The rematch was no contest. Three years after his narrow escape in Baguio, a peak Karpov crushed Korchnoi 6–2 in Merano — a rout so one-sided it entered chess lore as the "Massacre in Merano."
Korchnoi's last shot
Korchnoi, now past fifty, once more battled through the Candidates — beating Petrosian and Polugaevsky, then reaching the match when Robert Hübner withdrew from their final while trailing. The contest ran under the same first-to-six-wins rules as Baguio.
This time there would be no drama.
A rout, and a family freed
Karpov, at the height of his powers, beat the challenger comfortably, 6–2 (+6−2=10), a long way from their knife-edge 1978 match. But what mattered most was personal: Korchnoi's wife and son had been kept in the Soviet Union since his defection and harassed for years, and they were allowed to leave only after he lost this second title match.
It was the last time the two great rivals would meet for the crown.
Cross table
| Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karpov | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 11 |
| Korchnoi | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 7 |
1 win · ½ draw · 0 loss — click a game number to replay it.