World Chess Championship 1978 - 1977 Candidates Tournament

1977 Candidates Tournament

As loser of the last championship (by forfeiture) and runner-up of the previous Candidates tournament, respectively, Korchnoi and Bobby Fischer were seeded directly into the tournament. When Fischer declined, Spassky, as semifinalist, of the previous tournament, was offered the spot. The two seeded players were joined by the top three from each of the two interzonals.

1st Round
 Semifinals
 Final
Viktor Korchnoi (stateless) 6½
Tigran Petrosian 5½
Viktor Korchnoi 8½
Lev Polugaevsky 4½
Lev Polugaevsky 6½
Henrique Mecking 5½
Viktor Korchnoi 10½
Boris Spassky 7½
Boris Spassky 8½
Vlastimil Hort 7½
Boris Spassky 8½
Lajos Portisch 6½
Bent Larsen 3½
Lajos Portisch 6½

Korchnoi narrowly defeated Petrosian again in the Candidates quarter finals, then comfortably won his matches against Polugaevsky and Spassky to emerge as the official challenger to Karpov.

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