Victor Korchnoi outshines Anatoly Karpov despite age gap

Viktor Korchnoi has set another longevity landmark by winning last month's Swiss championship in Grachen at age 78. He scored 7/9, edged out two rivals on tiebreak, and is probably the oldest ever to win a national title.

At the same time Anatoly Karpov, to whom Korchnoi lost two bitter world championship matches, created a negative record of his own by finishing last without winning a game at the San Sebastian, Spain tournament won by US champion Hikaru Nakamura. Karpov is 57, a mere stripling beside his rival, and little more than a decade ago he was close to his peak. Though almost all grandmasters pass their peak after age 45, the pace of decline varies greatly.

The Grachen event was open, and Korchnoi was not its only hero. English GM Simon Williams, 29, who was ineligible for the Swiss crown, took first prize with 7.5/9 and beat the legend in fine attacking style. Williams is currently competing in the British championship at Torquay. In the game below his 10..c6 was more dynamic than the previous Nh5 or b6, and when Korchnoi wrongly tried a central melee by 16 f4 Black's active pieces took over. White could not play 25 Nh6 because of Qxe3+! and at the end 28...Qf1! forced decisive material gain.

V Korchnoi v S Williams

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 Nf3 0-0 6 h3 e5 7 d5 a5 8 Bg5 h6 9 Be3 Na6 10 Bd3 c6!? 11 Qd2 Kh7 12 0-0 cxd5 13 cxd5 Nd7 14 Nh2 Ndc5 15 Bc2 f5 16 f4 exf4 17 Rxf4 fxe4 18 Raf1 Rxf4 19 Rxf4 Nb4 20 Bxe4 Nxe4 21 Nxe4 Bf5 22 Nc3 Qe7 23 Rf3 Re8 24 Ng4 h5 25 Nf2 Nc2 26 Bf4 Bd4 27 Kh2 Qe1 28 g4 Qf1! 29 gxf5 Ne1 0-1

Williams continued his fine run in the opening rounds of this week's British championship at Torquay. Black erred at moves 12 (dxe5 13 Ne4 Qf4) and 13 (Qd8) missing 15 Qf5! At the end 22...a5 23 d7+ Kd8 24 Qg6! would be crushing.

S Williams v J Rudd

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 e6 4 Nf3 b5 5 Bg5 exd5 6 cxd5 h6 7 Bxf6 Qxf6 8 Qc2 d6 9 e4 a6 10 a4 b4 11 Nbd2 Bg4 12 e5 Qe7? 13 Ne4 Bxf3? 14 Nxd6+ Kd8 15 Qf5! Bg4 16 Nxf7+ Ke8 17 Qxg4 Kxf7 18 Qf5+ Ke8 19 d6 Qb7 20 Be2 Nc6 21 Bf3 Ra7 22 O-O-O 1-0

3098 1 Bd5+! Kxd5 2 exd7 g2 3 d8N! g1Q 4 c4 mate.