Karpov v. Korchnoi - The 1978 Chess World Championship Match

The Chess World Championship is the highest-stakes event in the chess world. Two players are pitted against each other - one being the reigning champion defending their title, the other being a challenger that has come out on top of several brutal qualification tournaments. They engage in what can be considered as one of the greatest tests of mental fortitude and endurance that humanity has ever devised.

The format was the first player to win six (6) games would win the match. Drawn games, which are extremely common at the top level, would not count for either player. In practice, this meant that the match could, theoretically, go forever. If the two players just drew their games over and over, the match wouldn't end. One player needed to get six (6) wins for it to end.

For a single game, each player would be allotted two (2) hours of time. After forty moves played, each player would have an additional hour added to their clock. Single games could, and would, last upwards of five (5) or six (6) hours.

In 1978, the International Chess Federation (FIDE) selected the Philippines to host the World Championship Match. This article, however, is not about the moves that were played on the board - rather, this article is about the absolute spectacle that came along with it. What happened over the next ninety (90) in Baguio easily goes down as the most strange and accusatory World Championship that has ever been played, or ever will be.

Enter the Challenger: Korchnoi

Victor Korchnoi was a five-time Soviet Chess Champion when he qualified for the 1978 World Championship match. At 47 years old, he was the second highest rated player in the world. He played an aggressive, attacking style of chess, creating imbalances and tactical possibilities throughout every game he played. Aggressive play, such as his, had become less popular in recent decades in response to the cold and calculated Soviet “Scientific School,” but Korchnoi continued to breathe life into the style long after the first claims of its ineffectiveness.

The year prior to the match, Korchnoi had defected from the Soviet Union while playing in, and winning, a tournament in Amsterdam. With help from his fellow grandmasters, Korchnoi was escorted to the police station where he formally applied for political asylum. He managed to smuggle out the entirety of his chess library, and settled in Switzerland.

Enter the Champion: Karpov

Anatoly Karpov acquired the World Champion title in 1975 after American grandmaster Bobby Fischer declined to defend. Karpov had beaten most of the best players in the world to qualify for the match. With Fischer absent, FIDE decided award the title to Karpov, crowning him the World Champion. Because he got the title in such a fashion, he was very self conscious and was determined to prove that he was worthy of the title. This match against Korchnoi would be his first opportunity to officially defend himself.

Karpov was a poster boy for Soviet Chess - he had lead the Soviets to multiple victories in team championships around the world, and was vocally supportive of the Soviet government and communism overall. He employed an unrelenting, restricting play style. A style often referred to as “Russian School Boy Chess,” Karpov refused to create any sort of weakness or opening for his opponents. This would lead to his opponents over extending while trying to create some attacking opportunity, but also allow Karpov to deliver a punishing counter-attack. At the time of the match, he was the highest rated player in the world. His killer trait? Staring his opponent directly in the eyes during the game, rather than study the board.

Songs, Flags, Yogurts and Handshakes

The stage is set - Soviet-Defector Crazy-Chess Enjoying Korchnoi verses Communism-Fan Ultra-Calculated Karpov, in a chess match where each game lasts five hours and can theoretically go on forever. Let's go!

Before the first move was played, there were already several controversies in play. During the opening ceremonies, each player was allowed to select a song to be played during their introduction. Korchnoi had selected the “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Karpov had selected the Soviet National Anthem to be played. However, a miscommunication between the conductor and the band led to them playing “The Internationale,” the theme song for the ideals and struggle of global communism. The Soviet Union had dropped The Internationale as its official anthem in the 1940s, replacing it with the Soviet Anthem. Many in the Soviet Delegation were unsure what to do, eventually standing for the song because they figured that was the option that made them look the least bad. Korchnoi stayed seated.

Additionally, controversy on which country's flag Korchnoi would be allowed to have with him at the table. The Soviets objected to him displaying the Swiss flag at the table, while Korchnoi refused to fly the red hammer and sickle. For some reason, FIDE consulted with legal scholars on the matter, (what law is this about?) before deciding that neither player would be allowed a flag. Both parties begrudgingly agreed, and the match began. The first game ended in a draw.

During the second game, Karpov's team delivered to him a blueberry yogurt at the board. Korchnoi instantly objected to this, claiming that the yogurt could be some sort of code. Below is a photograph of the waiter who delivered the yogurt to Karpov.

One thing to know about Soviet chess is that it was an absolute machine. They were cranking out top tier talent like no other country before or since. And, most terrifyingly, they played as a team. Top grandmasters would study together, analyzing each others games and pointing out weaknesses. This is a stark contrast from other countries, where top players would hide their notes and theories in an effort to maintain a leg up on the competition.

So basically, Korchnoi is implying that there are a bunch of Soviet grandmasters behind closed doors somewhere, studying the game as it is played. Some nondescript Russian boy is running between the playing hall and the analysis room, telling the secretly-studying grandmasters what latest move was played. And if those grandmasters find something, a move or an idea, they could deliver the message to Karpov via the type of berry in the yogurt. Something like a blueberry yogurt means “Move the Knight” while a strawberry yogurt could mean “Play Defensively, You're In Trouble.” The arbiters declined his objection, and game two ended in a draw. Another yogurt was delivered during move seventeen of game three, which lead to the arbiters meeting and agreeing that, in future games, Karpov could “receive a snack at a fixed time, and that Korchnoi would be notified before the game if it would not be a violet colored yogurt.”

The two would go on to draw five more games, seven total played. All draws. Consider that a chess grandmaster can burn thousands of calories during a match, and now it had been going on for over a week without either player winning a single game. Keep in mind, six wins are needed to win the match.

As the players sat down to play game eight, Karpov did something that was frankly unprecedented - he refused to shake Korchnoi's hand! Karpov straight up left Korchnoi hanging. This had never happened before at a World Championship. A handshake before the game had been considered integral to the sport for over a hundred years at that point. Additionally, it was expressly written in the rules! Korchnoi had the right to call the arbiter and force Karpov to shake his hand, otherwise Karpov may face a full-on forfeit. Korchnoi did try, but the arbiter started the clocks regardless and they began to play. After a testy twenty-eight (28) move game, Karpov gained a decisive positional advantage - Korchnoi resigned. Karpov had gotten in Korchnoi's head. The score was now 1-0.

“Never! Never will I shake hands with you!” - Anatoly Karpov

Enter the Soviet Military Hypnotherapist: Dr. Zukhar

"The Soviets may have decided to forgo such detectable methods as chemical agents: for this match, they are using the services of a parapsychologist, Vladimir Zukhar, a Soviet citizen sometimes stationed in Washington, D.C. Comrade Zukhar sits in one of the first few rows of the auditorium and stares unwaveringly at Korchnoi. Hypnotized or not, Korchnoi is annoyed; he has complained to the match referee but without success. Korchnoi's supporters around the world are asked to concentrate their thoughts on Comrade Zukhar beginning at 5:00 P.M., Baguio time, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays."

Dr. Vladmir Petrovich Zukhar joined the military during the Second World War. He was obsessed with the human mind, becoming a renowned psychologist for the Soviet Navy. Brought on to Team Karpov for the 1978 match, he was there in Bagiuo to supposedly to aid the World Champion with his insomnia and help him fall asleep - at least, that was the official story from the Soviet Government. Dr. Zukhar was no stranger to Korchnoi - the Doctor was a well known specialist in the Soviet Union, made famous by his work helping cosmonauts cope with the psychological affects of space travel. At this point in history, the concept of a “sports psychologist” was well known and accepted, so Dr. Zukhar was allowed into the Philippines without much protest from Team Korchnoi.

However, his purpose in Baguio was a bit more dastardly. Zukhar himself saw his main task as “psychophysiological support for Karpov, including assistance in seizing the psychological initiative during the match.”

“Having studied me perfectly, Zukhar could catch the slightest nuances in changes in behavior while playing, which indicated fatigue, nervousness, despondency... This was important in order to later give his recommendations on how to sit how to walk, think, finally.” - Anatoly Karpov

Many outside the Soviet Delegation would question his true role on the team after just the first few matches. Dr. Zukhar would show up to the playing hall, positioning himself in one of the front rows of seating, and simply stare at Korchnoi the entire game. Terms that were used to describe this stare include inquisitively, persistently, and hypnotizingly. Beginning on the first game of the match, Zukhar would show up every single day and just stare at Korchnoi throughout the duration of the game. Western media began circulating news of the “mysterious telepathic hypnotist” present for the match. The next five games would be a veritable game of musical chairs played by Russian psychologist, moving ever closer to the first row, and never averting his hypnotic stare.

“Dr. Zukhar fixed an unbroken stare upon Korchnoi during the entire 39 minutes which Karpov devoted to [his 15th] move; Korchnoi seemed not to notice." - Ed Edmondson, President of the US Chess Federation

However, Korchnoi definitely noticed. He had complained to the arbiters earlier in the match about Zukhar and his trickery. With the initial protests ignored, Korchnoi and his team had come-up with a counter to Zukhar's stare by game seven - mirrored sunglasses. The theory was that any sort of psychic energy coming from Zukhar would be redirected by the mirrors, while also having the added benefit of freaking out Karpov. The moment where Korchnoi first put on the mirror sunglasses was, thankfully, captured for posterity - Karpov can do nothing but look into the crowd.

Korchnoi finally would file a formal objection to the presence of Dr. Zukhar, to which the arbiters declined on the grounds that Korchnoi could not prove that Zukhar was affecting him. Just two games later, Zukhar was sat in the seventh row, “surrounded by groups of young Philippine women,” and continued to stare at Korchnoi. Members of Korchnoi's team, and even family, found themselves in the stands trying to counter-act Zukhar's energy.

In game sixteen, Dr. Zukhar was sat in the fourth row with Korchnoi's then-manager-but-later-wife, Petra Leeuwerik, sat directly behind Zukhar in the fifth row. Leeuwerik “kicked and tickled” Zukhar throughout the game, attempting to disrupt any psychic forces. Before the start of game seventeen, Korchnoi finally put his foot down and demand that Zukhar be moved into one of the further back rows, even going as far as refusing to play. After an eleven minute delay, the arbiters declared that no one would be allowed to sit in rows one through seven. Korchnoi still was not happy, however - he claimed to have spoken to a “Cambridge Academic” who informed him that he could still be hypnotized from such a distance. However, Korchnoi's mental fortitude was fried by the time the clocks started. He would go on to lose game seventeen, leaving the score at 4-1. A photograph of the meeting with the arbiters is depicted below.

“No matter what your jury thinks the rules say, I tell you this man disturbs me. If he is not moved within 10 minutes, then I will move him!” - Victor Korchnoi

The players and arbiters reached the following agreement after game seventeen (17): Zukhar would need to remain in his assigned seat with the rest of the Soviet Delegation, and Korchnoi would need to stop wearing his mirrored sunglasses.

Several people and groups were brought to the Baguio to help try and counter Zukhar's psychic energy. At first, Team Korchnoi employed their own Israeli military psychologist, Dr. Vladmir Bergina, to mind-battle Zukhar. This achieved little result. The next idea was to bring in roughly twenty psychology students to surround Zukhar in the audience, a sort of “containment” boundary. The students were complained about by Karpov and removed, but Korchnoi already had already felt that these fledgling students were no match for the powerful Zukhar.

“Zukhar was sitting near the stage; all five hours without moving. It was obvious that he worked with Karpov every day, conducting hypnotic sessions before the game. I started hiding from Zukhar... The fight with Zukhar continued throughout the match. My men tried to distract his attention during the game. In response, the Soviets strengthened his security. KGB agents did not allow anyone close to Zukhar.” - Victor Korchnoi

Enter the Sectarians: Dwyer and Shepherd

Steven Dywer and Victoria Shepherd were American members of the Ananda Marga, an Indian sect. Known also as Dada and Didi, the couple had been convicted of attempted murder in the Philippines just months prior for stabbing an Indian diplomat. Their motive was to draw public attention to one of their leaders who was imprisoned by the Indian government, however they were instantly arrested by Philippine authorities, tried, and sentenced to seventeen years in prison, each. Out on bail while appealing their case, Team Korchnoi invited the hippies to attend game eighteen of the match.

Entering the playing hall wearing white turbans and saffron robes, Dywer spent much of the game meditating while Shepherd focused on Zukhar and the players. Leeuwerik ensured that the two were seated as close at possible to Zukhar, despite protests from the KGB and other Soviet Authorities. When the seats near Zukhar were taken, they would sit on the floor of the playing hall, doing yoga poses and meditating. Korchnoi recounts that Zukhar, in reaction to the presence of the Ananda Marga members in the playing hall, “covering his face with a scarf, Zukhar left the hall, followed by other members of the Soviet group.”

Over the next four days, the couple stayed with Korchnoi and taught lessons in transcendental meditation. Arriving at the playing hall for game nineteen, Shepherd was allowed in after a bag search. Dywer would only be let in after an intervention from Leeuwerik, with Leeuwerik stating that he had as much right as Zukhar to be here. Before game twenty, the arbiters met again and decided to disallow the sectarians from entering - in protest, Leeuwerik and her daughter wore saffron colored dresses during game twenty one. However, their time in the playing hall and work with Korchnoi seemed to have stem Zukhar's powers - Korchnoi would win three of the next ten games, eventually tying the score at 5-5.

They yogis continued to stay with Korchnoi for the next few weeks, which included more lessons and even appearing on American television demonstrating yoga exercises, live from the Philippines.

Endgame

After thirty one (31) games and three months, the two players were tied at 5-5. The next person to win would win the title. Game thirty two was a hard fight in the opening, but a clarified middle game showed a winning position for Karpov. Korchnoi resigned the game and, in turn, the match. Anatoly Karpov would retain his world champion title.

Zukhar would go on to hold several high offices in the Russian psychology community, retiring in 1990, later passing in 2005 at the age of 81. The fate of the Ananda Marga members is lost to time.