Viktor Korchnoi - First World Championship Match Against Karpov

First World Championship Match Against Karpov

In the next world championship cycle (1976–78), Korchnoi opened by again vanquishing Petrosian, by (+2 -1 =9) in the quarter-final round, taking a draw in a clearly favourable position in the final game. In the semi-final, held at Evian, Korchnoi won against Lev Polugaevsky, with the final score being (+5 -1 =7). The final, in which he faced Spassky, began with five wins and five draws for Korchnoi, after which he lost four consecutive games, though he steeled himself and finally secured victory in the match by (+7 -4 =7) to emerge as the challenger to Karpov.

The World Championship match of 1978 was held in Baguio, Philippines. There was controversy off the board, ranging from X-raying of chairs, protests about the flags used on the board, hypnotism complaints and the mirror glasses used by Korchnoi. When Karpov's team sent him a bilberry yogurt during a game without any request for one by Karpov, the Korchnoi team protested, claiming it could be some kind of code. They later said this was intended as a parody of earlier protests, but it was taken seriously at the time.

In quality of play, the match itself never measured up to the press headlines that it generated, although as a sporting contest it had its share of excitement. The match would go to the first player to win six games, draws not counting. After 17 games, Karpov had an imposing 4–1 lead. Korchnoi won game 21, but Karpov won game 27, putting him on the brink of victory with a 5–2 lead. Korchnoi bravely fought back, scoring three wins and one draw in the next four games, to equalise the match at 5–5 after 31 games. However, Karpov won the very next game, and the match, by 6–5 with 21 draws.