Editing Anatoly Karpov (section)

===Towards retirement===
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 the [[Supreme 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.<ref>{{Cite web|date=July 22, 1999|title=Karpov may sue over LV tourney - Las Vegas Sun Newspaper|url=https://lasvegassun.com/news/1999/jul/22/karpov-may-sue-over-lv-tourney/|access-date=May 6, 2021|website=lasvegassun.com|language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3310|title=The Credit Suisse Blitz – in pictures|date=August 27, 2006|publisher=ChessBase|access-date=October 21, 2010}}</ref>

Karpov and Kasparov played a mixed 12-game match from September 21–24, 2009, in [[Valencia]], 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 the [[World Chess Championship 1984]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://previews.chessdom.com/kasparov-karpov-valencia-2009 |title=Kasparov and Karpov to play 12 games match in Valencia |access-date=July 8, 2009 |publisher=Chessdom |archive-date=July 12, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090712002707/http://previews.chessdom.com/kasparov-karpov-valencia-2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Kasparov won the match 9–3. Karpov played a match against [[Yasser Seirawan]] in 2012 in St. Louis, Missouri, an important center of the North American chess scene, winning 8–6 (+5−3=6).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://saintlouischessclub.org/news/2012-06-12/karpov-seirawan-head-rapid-play-saint-louis|title=Karpov, Seirawan Head to Rapid Play in Saint Louis |date=June 12, 2012 |publisher=St Louis Chess Club|access-date= June 12, 2012}}</ref> 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.