Reuben Fine 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
| Reuben Fine | Viktor Korchnoi | |
| Field | Sports | Sports |
| Sub-field | Chess | Chess |
| Born | 1914 | 1931 |
| Died | 1993 | 2016 |
| Country of birth | United States | Russia |
| Star sign | Libra | Pisces |
Who they are
Reuben Fine
In 1948, FIDE organized a round-robin tournament in The Hague and Moscow to determine who would succeed Alexander Alekhine as World Chess Champion. Five players were invited. The sixth invitation — by many accounts the most interesting one — went to Reuben Fine of New York, ranked by most contemporary observers among the top two or three players in the world. Fine declined. He was in the middle of his psychoanalytic training and felt that his professional obligations took priority over competing for the world title. He was thirty-three years old. He never played serious…
Full biography of Reuben Fine →
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: United States and Russia.
- 17 years separate their births (1914 and 1931).
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Reuben Fine or Viktor Korchnoi?
- Reuben Fine. Reuben Fine was born in 1914, Viktor Korchnoi in 1931.
- What field is each of them in?
- Reuben Fine is filed under Sports (Chess). Viktor Korchnoi is filed under Sports (Chess).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.