Viktor Korchnoi, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Viktor Korchnoi

Russian chess grandmaster

Date of Birth: 23-Mar-1931

Place of Birth: Saint Petersburg

Date of Death: 06-Jun-2016

Profession: writer, chess player

Nationality: Switzerland

Zodiac Sign: Aries

Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi (Russian: ??´???? ????´??? ??????´?, IPA: [v?ikt?r l?vov??t? k?rt?'noj]; 23 March 1931 – 6 June 2016) was a Soviet (until 1976) and Swiss (since 1980) chess grandmaster and writer.
He is considered one of the strongest players never to have become World Chess Champion.Born in Leningrad, Soviet Union, 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, he lost the Candidates final to Karpov, who was declared World Champion in 1975 when GM Bobby Fischer refused to defend his title.
Korchnoi then won two consecutive Candidates cycles to qualify for World 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.
In September 2006, he won the World Senior Chess Championship.