Chess is My Life: Autobiography and Games

by Viktor Korchnoi

Victor Korchnoi's Chess is My Life was first published nearly 20 years ago; now, in a series of lengthy interviews, Korchnoi has retold the story of his life, right from the beginning. Korchnoi's memories of his childhood in Leningrad, his years at university, his rise to the top of the chess world, and the years before and after his flight to the West are an impressive account of a life in chess. The book also includes 15 deeply annotated games considered as key to his career.

Genres: Chess, Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi was a Soviet (before 1976) and Swiss (after 1980) chess grandmaster (GM) and chess writer. He is considered one of the strongest players never to have become World Chess Champion.

Born in Leningrad, Soviet Union (USSR), Korchnoi defected to the Netherlands in 1976, and resided in Switzerland from 1978, becoming a Swiss citizen. Korchnoi played four matches, three of which were official, against GM Anatoly Karpov. In 1974, Korchnoi lost the Candidates Tournament final to Karpov. Karpov was declared World Champion in 1975 when GM Bobby Fischer declined to defend his title. Korchnoi then won two consecutive Candidates cycles to qualify for World Chess Championship matches with Karpov in 1978 and 1981 but lost both. The two players also played a drawn training match of six games in 1971.

Korchnoi was a candidate for the World Championship on ten occasions (1962, 1968, 1971, 1974, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1988, and 1991). He was also four times a USSR Chess Champion, five times a member of Soviet teams that won the European championship, and six times a member of Soviet teams that won the Chess Olympiad. He played competitive chess until old age. At age 75, he won the 2006 World Senior Chess Championship and became the oldest person ever to be ranked among the world's top 100 players.

Reviews

[Jesse Kraai · Rating 2 out of 5]

Viktor the terrible achieves no introspection in this collection of self-justifications.
An editor could have forced him.
He has zero awareness of how caustic and toxic he is and instead imagines vast conspiracies that put people against him. Given that we learn so little about the man himself it would have been far more entertaining to just list all the mean shit he ever said about everybody. "Shit my dad says"

[Manny · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a theory that playing chess makes you paranoid. The argument is something like this: you rapidly learn that whenever your opponent makes a move, no matter how innocent it appears, you are strongly advised to think about what he is really trying to do to you. Often, you discover that there is some cleverly concealed plan you need to counteract. The problem is that this thinking can spill over into real life, which isn't a two-person zero-sum game with perfect information.

People who like the chess/paranoia theory invariably quote Viktor Korchnoi as an example. Read his book, and you'll understand why.

[Anonymous. Anonymous. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an interesting book. Korchnoi is a living legend, and these things did really happen. Can you even imagine being ostrasized from your own country. Your family in the custody of a government that killed millions of its own people. Having to face "the chosen one" the youth that defined communist ideals and intellect. He armed with a team that included the greatest minds in chess history. And yes, they did have a psychic there trying to intimidate Korchnoi. In Russia it was a common belief that phsychics could influence others(there are many books written in Russian on mind control and hypnosys). An amazing story. There is a movie on youtube "the great chess movie" one of the most interesting things out there if you love chess and its history, and the story of a true rebel.

[Cormac Zoso · Rating 5 out of 5]

My all-time favorite player, Viktor Korchnoi. Perhaps the greatest player to never win the world championship and one of the great board battlers of all time. Never giving up and always pushing and trying to force out a win as if a draw was a mark of humiliation.

This is an old version,hardback, 1978, and covers up to 1976. His life surviving World War Two is thrilling and frightening and gives you an idea of how he learned to fight and survive. Excellent book that should be read by any chess player.

[Miro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't expect much from this book but i loved it. After buying it for 2$ in a sale, Kortschnoi surprised me with both his story and his storytelling ability. While not always the cleanest, chapters like his fight against Karpov and what he represented were fascinating and providing an insight into the workings of the USSR not only for chess lovers but for everyone. 4.5/5, the last few chapters were honestly unnecessary and should've been left out.

[Fred Fomm · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s a share of reviews prior to mine dismissing the bulk of this work because, according to them, Viktor Lvovich would be “paranoid”. This accusation, alas, befalls virtually all chess players who dare to speak out - in 2015, when Garry Kimovich Kasparov wrote a book called “Winter Is Coming” warning us of Russia’s/Putin’s downward spiral into fascism, he was called precisely that - a “paranoid”. Currently, as I write this review (May - 2022), Navalny is incarcerated, old KGB poison recipes are bubbling up again and the Ukraine is being swept by Russian waves of rape, murder and ethnic cleansing. So Garry Kimovich wasn’t a “paranoid” after all - but what about Korchnoi?

Having miraculously survived the siege of Leningrad as a wee kid to later climb his way through the steep and successive échelons of the Soviet chess machine, he was clearly an insider, thus he knew exactly how said machine was oiled. On the other hand, Viktor Lvovich was also a very well known poor loser, who frequently abused verbally the opponents who beat him - as we know from Nigel Short, Tony Miles and a cartload of others. So, when Korchnoi describes the famous (and infamous) 1978 kerfuffle in Baguio - the centrepiece of this book - we might believe his account, just not naïvely and promptly taking it all at face value.

(Again, it’s May 2022, and the heirs to the Soviet machine - the Russians - are prohibited from wearing their colours, from hoisting their flag or from singing their anthem at all and any sports events. GM Karjakin is banned from all official FIDE competitions for half a year, thus missing out the next Candidates)

Structurally, the book rolls out in a very confusing narrative. If in theory it’s chronological, it still might toss you to and fro about Korchnoi’s timeline without clear disclaimers - or a DeLorean. Granted: Viktor Lvovich wasn’t a professional scribe, however a keen publisher could’ve (should’ve) addressed that. The disposition of the text is likewise odd - two columns, as if it were a book on chess miniatures, puzzles or combinations. It isn’t - this is an autobiography. There are, true, some nine or ten games analysed throughout the book’s 250 pages, yet these could easily have come as an appendix at the end of the text. The typeface employed - Arial-like; no serifs - strikes me as a likewise weird choice by the publishing house (as also is the myriad of ellipses at the end of so many paragraphs).

Summing up - in spite of this issue’s many faults, it’s still a great and fun read for chess fans and chess players. Especially for older ones like me, born in the seventies, a bygone era when the Game of Kings included not only 64 squares and 32 pieces, but also colour-coded and drug-laden yoghurts, mind-reading hypnotists, mirrored spectacles and yogi sectarians on bail for attempted murder.

[Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought the same title book back in 1976 and was worried that this current book would be that plus some add ons, In fact the book DOES include the earlier work bu has been COMPLELY REWRITTEN. For chess plays who now have an abundance of games available, this lack games but is mainly just the biography. That's OK. Plus the book comes with a CD with his collections of games but (alas)no annotations

[Hamed.S · Rating 5 out of 5]

its a perfect book

[Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much more valuable as an exposé of the politically corrupted Soviet sports management system than as a chess manual.

[getting over it]

Paranoia seems to be a widely observed phenomenon among chess players.

[Matthew Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part biography, part history, and part chess instruction - Chess is My Life is your chance to learn from a master. Reading this book gave me an insight into the realities of life in the Soviet Union. In the States, we've all seen many movies about defecting Soviets. This book shows reality with the "Hollywood" stripped away.

Reading Korchnoi's accounts of his tournaments also taught me this: even with superior strategy and intellect, you can still lose if you let emotions override good judgment and mental focus. Korhcnoi shares his defeats as intimately as his victories - maybe more so.

The games in the back of the book taught me a lot about chess. This is not a how-to book for beginners, so don't expect that. You won't find 100 variations on the Sicilian, either. But you will get some insight into problem-solving and difficult positions. You will see how small moves can lead to disaster or victory.

[Bobsie67 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of Soviet ear paranoia from Korchnoi--and he had every right to be paranoid. Clearly Tigran Petrosian was as villainous as the KGB agents sent to keep track of the Soviet players lucky enough to leave Mother Russia. Would have liked this bio to have more closely weaved the games section with the narrative. Will takes some time to really work through the terrific games collection at the end.