsterdam schoolteacher and mathematician accomplished one of the most stunning upsets in chess history. Machgielis "Max" Euwe defeated Alexander Alekhine — the dazzling, terrifying, seemingly invincible World Champion — by a score of 15.5 to 14.5, claiming the title of 5th World Chess Champion. The chess world was stunned. Alekhine was widely considered the strongest player alive; Euwe was a respected amateur — gifted, studious, but surely not in Alekhine's category. The match proved otherwise. For two years, the most powerful chess…
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: Netherlands and Russia.
- 30 years separate their births (1901 and 1931).
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Max Euwe or Viktor Korchnoi?
- Max Euwe. Max Euwe was born in 1901, Viktor Korchnoi in 1931.
- What field is each of them in?
- Max Euwe is filed under Sports (Chess). Viktor Korchnoi is filed under Sports (Chess).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.