The Greatest Chess Rivalry

Anatoly Karpov vs Garry Kasparov.

You've probably heard these names. Both of them are Russian grandmasters and former world champions.

Karpov is known for his very solid and slow style. Kasparov is known for his aggressive style and his in-depth preparation of openings. The two couldn't be more different and without a doubt these two together constitute the greatest rivalry in chess.

Before I show you the games, I want to talk about both of their chess careers.

Anatoly Karpov

Anatoly Karpov was born on May 23, 1951. He is a Russian grandmaster and former World Chess Champion. He was the World Chess Champion from 1975 to 1985. He was also a six-time winner of the Chess Olympiad as a member of the USSR team. He has 9 Chess Oscars to his name. He was the world champion for a whopping 102 months and had a peak elo of 2780. 

Karpov learned to play chess when he was 4 and he became a Candidate Master (CM) when he was 11. At the age of 15, Karpov was the youngest Soviet chess grandmaster. In 1975, Karpov became the world champion, though he did not beat Bobby Fischer to get there. The first time Karpov actually won the World Chess Championship, was in 1978 against Victor Korchnoi. This World Championship was a very controversial one.

After losing his World Champion title in 1984 to Garry Kasparov, he regained it in 1993 (and lost it again in 1999 as he withdrew).

Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov is a Russian grandmaster and a former World champion. He held the title of world champion for 205 months and received 11 Chess Oscars. He was the youngest world champion (at age 22) after defeating Anatoly Karpov. In 2014, he obtained Croatian citizenship. Outside of chess, he serves as the Chairman for the Human Rights Foundation.

Kasparov is one of the contenders for the G.O.A.T of chess. He held the highest elo obtained by a player before 2013. 

Kasparov was born in modern Azerbaijan (at the time, it was a part of the soviet union). When Kasparov was 7, his father died of leukemia. When Kasparov was born, his name was actually Garik Kimovich Weinstein, but due to the death of his father, his surname was changed. He (Kasparov) was one of the youngest grandmasters at the time.

The 1984 Championship

The World Chess Championship of 1984 was a match between challenger Garry Kasparov and defending champion Anatoly Karpov in Moscow from 10 September 1984 to 15 February 1985 for the World Chess Championship title.

This game (the 32nd game) is also known as the turning point in this world championship. After 31 games, Karpov had a five-nothing lead against Kasparov.

Here is the game:

In reality, Karpov has slight chances to draw after:

It took 32 games for Kasparov to beat Karpov for ther first time in the championship. In the next 16 games, he was able to bring the score to 5-3 (Karpov-Kasparov). After half a year of games, they suspended the championship and said that there would be a rematch the next year (1985).

The1985 World Championship

The 1985 World Chess Championship was played between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov in Moscow from September 3 to November 9, 1985. Kasparov won, to become the thirteenth and youngest world champion at the age of 22.

So at this point (22nd game), Kasparov has bult up a lead with 11.5 to 9.5. In the 22nd game, Karpov has the white pieces and Kasparov has the black pieces.

Here is the game:

That King walk at the end was one of the most most strategic plays in chess. It looks like Kasparov is just one pawn down, but its much worse. Garry Kasparov went on to win the WCC of 1985!

The WCC 1986

The 1986 World Chess Championship was played between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov in London and Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) from July 28 to October 8, 1986. Games 1-12 were played at the Park Lane Hotel, Piccadilly, London, and games 13–24 at the Hotel Leningrad. Kasparov won.

There was some drama before this World Championship, because there was only a 3 month gap between the WCC of 1985 and this one.

(19th game). Karpov was at 8.5, while Kasparov was at 9.5.

Here is the game:

Controversy 

After Karpov won this game, Kasparov accused a member of his team of actually being a spy for the soviets and Karpov. Despite the match being equal now (9.5 - 9.5), Kasparov won the world chess championship of 1986.

1987 WCC

The 1987 World Chess Championship between Karpov and Kasparov was played in Seville from October 12 to December 19, 1987. Before the 24th game, Kasparov was down 12–11, but in the 24th game, Kasparov made a comeback by using the English Opening to win the final game to retain his title.

So now we move to 1987. How did Karpov make it back to play against Kasparov for the 4th time? 

Well, back then the way it worked is that there was a series of inter-zonal tournaments which ultimately lead to a knockout event that lead to a person, challenging the winner of that candidates cycle. So again, we have Kaprov vs Kasparov.

And this was the first world championship to happen OUTSIDE the Soviet Union. Kasparov also released a controversial book which potrayed Karpov as a man of the past (not really a good thing lol).

The 24th game of the WCC1987

Now remember, back then there were only 24 games in the world championship, meaning that you needed atleast 12.5 to win as a challenger. If the scores are tied, the current world champion wins.

In this game, Karpov had 12 points, and Kasparov had 11. This meant that Kasparov HAD TO win.

Here is the game:

The annotation above are by Garry Kasparov himself. 

Kasparov, played like Karpov, to defeat Karpov. So Kasparov retained his title as the World Champion by winning this game. 

This is a video in which Karpov and Kasparov both analysed the game. Of course it's in Russian.

Kasparov said in an interview:

"Karpov and I always stayed on for a few minutes after our games and analyzed. Why? Because he was the second best player in the world. There was nobody else with who I could have had this conversation."

1990 WCC

Karpov, once again qualified for this match.

The first part of this Championship was played in New York City and the second part was played in Lyon, France.

Game 20

Once again, the scores are almost equal with 9-10 (Karpov-Kasparov). 

Here is the game:

And the winner of the 1990 WCC...was Garry Kasparov.

The entire match is captured in this video.

Who is actually better?

But who is better between the two? Karpov is 12 years older than Kasparov, forming a disadvantage for him already. 
Some Opinions

I asked 10 people, who is better (Karpov or Kasp). 9 people out of 10 said that Kasparov is better.

That makes sense though. Kasparov was World Champion for more time, and he is very well known (in my opinion, better known than Karpov).

But opinions aren't always correct. What about Statistics?

Stats

Kasparov's highest elo was 2856, compared to Karpov's 2780. So Kasparov wins here.

In head to head games, Kasparov leads with 39 wins, 25 losses and 129 draws (including rapid games and exhibitions). So Kasparov wins here too. Let's just put aside number of wins and losses, but 129 DRAWS! That is a lot! It shows you how these two players are so great :0

Number of Total wins

Karpov has played 3800 games in his life, and has won 41% of them. He has drawn 46% of them.

Kasparov has played 2533 games in his life, and has won 54% of them. He has drawn 37% of them.

Even though this is not a fair comparison either (because Kasparov has played less games), Kasparov still wins here.

Other Notable Games from Karpov

Other Notable Games of Kasparov

Where are they now?

In November 2022, Karpov received a head injury that left him concussed; according to some sources, he was placed in an induced coma. Sources vary on the cause of the injury, including allegations that he was attacked while heavily intoxicated. Karpov's daughter Sofia claimed that he had accidentally fallen; this was echoed by the Russian Chess Federation. However, he has made a full recovery. (from Wikipedia). He is currently a serving politician in State Drama.

In 2021, Garry Kasparov launched "Kasparovchess", a subscription-based online chess community featuring documentaries, lessons, puzzles, podcasts, articles, interviews and playing zones. Kasparov played in the blitz section of the Grand Chess Tour 2021 event in Zagreb, Croatia. He performed poorly, however, scoring 0.5/9 on the first day and 2/9 on the second day, getting his only win against Jorden Van Foreest. He also participated in 9LX 2, finishing fifth in a field of ten players, with a score of 5/9. (Wikipedia).

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