Fifty years ago: Korchnoi’s defection to the west

In July 1976, Viktor Korchnoi, then the second-best player in the world, used his participation in the IBM tournament in Amsterdam to defect from the USSR. A cat-and-mouse game worthy of a spy thriller began. The Soviet authorities responded with offensive statements and an almost total boycott – almost. | Photo: Viktor Korchnoi in 1976 / Dutch National Archive