1981 in chess
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The major chess events of 1981 were the final match of the Candidates Tournament (between Viktor Korchnoi and Robert Hübner) and the second Karpov–Korchnoi World Chess Championship match.
The final of the Candidates Tournament 1980–81 was held from December 1980 to January 1981 in the Palace Hotel in Merano, Italy. All earlier rounds of the tournament had been held in 1980. The winner of the tournament would be endorsed by FIDE to challenge the reigning champion, Anatoly Karpov (Soviet Union) to a match for the title of World Chess Champion. The finalists were Viktor Korchnoi (Switzerland) and Robert Hübner (West Germany), who had qualified for the final through an 8-player match knockout tournament. The other players of the tournament were András Adorján, Tigran Petrosian, Lev Polugaevsky (Soviet Union), Lajos Portisch (Hungary), Boris Spassky (France) and Mikhail Tal (Soviet Union). Tal, Petrosian and Spassky were former World Champions. The format of the final was a 16-game match. Hübner abandoned the match after completing games 1 to 8 and partially playing, adjourning and then abandoning unfinished games 9 and 10. This made Korchnoi the winner of the Candidates Tournament. Korchnoi had 4½ points to Hübner's 3½ and had won 3 games, lost 2 games and drawn 3 games.
The World Chess Championship 1981 was a match contested from 1 October to 19 November between the defending World Champion, Karpov and the challenger, Korchnoi. The first player to gain 6 wins would be awarded the title of World Chess Champion. Like the Candidates final, the match was held in Merano. Anatoly Karpov had been FIDE's recognized World Champion since 1975, when he gained the title by forfeit from Bobby Fischer (United States). Karpov and Korchnoi had both played only one World Chess Championship match prior to 1981, a very close match against one another in 1978 which was won by Karpov (+6 -5 =21).
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