Anatoly Karpov

81
Anatoly Karpov bigraphy, stories - Chess player

Anatoly Karpov : biography

May 23, 1951 –

Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov, PhD ( Anatolij Evgen’evič Karpov; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once again after Kasparov broke away from FIDE in 1993. He held the title until 1999, when he resigned his title in protest against FIDE’s new world championship rules. For his decades-long standing among the world’s elite, Karpov is considered one of the greatest players of all time.

His tournament successes include over 160 first-place finishes.However, in his 1994 book "My Best Games" Karpov says he played some 200 tournaments and matches, and won more than 100. He had a peak Elo rating of 2780, and his 90 total months at world number one is second all-time behind only Garry Kasparov since the inception of the FIDE ranking list in 1970.

Since 2005, he has been a member of the Public Chamber of Russia. He has recently involved himself in several humanitarian causes, such as advocating the use of iodised salt. On December 17, 2012, Karpov supported the law in the Russian Parliament banning adoption of Russian orphans by citizens of the US.

Books

  • Elista Diaries: Karpov–Kamsky, Karpov–Anand, Anand Mexico City 2007 World Chess Championship Matches (with Ron Henley) ISBN 0-923891-97-8
  • (also a 1992 Simon & Schuster edition)

International career

Young master

Karpov finished first in his first international tournament in Třinec several months later, ahead of Viktor Kupreichik. In 1967, he won the annual European Junior Championship at Groningen.http://www.365chess.com/tournaments/EU-ch_U18_f-A_6768_1967/26508 Karpov won a gold medal for academic excellence in high school, and entered Moscow State University in 1968 to study mathematics. He later transferred to Leningrad State University, eventually graduating from there in economics. One reason for the transfer was to be closer to his coach, grandmaster Semyon Furman, who lived in Leningrad. In his writings, Karpov credits Furman as a major influence on his development as a world-class player.

In 1969, Karpov became the first Soviet player since Spassky (1955) to win the World Junior Chess Championship, scoring an undefeated 10/11 in the finals at Stockholm.http://www.365chess.com/tournaments/Wch_U20_fin-A_1969/26788 In 1970, he tied for fourth place at an international tournament in Caracas, Venezuela,http://www.365chess.com/tournaments/Caracas_1970/22885 and was awarded the grandmaster title.

Top-Class Grandmaster

He won the 1971 Alekhine Memorial in Moscow (equal with Leonid Stein), ahead of a star-studded field, for his first significant adult victory. His Elo rating shot from 2540 in 1971 to 2660 in 1973, when he shared second in the USSR Chess Championship, and finished equal first with Viktor Korchnoi in the Leningrad Interzonal Tournament, with the latter success qualifying him for the 1974 Candidates Matches, which would determine the challenger of the reigning world champion, Bobby Fischer.

Candidate

Karpov defeated Lev Polugaevsky by the score of +3 =5 in the first Candidates’ match, earning the right to face former champion Boris 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 with Korchnoi. Karpov took an early lead, winning the second game against the Sicilian Dragon, then scoring another victory in the sixth game. Following ten consecutive draws, 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 long endgame, then notched a speedy victory after a blunder by Karpov two games later. Three more draws, the last agreed by Karpov in a clearly better position, closed the match, as he thus prevailed +3 −2 =19, moving on to challenge Fischer for the world title.