The Last Encounter Before The World Chess Championship 1978 & 1981

First of all, I am truly sorry that I couldn't continue series of blogs when the iron was hot(during World Chess Championship 2021) due to my board exams and practical.

World Chess Championship 1975

A dream match between Anatoly Karpov and Bobby Fischer was not possible due to dispute over the match format. This meant that Karpov won by forfeit and became the 12^th World Chess Champion.  You can read more about it here. Karpov became a World Champion without defeating one, causing some to question the legitimacy of his title, which he answered by winning 9 consecutive tournaments.

World Chess Championship 1978

The 1974 Candidates between Viktor Korchnoi and Anatoly Karpov that gave us important theoretical knowledge and ideas in the dragon variation(along with many ideas).Korchnoi won the 1977 Candidates to fight for the World Chess Championship. The championship match won by Karpov (6 wins to 5 wins) was full of drama both on the board and off the board. You can watch about it form GothamChess Youtube channel (Since the blog is about their last encounter so it is not included here).

Here is the Russian Film Adaption of the match.

1981 World Chess Championship

Korchnoi bounced back from this defeat by winning the 1980 Candidates Tournament to again qualify for the World Chess Championship Match. This time the result was more decisive than the previous match with 6 wins to 2 wins in Kaprov's favor.

Karpov won. This 6–2 victory, much more decisive than Karpov's win in the World Chess Championship 1978, has been dubbed "The Massacre in Merano".

The headlines of the tournament again largely centered on the political issues. Korchnoi's wife and son had been denied emigration and were still in the Soviet Union. In 1980, his son had been promised release to join his father in exile if he gave up his passport. When he did so, he was promptly drafted into the Soviet army. In spite of protests, he was arrested for evading army service, sentenced to two and a half years in a labour camp, and served the full sentence. After his release in 1982, Korchnoi's wife and son were allowed to leave the USSR.(Source: Wikipedia)