Anatolij Karpov

Karpov was born into a Russian family on May 23, 1951, in Zlatoust, in the Ural region of the former Soviet Union, and learned to play chess at the age of four. His early rise in chess was rapid, as he became a candidate master by the age of 11. At 12, he was accepted into Mikhail Botvinnik's prestigious chess school, although Botvinnik made the following remark about the young Karpov: "The boy has not the slightest idea about chess and there is no future for him in this profession." Karpov acknowledged that his understanding of chess theory was very hazy at the time, and later wrote that the tasks assigned by Botvinnik helped him greatly, as they required him to consult chess books and work diligently. Karpov improved so rapidly under Botvinnik's tutelage that he became the youngest Soviet grandmaster in history at the age of fifteen in 1966; this equaled the record set by Boris Spassky in 1952. In 1969, Karpov became the first Soviet player since Spassky (1955) to win the World Junior Championship, scoring an undefeated 10/11 in the Group A final in Stockholm. This victory earned him the title of International Master. In 1970, Karpov tied for fourth and fifth places with Pal Benko in an international tournament in Caracas, Venezuela, and won the title of International Grandmaster. His Elo rating rose from 2540 in 1971 to 2660 in 1973, during which time he shared second place in the 1973 Soviet Championship, one point behind Spassky, and qualified for the Leningrad Interzonal. Karpov's World Junior Championship qualified him for one of the two Interzonals, a stage in the 1975 World Championship cycle to choose the challenger to play against World Champion Bobby Fischer. He finished joint first in the Leningrad Interzonal, qualifying for the 1974 Candidates Matches.
Karpov defeated Lev Polugaevsky with a score of +3=5 in the first Candidates game, earning the right to face former champion Boris Spassky in the semifinal round. Karpov stated publicly that he believed that Spassky would easily beat him and win the Candidates cycle to face Fischer, and that he (Karpov) would win the next Candidates cycle in 1977. Spassky won the first game as Black in style, but Karpov's tenacious and aggressive play secured him the overall victory with a score of +4−1=6.
The Candidates' Final was played in Moscow with Victor Korchnoi. Karpov took an early lead, winning the second game against the Sicilian Dragon, then scoring another win in the sixth game. After ten consecutive draws, Korchnoi threw away a winning position in the seventeenth game to give Karpov a 3–0 lead. In game 19, Korchnoi managed to win a long endgame, then scored a quick win after a Karpov blunder two games later. Three more draws, the last one agreed by Karpov when he was in a clearly better position, closed the match, with Karpov prevailing +3−2=19, giving him the right to move on to challenge Fischer for the world title. Although a world championship match between Karpov and Fischer was eagerly anticipated, those hopes never materialized. Fischer not only insisted that the match be the first to ten wins (draws excluded), but also that the champion retain the crown if the score was tied at 9-9. FIDE, the International Chess Federation, refused to allow this clause and gave both players a deadline of April 1, 1975, to agree to play the match under FIDE-approved rules. When Fischer did not agree, FIDE President Max Euwe declared on April 3, 1975, that Fischer had renounced his title and Karpov was the new world champion. Karpov later attempted to arrange another meeting with Fischer, but negotiations failed. This thrust the young Karpov into the role of world champion without having faced the reigning champion. Karpov said that if he had had the opportunity to play Fischer for the championship when he was twenty, he could have become a much better player. Determined to prove himself a legitimate champion, Karpov entered nearly every major tournament for the next ten years. He convincingly won the Milan tournament in 1975 and captured his first of three Soviet titles in 1976. He built a phenomenal series of tournament victories against the world's strongest players. Karpov held the record for most consecutive tournament victories (9) until it was broken by Garry Kasparov (15). As a result, most chess professionals soon agreed that Karpov was a legitimate world champion. In 1978, Karpov's first title defense was against Viktor Korchnoi, the opponent he had defeated in the 1973–75 Candidates cycle; the match was played in Baguio, Philippines, and the winner was required to score six wins. 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 favor, Korchnoi staged a comeback and won three of the next four games to draw level with Karpov. Karpov then won the next game to retain the title (+6−5=21).
Three years later, Korchnoi reemerged as the Candidates winner against German finalist Robert Hübner to challenge Karpov in Merano, Italy. Karpov won this match easily, 11–7 (+6−2=10), in what is known as the "Merano Massacre". Karpov had cemented his position as the best player and world champion when Garry Kasparov arrived on the scene. In their first match, the 1984 World Chess Championship in Moscow, the first player to win six games would win the match. Karpov had taken a 4–0 lead after nine games. The next 17 games were drawn, a record for world title matches, and it took Karpov until game 27 to secure his fifth victory. In game 31, Karpov had a winning position but was unable to capitalize on it and settled for a draw. He lost the next game, after which 14 more draws followed. Karpov maintained a solid winning position in game 41, but again blundered and had to settle for a draw. After Kasparov won games 47 and 48, FIDE President Florencio Campomanes unilaterally stopped the match, citing the health of the players. Karpov was said to have lost ten kilograms during the match. A rematch was scheduled for later in 1985, again in Moscow. The events of the so-called Marathon Match forced FIDE to revert to the previous format, with a match limited to 24 games (with Karpov retaining the champion if the match ended 12-12). Karpov needed to win the last game to draw the match and retain his title, but lost, giving the title to his opponent. The final score was 13-11 (+3−5=16) in favor of Kasparov. Karpov remained a formidable opponent (and the world No. 2) until the mid-1990s. He fought Kasparov in three more world championship bouts in 1986 (held in London and Leningrad), 1987 (in Seville), and 1990 (in New York City and Lyon). All three bouts 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 bouts, Karpov had chances of winning until 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, which needed only a draw to win the title, Karpov buckled under time pressure at the end of the first session, lost a variation that led to an almost forced draw, and allowed Kasparov to adjourn the game with a pawn up. After a further blunder in the second session, Karpov was slowly grounded and retired on move 64, ending the game and allowing Kasparov to retain the title. In the five World Championship matches, Karpov has 19 wins, 21 losses, and 104 draws in 144 games. In total, 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. In 1992, Karpov lost a Candidates Match to Nigel Short. But in the 1993 World Chess Championship, Karpov regained 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 between Kasparov and Karpov was the 1994 Linares Chess Tournament. The rankings were Karpov, Kasparov, Shirov, Bareev, Kramnik, Lautier, Anand, Kamsky, Topalov, Ivanchuk, Gelfand, Illescas, Judit Polgár and Beliavsky; with an average Elo rating of 2685, the highest ever at the time. Impressed by the strength of the tournament, Kasparov had said several days before the tournament that the winner could rightfully 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 winning percentage in a world-class tournament since Alekhine won San Remo in 1930), finishing 2½ points ahead of runner-up Kasparov and Shirov. Many of his victories were spectacular (in particular, his victory over Topalov is considered perhaps the best of his career). This performance against the world's best players brought his tournament Elo rating to 2985, the highest performance rating of any player in history until 2009, when Magnus Carlsen won the Pearl Spring Category XXI chess tournament with a performance of 3002. Chess statistician Jeff Sonas considers Karpov's Linares performance the best tournament result in history. Karpov defended his FIDE title against rising star Gata Kamsky (+6−3=9) in 1996. In 1998, FIDE largely eliminated the old system of Candidates' Matches, replacing it with a large knockout event in which a large number of players competed in short games over a few weeks. In the first of these events, the FIDE World Chess Championship 1998, champion Karpov was placed directly in the final, defeating Viswanathan Anand (+2−2=2, rapid tiebreak 2–0). In the next 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 the FIDE World Chess Championship 1999. In the September 2009 FIDE ratings, 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 match 2½–1½. In 2006, he tied for first with Kasparov in a blitz tournament, ahead of Korchnoi and Judit Polgár.
Karpov and Kasparov played a 12-game mixed match from 21 to 24 September 2009 in Valencia, Spain. It consisted of four rapid games and eight blitz games and took place exactly 25 years after the two players' legendary meeting at the 1984 World Chess Championship. Kasparov won the match 9–3. In March 2022, after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the FIDE Council suspended Karpov's title of FIDE Ambassador for Life.