Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (Russian:Анато́лий Евге́ньевич Ка́рпов,IPA:[ɐnɐˈtolʲɪjjɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕˈkarpəf]; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Sovietchess grandmaster, formerWorld Chess Champion, and politician. He was the 12th World Chess Champion from 1975 to 1985, a three-timeFIDE World Champion (1993, 1996, 1998), twice World Chess champion as a member of the USSR team (1985, 1989), a six-time winner ofChess Olympiads as a member of the USSR team (1972, 1974, 1980, 1982, 1986, 1988), and the 1stWorld Rapid Chess Champion (1988). The International Association of Chess Press awarded him nineChess Oscars (1973–77, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984).
For 25 consecutive years (1974 — 1998), Karpov was either the world champion (16 years in total) or a world championship challenger, a record surpassed only byEmanuel Lasker. Karpov's chess tournament successes include over 160 first-place finishes.[1] He had a peakElo rating of 2780, and his 102 total months world number one is the third-longest of all time, behindMagnus Carlsen andGarry Kasparov. Karpov is also an elected Member of theState Duma in Russia. Since 2006, he has chaired the Commission for Ecological Safety and Environmental Protection of theCivic Chamber of the Russian Federation, and since 2007 he has been a member of the Public Council under the Ministry of Defence.[2] He is currently the oldest living World Chess Champion.
Karpov was born into a Russian family on May 23, 1951,[3][4] inZlatoust, in theUrals region of the former Soviet Union, and learned to play chess at the age of four.[5] His early rise in chess was swift, as he became a candidate master by age 11. At 12, he was accepted intoMikhail Botvinnik's prestigious chess school, despite Botvinnik saying that "[t]he boy does not have a clue about chess, and there's no future at all for him in this profession."[6]
Karpov acknowledged that his understanding of chess theory was very confused at that time, and later wrote that the homework Botvinnik assigned greatly helped him, since it required that he consult chess books and work diligently.[7] Karpov improved so quickly under Botvinnik's tutelage that he became the youngest Soviet master in history at the age of fifteen in 1966; this tied the record established byBoris Spassky in 1952.[8][9]
Karpov finished first in his first international tournament, inTřinec, several months later, ahead ofViktor Kupreichik. In 1967, he won the annualNiemeyer Tournament inGroningen.[10][11] Karpov won a gold medal for academic excellence in high school, and enteredMoscow State University in 1968 to study mathematics. He later transferred toLeningrad State University, eventually graduating from there in economics. One reason for the transfer was to be closer to his coach, grandmasterSemyon Furman, who lived in Leningrad. In his writings, Karpov credits Furman as a major influence on his development as a world-class player.[12]
In 1969, Karpov became the first Soviet player since Spassky (1955) to win theWorld Junior Championship, scoring an undefeated 10/11 in the final A group at Stockholm.[13] This victory earned him theInternational Master title.[14] In 1970, Karpov tied for fourth and fifth places withPal Benko at an international tournament inCaracas, Venezuela,[15] and earned theinternational grandmaster title.[16]FIDE awarded him the title during its 41st congress, held during theChess Olympiad inSiegen, West Germany in September 1970.[17]
Karpov won the 1971Alekhine Memorial tournament in Moscow (jointly withLeonid Stein), ahead of a star-studded field, for his first significant adult victory.[18] HisElo rating shot from 2540 in 1971 to 2660 in 1973,[19] during which he shared second place in the1973 Soviet championship, one point behindSpassky,[20] and qualified for the Leningrad Interzonal.[21]
Karpov defeatedLev Polugaevsky by the score of +3=5 in the first Candidates' match, earning the right to face former championBoris Spassky in the semifinal round. Karpov was on record saying that he believed Spassky would easily beat him and win the Candidates' cycle to face Fischer, and that he (Karpov) would win the following Candidates' cycle in 1977. Spassky won the first game as Black in good style, but tenacious, aggressive play from Karpov secured him overall victory by +4−1=6.
The Candidates' final was played in Moscow withVictor Korchnoi. Karpov took an early lead, winning the second game against theSicilian Dragon, then scoring another victory in the sixth game. Following ten consecutivedraws, Korchnoi threw away a winning position in the seventeenth game to give Karpov a 3–0 lead. In game 19, Korchnoi succeeded in winning a longendgame, then notched a speedy victory after a blunder by Karpov two games later. Three more draws, the lastagreed by Karpov when he was in a clearly better position, closed the match, with Karpov prevailing +3−2=19, entitling him to move on to challenge Fischer for the world title.[24]
Though a world championship match between Karpov and Fischer was highly anticipated, those hopes were never realised. Fischer not only insisted that the match be the first to ten wins (draws not counting), but also that the champion retain the crown if the score was tied 9–9.FIDE, the International Chess Federation, refused to allow this proviso, and gave both players a deadline of April 1, 1975, to agree to play the match under the FIDE-approved rules.[25] When Fischer did not agree, FIDE PresidentMax Euwe declared on April 3, 1975, that Fischer had forfeited his title and Karpov was the new World Champion.[26] Karpov later attempted to set up another match with Fischer, but the negotiations fell through. This thrust the young Karpov into the role of World Champion without having faced the reigning champion.
Garry Kasparov has argued that Karpov would have had good chances because he had beaten Spassky convincingly and was a new breed of tough professional, and indeed had higher quality games, while Fischer had been inactive for three years.[27] This view is echoed by Karpov himself.[28] Spassky thought that Fischer would have won in 1975, but Karpov would have qualified again and beaten Fischer in 1978.[29] Karpov has said that if he had had the opportunity to play Fischer for the championship in his twenties, he could have been a much better player as a result.[30]
Karpov with FIDE presidentMax Euwe and wife in 1976
Determined to prove himself a legitimate champion, Karpov participated in nearly every major tournament for the next ten years. He convincingly won theMilan tournament in 1975, and captured his first of three Soviet titles in 1976. He created a phenomenal streak of tournament wins against the strongest players in the world. Karpov held the record for most consecutive tournament victories (9) until it was shattered byGarry Kasparov (15). As a result, most chess professionals soon agreed that Karpov was a legitimate world champion.[31]
In 1978, Karpov's first title defence was against Viktor Korchnoi, the opponent he had defeated in the 1973–75 Candidates' cycle; the match was played atBaguio, Philippines, with the winner needing six victories.As in 1974, Karpov took an early lead, winning the eighth game after seven draws to open the match. When the score was +5−2=20 in Karpov's favour, Korchnoi staged a comeback, and won three of the next four games to draw level with Karpov. Karpov then won the very next game to retain the title (+6−5=21).[32] Three years later, Korchnoi reemerged as the Candidates' winner against German finalistRobert Hübner to challenge Karpov inMerano, Italy. Karpov handily won this match, 11–7 (+6−2=10), in what is remembered as the"Massacre in Merano".
Karpov represented the Soviet Union at sixChess Olympiads, in all of which the USSR won the team gold medal. He played as the first reserve atSkopje 1972, winning the board prize with 13/15. AtNice 1974, he advanced to board one and again won the board prize with 12/14. AtLa Valletta 1980, he was again board one and scored 9/12. AtLucerne 1982, he scored 6½/8 on board one. AtDubai 1986, he scored 6/9 on board two. His last wasThessaloniki 1988, where on board two he scored 8/10. In Olympiad play, Karpov lost only two games out of 68 played.[34] To illustrate Karpov's dominance over his peers as champion, his score was +13−1=22 versus Spassky, +8=19 versusRobert Hübner, +12−1=29 versusUlf Andersson, +3−1=10 versusVasily Smyslov, +1=19 versusMikhail Tal, +19-7=23 versusLjubomir Ljubojević.[33]
Karpov had cemented his position as the world's best player and world champion by the timeGarry Kasparov arrived on the scene. In their first match, theWorld Chess Championship 1984 in Moscow, the first player to win six games would win the match. Karpov built a 4–0 lead after nine games. The next 17 games were drawn, setting a record for world title matches, and it took Karpov until game 27 to gain his fifth win. In game 31, Karpov had a winning position but failed to take advantage and settled for a draw. He lost the next game, after which 14 more draws ensued. Karpov held a solidly winning position in Game 41, but again blundered and had to settle for a draw. After Kasparov won games 47 and 48, FIDE PresidentFlorencio Campomanes unilaterally terminated the match, citing the players' health.[35] Karpov is said to have lost ten kilograms (22 lb) over the course of the match.[36]A rematch was played later in 1985, also in Moscow. The events of the Marathon Match forced FIDE to return to the previous format, with a match limited to 24 games (with Karpov remaining champion if the match finished 12–12). Karpov needed to win the final game to draw the match and retain his title but lost, surrendering the title to his opponent. The final score was 13–11 (+3−5=16) in favour of Kasparov.
Karpov, with Kasparov (left) and Dutch GrandmasterJan Timman (right) in Amsterdam, 1987
Karpov remained a formidable opponent and the world No. 2 until the mid-1990s. He fought Kasparov in three more world championship matches in1986 (held in London andLeningrad),1987 (inSeville), and1990 (in New York City andLyon). All three matches were extremely close: the scores were 11½–12½ (+4−5=15), 12–12 (+4−4=16), and 11½–12½ (+3−4=17). In all three matches, Karpov had winning chances up to the last games. The ending of the 1987 Seville match was particularly dramatic. Karpov won the 23rd game when Kasparov miscalculated a combination. In the final game, needing only a draw to win the title, Karpov cracked under time pressure at the end of the first session of play, missed a variation leading to an almost forced draw, and allowed Kasparov to adjourn the game with an extra pawn. After a further mistake in the second session, Karpov was slowly ground down and resigned on move 64, ending the match and allowing Kasparov to keep the title.[citation needed]
In their five world championship matches, Karpov scored 19 wins, 21 losses, and 104 draws in 144 games.[37] Overall, Karpov played five matches against Kasparov for the title from 1984 to 1990 without ever defeating him in a match. According to chessgames.com, as of 2022, in Classical games, Kasparov leads Karpov with 28 wins, 20 losses, and 119 draws in 167 games. Including rapid/exhibition games, Kasparov leads Karpov with 39 wins, 25 losses, and 129 draws in 193 games.[38]
In 1992, Karpov lost a Candidates Match againstNigel Short. But in theWorld Chess Championship 1993, Karpov reacquired the FIDE World Champion title when Kasparov and Short split from FIDE. Karpov defeated Timman – the loser of the Candidates' final against Short.
The next major meeting of Kasparov and Karpov was the 1994Linares chess tournament. The field, in eventual finishing order, was Karpov, Kasparov,Shirov,Bareev,Kramnik,Lautier,Anand,Kamsky,Topalov,Ivanchuk,Gelfand,Illescas,Judit Polgár, andBeliavsky; with an averageElo rating of 2685, the highest ever at that time. Impressed by the strength of the tournament, Kasparov had said several days before the tournament that the winner could rightly be called the world champion of tournaments. Perhaps spurred on by this comment, Karpov played the best tournament of his life. He was undefeated and earned 11 points out of 13 (the best world-class tournament winning percentage since Alekhine wonSan Remo in 1930), finishing 2½ points ahead of second-place Kasparov and Shirov. Many of his wins were spectacular (in particular, his win over Topalov is considered possibly the finest of his career). This performance against the best players in the world put hisElo rating tournament performance at 2985, the highestperformance rating of any player in history up until 2009, whenMagnus Carlsen won the category XXIPearl Spring chess tournament with a performance of 3002. Chess statisticianJeff Sonas considers Karpov's Linares performance the best tournament result in history.[39]
Karpov defended his FIDE title against the rising starGata Kamsky (+6−3=9) in 1996. In 1998, FIDE largely scrapped the old system of Candidates' Matches, instead having a large knockout event in which a large number of players contested short matches against each other over just a few weeks. In the first of these events, theFIDE World Chess Championship 1998, champion Karpov was seeded straight into the final, defeatingViswanathan Anand (+2−2=2, rapid tiebreak 2–0). In the subsequent cycle, the format was changed, with the champion having to qualify. Karpov refused to defend his title, and ceased to be FIDE World Champion after theFIDE World Chess Championship 1999.[40]
Karpov's classical tournament play has been seriously limited since 1997, since he prefers to be more involved in Russian politics. He had been a member of theSupreme Soviet Commission for Foreign Affairs and the president of the Soviet Peace Fund before the Soviet Union dissolved. In addition, he has been involved in several disputes with FIDE.[41] In the September 2009 FIDE rating list, he dropped out of the world's Top 100 for the first time. Karpov usually limits his play to exhibition events, and has revamped his style to specialize in rapid chess. In 2002, he won a match against Kasparov, defeating him in a rapid time control match 2½–1½. In 2006, he tied for first with Kasparov in a blitz tournament, ahead of Korchnoi and Judit Polgár.[42]
Karpov and Kasparov played a mixed 12-game match from September 21–24, 2009, inValencia, Spain. It consisted of four rapid (or semi-rapid) and eight blitz games and took place exactly 25 years after the two players' legendary encounter at theWorld Chess Championship 1984.[43] Kasparov won the match 9–3. Karpov played a match againstYasser Seirawan in 2012 in St. Louis, Missouri, an important center of the North American chess scene, winning 8–6 (+5−3=6).[44] In November 2012, he won the Cap d'Agde rapid tournament that bears his name (Anatoly Karpov Trophy), beating Vasyl Ivanchuk (ranked 9th in the October 2012 FIDE world rankings) in the final.
Professional and political career after retirement from chess
Karpov founded his chess school in the tan building. The sign bearing his name has been removed, and the school is in the process of changing its name.
In 2003, Karpov opened his first American chess school inLindsborg, Kansas as the Anatoly Karpov International School of Chess.[45] On March 2, 2022, the school announced a name change to International Chess Institute of the Midwest due to theRussian invasion of Ukraine.[46]
Karpov expressed support of the unilateralannexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, and accused Europe of trying to demonize Putin.[50] In August 2019,Maxim Dlugy said that Karpov had been waiting since March for the approval of a non-immigrant visa to the United States, despite frequently visiting the country since 1972. Karpov had been scheduled to teach a summer camp at the Chess Max Academy. Dlugy said that Karpov had been questioned at theUS embassy in Moscow about whether he planned to communicate with American politicians.[51] Karpov was among the Russian State Duma members placed under sanctions by the EU and UK during theRusso-Ukrainian War.[52][53] In March 2022, after the start of theRussian invasion of Ukraine, the FIDE Council suspended Karpov's title of FIDE Ambassador for Life.[54]
In November 2022, Karpov was placed in aninduced coma after receiving a head injury.[55] Karpov's daughter Sofia and the Russian Chess Federation said that he had accidentally fallen.[56] Karpov made a full recovery from the injury.[57]
In March 2010, Karpov announced that he would be a candidate for the presidency of FIDE. The election took place in September 2010 at the39th Chess Olympiad.[58] In May, a fundraising event took place in New York with the participation of Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen, who both supported his bid and campaigned for him.[59] Nigel Short also supported Karpov's candidacy. On September 29, 2010,Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was reelected as president of FIDE, 95 votes to 55.[60]
Karpov's playing style, described as a "boa constrictor",[61][62] is solidlypositional, taking minimal risks but reacting mercilessly to the slightest error by his opponent. As a result, he is often compared toJosé Raúl Capablanca, the third world champion.[63] Karpov himself describes his style as follows:
Let us say the game may be continued in two ways: one of them is a beautiful tactical blow that gives rise to variations that don't yield to precise calculations; the other is clear positional pressure that leads to an endgame with microscopic chances of victory.... I would choose [the latter] without thinking twice. If the opponent offers keen play I don't object; but in such cases I get less satisfaction, even if I win, than from a game conducted according to all the rules of strategy with its ruthless logic.[64]
Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 3rd class (2001) – for outstanding contribution to the implementation of charitable programmes, the strengthening of peace and friendship between the peoples
Order of Friendship (2011) – for his great contribution to strengthening peace and friendship between peoples and productive social activities
Karpov, Anatoly (1990).The Semi-Closed Openings in Action. Collier/MacMillan.ISBN978-0020218050.
Karpov, Anatoly (1990).Karpov on Karpov: Memoirs of a chess world champion. Liberty Publishing.ISBN0-689-12060-5. (also a 1992Simon & Schuster edition)
^van Reem, Eric (August 11, 2005)."Karpov, Kortchnoi win Unzicker Gala".ChessBase. RetrievedJuly 2, 2009. In his 1994 bookMy Best Games, Karpov says he played some 200 tournaments and matches, and won more than 100.
^"Junior Meet".Chess Review. Vol. 36, no. 4. April 1968. p. 99.The Niemeyer International Junior Tournament in Groningen, Holland, went to Karpov of the Soviet Union with 5½–1½, half a point ahead of Jocha of Hungary.
^Kavalek, Lubosh (September 1970). "Don't Walk – Run".Chess Life & Review. Vol. XXV, no. 9. p. 483.Anatoli Karpov is a new International Grandmaster. Playing "waiting chess" he just made the grandmaster norm.
^Cramer, Fred (January 1971). "FIDE'S 41st -and Greatest -Congress".Chess Life & Review. Vol. XXVI, no. 1. p. 24.The Congress awarded IGM titles to Anatoly Karpov and Buchuti Gurgenldze of the USSR and to Walter Browne of Australia.
^Inan article (PDF) published in 2004 on the Chesscafe websiteSusan Polgar wrote: "I spoke to Boris Spassky about this same issue and he believes that Bobby would have won in 1975, but that Anatoly would have won the rematch."
^Leonard Barden (September 4, 1999). "Games".The Guardian. Greater London. p. 37.Anatoly Karpov refused to defend his title because of the absence of a challenge round and has now filed a breach of contract suit against the world chess body, claiming more than $1m in compensation.
^"Keres Annotates... Two Karpov Wins".Chess Life & Review. Vol. XXVIII, no. 1. January 1973. p. 8.His general style of play is rather calm, centered on positional considerations and somehow recalling Capablanca's attitudes towards the game.
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