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…
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Take the IQ test →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.