Spassky Doesn't Know About His Match Against Korchnoi

The match with Korchnoi's participation started in Leipzig Germany. Korchnoi's opponent is not Spassky, as it was announced earlier, but Wolfgang Uhlmann. German GM turns 79 tomorrow, while Korchnoi will turn 83 on March 23.

Match consists of four games, those are most likely not broadcasted online. Korchnoi beat his German colleague in the first match game. 

E.SUROV: This isn't a typical interview you are used to read on our website. It has nothing in common with the dialog that Viktor Korchnoi and I have had here in Zurich 3 years ago. Back then, one could easily speak to Viktor Lvovich face to face, while this interview would have been impossible without assistance: the renowned Grandmaster has difficulty with his speech.

Viktor Korchnoi hasn't played any rated games since 23rd September, 2012. He suffered a stroke later in 2012, which made most experts think that the chess legend wouldn't be able to return to competitive chess. In March 2013, however, Korchnoi played an exhibition match of 2 games in Leipzig vs Wolfgang Uhlmann, with the time control of 60 min/game for each. Korchnoi won 2-0.

Viktor Korchnoi is among the participants of the strong open tournament which will take place in Zurich from December 26 to 30. It is a 7-round Swiss competition, the rating favourites are Radoslaw Woijtaszek 2711, Evgeny Alekseev 2698, Andrei Istratescu 2670, Boris Grachev 2669 and others. 

The free day at the World Championship match was marked with a veterans' tournment dedicated to Boris Spassky's 75th anniversary. 84 participants determined the strongest in a 9-round Swiss held in the Moscow Central House of Chess. Evgeny Sveshnikov won the tournament scoring 7.5 out of 9. Evgeni Vasiukov, Victor Bojarinov, Oleg Zilbert and Vladimir Zhelnin gathered 7 points each and shared 2-5 places. Balashov, Berkovich, Kolbanov and Kachar stayed half a point behind them.

The website satkachess.ru reports that the Rapid chess tournament held in Satka, Russia was visited by Boris Spassky. "It's great that the tradition is kept and the Governor's Cup is still held... I'm glad to see not only young but their older colleagues also participating" - the website quotes the 10th World Champion.

This morning Victor Korchnoi, who lives in Switzerland and represents that country in competitions, has arrived to the Kramnik - Aronian match in Zurich for the remaining two days. As always, he is not alone but with his wife Petra Leeuwerik. The legendary grandmaster has just played two rapid games with the sponsor of the match Oleg Skvortsov and then hasn't declined to play blitz, although that wasn't planned. All the games ended in favour of the veteran player.

The Christmas Open started today in Zurich. The rating favourites are Radoslaw Woijtaszek 2711, Evgeny Alekseev 2698, Andrei Istratescu 2670, Boris Grachev 2669.