1 international career
1.1 young master
1.2 top-class grandmaster
1.3 candidate
1.4 match fischer in 1975
1.5 world champion
1.6 rivalry kasparov
1.7 fide champion again (1993–1999)
1.8 towards retirement
international career
young master
karpov in 1967
karpov finished first in first international tournament in třinec several months later, ahead of viktor kupreichik. in 1967, won annual european junior championship @ groningen. karpov won gold medal academic excellence in high school, , entered moscow state university in 1968 study mathematics. later transferred leningrad state university, graduating there in economics. 1 reason transfer closer coach, grandmaster semyon furman, lived in leningrad. in writings, karpov credits furman major influence on development world-class player.
in 1969, karpov became first soviet player since spassky (1955) win world junior chess championship, scoring undefeated 10/11 in finals @ stockholm. in 1970, tied fourth place @ international tournament in caracas, venezuela, , awarded grandmaster title.
top-class grandmaster
he won 1971 alekhine memorial in moscow (equal leonid stein), ahead of star-studded field, first significant adult victory. elo rating shot 2540 in 1971 2660 in 1973, when shared second in ussr chess championship, , finished equal first viktor korchnoi in leningrad interzonal tournament. latter success qualified him 1974 candidates matches, determine challenger reigning world champion, bobby fischer.
candidate
karpov defeated lev polugaevsky score of +3=5 in first candidates match, earning right face former champion boris spassky in semifinal round. karpov on record saying believed spassky beat him , win candidates cycle face fischer, , (karpov) win following candidates cycle in 1977. spassky won first game black in style, tenacious, aggressive play karpov secured him overall victory +4−1=6. candidates final played in moscow korchnoi. karpov took lead, winning second game against sicilian dragon, scoring victory in sixth game. following ten consecutive draws, korchnoi threw away winning position in seventeenth game give karpov 3–0 lead. in game 19, korchnoi succeeded in winning long endgame, notched speedy victory after blunder karpov 2 games later. 3 more draws, last agreed karpov in better position, closed match, prevailed +3−2=19, moving on challenge fischer world title.
match fischer in 1975
though world championship match between karpov , fischer highly anticipated, hopes never realised. fischer not insisted match first ten wins (draws not counting), champion retain crown if score tied 9–9. fide, international chess federation, refused allow proviso, , after fischer s resignation of championship on june 27, 1975, fide declared fischer forfeited crown. karpov later attempted set match fischer, negotiations fell through. thrust young karpov role of world champion without having faced reigning champion. garry kasparov argued karpov have had chances, because had beaten spassky convincingly , new breed of tough professional, , indeed had higher quality games, while fischer had been inactive 3 years. spassky thought fischer have won in 1975 karpov have qualified again , beaten fischer in 1978.
world champion
determined prove himself legitimate champion, karpov participated in every major tournament next ten years. convincingly won strong milan tournament in 1975, , captured first of 3 soviet titles in 1976. created phenomenal streak of tournament wins against strongest players in world. karpov held record consecutive tournament victories (nine) until shattered garry kasparov (14). result, chess professionals agreed karpov legitimate world champion.
in 1978, karpov s first title defence against korchnoi, opponent had defeated in 1973–1975 candidates cycle; match played @ baguio, philippines, winner needing 6 victories. in 1974, karpov took lead, winning eighth game after 7 draws open match, korchnoi staged comeback late in match, as, after score +5−2=20 in karpov s favour, won 3 of next 4 games draw level karpov. karpov won next game retain title (+6−5=21).
three years later korchnoi re-emerged candidates winner against german finalist dr. robert hübner challenge karpov in merano, italy. match, however, won handily karpov, score being 11–7 (+6−2=10) in remembered massacre in merano .
karpov s tournament career reached peak @ montreal tournament of stars tournament in 1979, finished joint first (+7−1=10) mikhail tal, ahead of field of strong grandmasters completed jan timman, ljubomir ljubojević, boris spassky, vlastimil hort, lajos portisch, robert hübner, bent larsen , lubomir kavalek. dominated las palmas 1977 13½/15. won prestigious bugojno tournament in 1978 (shared) , 1980, linares tournament in 1981 (shared larry christiansen) , 1994, tilburg tournament in 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, , 1983, , soviet championship in 1976, 1983, , 1988.
karpov represented soviet union @ 6 chess olympiads, in of ussr won team gold medal. played first reserve @ skopje 1972, winning board prize 13/15. @ nice 1974, advanced board 1 , again won board prize 12/14. @ la valletta 1980, again board 1 , scored 9/12. @ lucerne 1982, scored 6½/8 on board one. @ dubai 1986, scored 6/9 on board two. last thessaloniki 1988, on board 2 scored 8/10. in olympiad play, karpov lost 2 games out of 68 played.
to illustrate karpov s dominance on peers champion, score +11−2=20 versus spassky, +5=12 versus robert hübner, +6−1=16 versus ulf andersson, +3−1=10 versus vasily smyslov, +1=16 versus mikhail tal, +10−2=13 versus ljubojević.
karpov had cemented position world s best player , world champion time garry kasparov arrived on scene. in first match, world chess championship 1984, held in moscow, victor again being first win 6 games outright, karpov built 4–0 lead after 9 games. next seventeen games drawn, setting record world title matches, , took karpov until game 27 gain fifth win. in game 31, karpov had winning position failed take advantage , settled draw. lost next game, after fourteen more draws ensued. in particular, karpov held solidly winning position in game 41, again blundered , had settle draw. after kasparov won games 47 , 48, fide president florencio campomanes unilaterally terminated match, citing health of players. match had lasted unprecedented 5 months, 5 wins karpov, 3 kasparov, , forty draws.
a rematch set later in 1985, in moscow. events of so-called marathon match forced fide return previous format, match limited 24 games (with karpov remaining champion if match should finish 12–12). karpov needed win final game draw match , retain title, wound losing, surrendering title opponent. final score 13–11 (+3−5=16), in favour of kasparov.
rivalry kasparov
karpov remained formidable opponent (and world no. 2) until 1990s. fought kasparov in 3 more world championship matches in 1986 (held in london , leningrad), 1987 (held in seville), , 1990 (held in new york city , lyon). 3 matches extremely close: scores 11½–12½ (+4−5=15), 12–12 (+4−4=16), , 11½–12½ (+3−4=17). in 3 matches, karpov had winning chances last games. in particular, 1987 seville match featured astonishing blunder kasparov in 23rd game. in final game, needing draw win title, karpov cracked under pressure clock @ end of first session of play, missed variation leading forced draw, , allowed kasparov adjourn game pawn. after further mistake in second session, karpov ground down , resigned on move 64, ending match , allowing kasparov keep title.
in 5 world championship matches, karpov scored 19 wins, 21 losses, , 104 draws in 144 games.
karpov on record saying if had had opportunity play fischer crown in twenties, have been better player result.
fide champion again (1993–1999)
karpov in 1996
in 1992, karpov lost candidates match against nigel short. in 1993, karpov reacquired fide world champion title when kasparov , short split fide. karpov defeated timman – loser of candidates final against short.
the next major meeting of kasparov , karpov 1994 linares chess tournament. field, in eventual finishing order, karpov, kasparov, shirov, bareev, kramnik, lautier, anand, kamsky, topalov, ivanchuk, gelfand, illescas, judit polgár, , beliavsky; average elo rating of 2685, highest ever @ time, making first category xviii tournament ever held. impressed strength of tournament, kasparov had said several days before tournament winner rightly called world champion of tournaments. perhaps spurred on comment, karpov played best tournament of life. undefeated , earned 11 points out of 13 possible (the best world-class tournament winning percentage since alekhine won san remo in 1930), finishing 2½ points ahead of second-place kasparov , shirov. many of wins spectacular (in particular, win on topalov considered possibly finest of career). performance against best players in world put elo rating tournament performance @ 2985, highest performance rating of player in history until 2009, when magnus carlsen won category xxi pearl spring chess tournament performance of 3002. however, chess statistician jeff sonas considered karpov s linares performance best tournament result in history.
karpov defended fide title against gata kamsky (+6−3=9) in 1996. however, in 1998, fide largely scrapped old system of candidates matches, instead having large knockout event in large number of players contested short matches against each other on few weeks. in first of these events, fide world chess championship 1998, champion karpov seeded straight final, defeating viswanathan anand (+2−2=2, rapid tiebreak 2–0). in subsequent cycle, format changed, champion having qualify. karpov refused defend title, , ceased fide world champion after fide world chess championship 1999.
towards retirement
karpov s outstanding classical tournament play has been limited since 1997, since prefers more involved in politics of home country of russia. had been member of supreme soviet commission foreign affairs , president of soviet peace fund before soviet union dissolved. in addition, had been involved in several disputes fide , became increasingly disillusioned chess. in september 2009 fide rating list, dropped out of world s top 100 first time.
karpov limits play exhibition events, , has revamped style specialize in rapid chess. in 2002 won match against kasparov, defeating him in rapid time control match 2½–1½. in 2006, tied first kasparov in blitz tournament, ahead of korchnoi , judit polgár.
karpov , kasparov played mixed 12-game match september 21–24, 2009, in valencia, spain. consisted of 4 rapid (or semi rapid) , 8 blitz games , took place 25 years after 2 players legendary encounter @ world chess championship 1984. kasparov won match 9–3.
karpov played match against yasser seirawan in 2012 in st. louis, missouri, important center of north american chess scene, karpov winning match 8–6 (+5−3=6) .
in november 2012, won cap d agde rapid tournament bears name (anatoly karpov trophy) beating vassily ivanchuk (ranked 9th in october 2012 fide world rankings) in final.
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