Keene Raymond. Korchnoi vs. Spassky: Chess crisis

London: Allen & Unwin, 1978. — 128 p. — ISBN: 9780047940064.Boris Spassky's antics in Belgrade turned a serious chess match into a war of psychology and nerves. From a situation where he had built up a commanding lead in the match, and victory was in sight, Korchnoi lost game after game as a direct result of Spassky's disturbing behavior. Both men were desperate to win this match. Spassky had been in partial eclipse since losing to Fischer in 1972 and wanted to re-establish himself at the peak of world chess. Korchnoi, who defected from the USSR in 1976, craved the right to challenge Karpov for the world championship, to avenge his defeat in 1974 when the Soviet chess authorities conspired against him so that Karpov would win. International Grandmaster Raymond Keene was there, in Belgrade, as Korchnoi's chief second. In this book Keene records the tensions of this contest, explaining the arguments and protests that went on both in public and behind the scenes. His illuminating account of this match includes deep and instructive annotations to all the games, -biographies of the players and the moves of all their previous encounters.