Tigran Petrosian 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
| Tigran Petrosian | Viktor Korchnoi | |
| Field | Sports | Sports |
| Sub-field | Chess | Chess |
| Born | 1929 | 1931 |
| Died | 1984 | 2016 |
| Country of birth | Russia | Russia |
| Star sign | Taurus | Pisces |
Who they are
Tigran Petrosian
Among the nine World Chess Champions who preceded Bobby Fischer, none was more mysterious or more misunderstood than Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian. Called "Iron Tigran" by his contemporaries, he held the world championship from 1963 to 1969 by mastering a form of chess so different from anything that had come before that even grandmasters who studied his games found them difficult to fully understand. He did not win by attacking, by brilliant sacrifices, or by tactical fireworks. He won by ensuring, with a near-supernatural foresight, that his opponents could never do anything to him at all.
Full biography of Tigran Petrosian →
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.
- Both born in Russia.
- Near contemporaries - 2 years apart.
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Tigran Petrosian or Viktor Korchnoi?
- Tigran Petrosian. Tigran Petrosian was born in 1929, Viktor Korchnoi in 1931.
- What field is each of them in?
- Tigran Petrosian is filed under Sports (Chess). Viktor Korchnoi is filed under Sports (Chess).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.