06-06-2016 21:10 via uk.news.yahoo.com

Soviet defector Korchnoi, challenger for world chess title, dies at 85

(Reuters) - Chess grandmaster Viktor Korchnoi, who defected from the Soviet Union in 1976 and then came within one game of beating arch-rival Anatoly Karpov for the world championship, has died at the age of 85, the Russian Chess Federation said on Monday. Korchnoi, virtually written off by commentators after his opponent surged into a 5-2 lead, fought back to level the scores before a rattled and exhausted Karpov rallied to defeat him in the final game. Three years later, Karpov won a rematch c
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