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Library / Games / Karpov, Anatoly vs Kortschnoj, Viktor
World Championship 29th · Baguio City · 09 September 1978

Anatoly Karpov vs Viktor Kortschnoj, World Championship 29th, R20

Karpov, Anatoly ½–½ Kortschnoj, Viktor
Karpov, Anatoly vs Kortschnoj, Viktor
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World Championship 29th, 09 September 1978

The Karpov–Korchnoi 1978 match in Baguio City, Philippines, was the first Karpov title defense and one of the most politically charged events in chess history. Korchnoi had defected from the Soviet Union in 1976; the Soviet sports apparatus put its full weight behind Karpov. Round 20, played on September 9, was one of the long strategic draws that characterised the match’s middle phase.

The opening was solid and the middlegame slow. Karpov was leading the match at the time, having taken a series of wins early in the match. Korchnoi was searching for ways to convert his strong play into actual wins; Karpov was content to defend and draw, letting his lead carry him toward the required win total.

The match used a “first to six wins” format with no draw limit. Game 20 was one of dozens of draws across the three-month event. By the end, the match would tie 5-5 in won games, but Karpov reached the sixth win first — Game 32, October 18 — to retain the title.

The political backdrop was complete. The Soviet team brought a parapsychologist who sat in the second row and stared at Korchnoi for the duration of each game; Korchnoi protested but FIDE rejected the complaint. Mirrors were arranged. Yoghurt deliveries were inspected. The match’s atmosphere was unprecedented even by the standards of cold-war chess.

The draw on Game 20 was not a sporting climax, but it was a characteristic moment of the match: both players probing, neither giving way, a marathon governed by attrition rather than by single brilliant moves. Karpov defended his title; the Soviet establishment relaxed; the political context overshadowed the chess.

Game record

This game between Karpov, Anatoly and Kortschnoj, Viktor was played at the World Championship 29th in Baguio City in 1978. Played in round 20. At the time of the game, the players were rated 2725 (White) and 2665 (Black). The game lasted 63 moves, ending with a drawn outcome. It is part of the post-war Soviet era.