Editing Anatoly Karpov (section)

==Career==
===Young master===
[[File:Anatoly Karpov (1967).jpg|thumb|262px|Karpov in 1967]]
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 Chess Championship|Niemeyer Tournament]] in [[Groningen]].<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Junior Meet|magazine=[[Chess Review]]|date=April 1968|volume=36|number=4|page=99|quote= 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.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.365chess.com/tournaments/EU-ch_U18_f-A_6768_1967/26508 |title=EU-ch U18 f-A 6768 1967|website=365Chess.com|access-date=October 20, 2013}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/01/books/getting-it-off-his-chess.html |first=Fernando |last=Arrabal |title=Getting It Off His Chess |date=March 1, 1992 |website=The NY Times |access-date=November 16, 2022}}</ref>

In 1969, Karpov became the first Soviet player since Spassky (1955) to win the [[World Junior Chess Championship|World Junior Championship]], scoring an undefeated 10/11 in the final A group at [[Stockholm]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.365chess.com/tournaments/Wch_U20_fin-A_1969/26788 |title=Wch U20 fin-A|publisher=365Chess.com|access-date=October 20, 2013}}</ref> This victory earned him the [[International Master]] title.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Tenth Junior World Championship. Stockholm, August 10 – 29, 1969|last=Trifunovich|first=Petar|magazine=Chess Review|date=October 1969|volume=37|number=10|page=315}}</ref> In 1970, Karpov tied for fourth and fifth places with [[Pal Benko]] at an international tournament in [[Caracas]], Venezuela,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.365chess.com/tournaments/Caracas_1970/22885 |title=Caracas 1970|website=365Chess.com|access-date=October 20, 2013}}</ref> and earned the [[Grandmaster (chess)|international grandmaster]] title.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Don't Walk – Run|last=Kavalek|first=Lubosh|magazine=Chess Life & Review|date=September 1970|volume=XXV|number=9|page=483|quote=Anatoli Karpov is a new International Grandmaster. Playing "waiting chess" he just made the grandmaster norm.}}</ref> [[FIDE]] awarded him the title during its 41st congress, held during the [[Chess Olympiad]] in [[Siegen]], West Germany in September 1970.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=FIDE'S 41st -and Greatest -Congress|last=Cramer|first=Fred|magazine=Chess Life & Review|date=January 1971|volume=XXVI|number=1|page=24|quote=The Congress awarded IGM titles to Anatoly Karpov and Buchuti Gurgenldze of the USSR and to Walter Browne of Australia.}}</ref>

===Grandmaster===
Karpov won the 1971 [[Alekhine Memorial]] tournament in Moscow (jointly with [[Leonid Stein]]), ahead of a star-studded field, for his first significant adult victory.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.365chess.com/tournaments/Alekhine_mem_1971/23191|title=Alekhine mem 1971 |website=www.365chess.com}}</ref> His [[Elo rating system|Elo rating]] shot from 2540 in 1971 to 2660 in 1973,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.olimpbase.org/Elo/player/Karpov,%20Anatoly.html|title=FIDE rating history: Karpov, Anatoly}}</ref> during which he shared second place in the [[1973 USSR Chess Championship|1973 Soviet championship]], one point behind [[Boris Spassky|Spassky]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.olimpbase.org/ind-urs/urs-1973.html|title=41st Soviet Chess Championship, Moscow 1973|website=www.olimpbase.org}}</ref> and qualified for the Leningrad Interzonal.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.365chess.com/tournaments/Leningrad_Interzonal_1973/23554|title=Leningrad Interzonal 1973 |website=www.365chess.com}}</ref>

===Candidate===
Karpov's world junior championship qualified him for one of the two [[Interzonal]]s,<ref>[https://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/zonals/1972-75q.htm Zonal Qualifiers 1972-1975], Mark Weeks' Chess Pages</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=The 1973 Interzonals|last=Cramer|first=Fred|magazine=Chess Life & Review|date=January 1973|volume=XXVIII|number=1|page=34}}</ref> a stage in the [[World Chess Championship 1975|1975 World Championship cycle]] to choose the challenger to play world champion [[Bobby Fischer]]. He finished equal first in the Leningrad Interzonal, qualifying for the 1974 [[Candidates Matches]].

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 [[Victor Korchnoi]]. Karpov took an early lead, winning the second game against the [[Sicilian Defence|Sicilian Dragon]], then scoring another victory in the sixth game. Following ten consecutive [[draw (chess)|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 [[chess endgame|endgame]], then notched a speedy victory after a blunder by Karpov two games later. Three more draws, the last [[draw by agreement|agreed]] 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.<ref>chessgames.com, [https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=79939 ''Karpov - Korchnoi Candidates Final (1974)'']</ref>

===Match with Fischer in 1975===
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 ([[draw (chess)|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.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Hochberg |first=Burt |date=May 1975 |title=News & Views |magazine=Chess Life and Review
|location=Newburgh, New York |publisher=United States Chess Federation }}</ref> When Fischer did not agree, FIDE President [[Max Euwe]] declared on April 3, 1975, that Fischer had forfeited his title and Karpov was the new World Champion.<ref>{{cite book |last=Byrne |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Byrne (chess player) |date=1976 |title=Anatoly Karpov, The Road to the World Chess Championship |location=New York |publisher=Bantam Books |page=1 |isbn=0-553-02876-6}}</ref> 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]] 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.<ref>''Kasparov, [[My Great Predecessors]], part IV: Fischer, p. 474''</ref> This view is echoed by Karpov himself.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.chessbase.com/post/karpov-interview-tania-sachdev|title=Karpov on Fischer, Korchnoi, Kasparov and the chess world today|publisher=Chessbase|date=February 5, 2020|access-date=February 6, 2020}}</ref> Spassky thought that Fischer would have won in 1975, but Karpov would have qualified again and beaten Fischer in 1978.<ref>In [http://www.chesscafe.com/text/polgar26.pdf an article] (PDF) published in 2004 on the Chesscafe website [[Susan 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."</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 21, 2021 |title="Каспаров получил от меня 48 бесплатных уроков". Большое интервью Карпова |url=https://www.sport-express.ru/chess/reviews/kak-prohodili-matchi-po-shahmatam-anatoliya-karpova-protiv-garri-kasparova-intervyu-1790651/ |access-date=July 4, 2022 |website=sport-express.ru |language=ru}}</ref>

===World champion===<!-- This section is linked from [[World Chess Championship]] -->
[[File:Max Euwe, wife and Karpov 1976.jpg|thumb|300px|Karpov with FIDE president [[Max 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 the [[Milan]] 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 by [[Garry Kasparov]] (15). As a result, most chess professionals soon agreed that Karpov was a legitimate world champion.<ref name="WinningChessStrategies">{{cite book |last=Seirawan |first=Yasser |title=Winning Chess Strategies |year=2005 |publisher=Microsoft Press |isbn=978-1857443851}}</ref>

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 at [[Baguio]], 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).<ref>chessgames.com, [https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=54641 ''Karpov vs Korchnoi, 1978'']</ref> Three years later, Korchnoi reemerged as the Candidates' winner against German finalist [[Robert Hübner]] to challenge Karpov in [[Merano]], Italy. Karpov handily won this match, 11–7 (+6−2=10), in what is remembered as the [[World Chess Championship 1981|"Massacre in Merano"]].

Karpov's tournament career reached a peak at the [[Montreal]] "Tournament of Stars" tournament in 1979, where he finished joint first (+7−1=10) with [[Mikhail Tal]] ahead of a field of strong grandmasters completed by [[Jan Timman]], [[Ljubomir Ljubojević]], [[Boris Spassky]], [[Vlastimil Hort]], [[Lajos Portisch]], Robert Hübner, [[Bent Larsen]] and [[Lubomir Kavalek]]. He dominated [[Las Palmas]] in 1977 with 13½/15. He also won the prestigious [[Bugojno]] tournament in 1978 (shared), 1980 and 1986, the [[Linares chess tournament|Linares tournament]] in 1981 (shared with [[Larry Christiansen]]) and 1994, the [[Tilburg]] tournament in 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, and 1983, and the [[USSR Chess Championship|Soviet Championship]] in 1976, 1983, and 1988.<ref name="chessgames, 2002">chessgames.com, [https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=20719 ''Anatoly Karpov'']</ref>

Karpov represented the Soviet Union at six [[Chess Olympiads]], in all of which the USSR won the team gold medal. He played as the first reserve at [[20th Chess Olympiad|Skopje 1972]], winning the board prize with 13/15. At [[21st Chess Olympiad|Nice 1974]], he advanced to board one and again won the board prize with 12/14. At [[24th Chess Olympiad|La Valletta 1980]], he was again board one and scored 9/12. At [[25th Chess Olympiad|Lucerne 1982]], he scored 6½/8 on board one. At [[27th Chess Olympiad|Dubai 1986]], he scored 6/9 on board two. His last was [[28th Chess Olympiad|Thessaloniki 1988]], where on board two he scored 8/10. In Olympiad play, Karpov lost only two games out of 68 played.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Karpov at 70: "My great blunder was I agreed to hold the match with Kasparov in the Soviet Union" |url=https://chess24.com/en/read/news/karpov-at-70-my-great-blunder-was-i-agreed-to-hold-the-match-with-kasparov-in-the-soviet-union |access-date=June 2, 2022 |website=chess24.com |language=en}}</ref> To illustrate Karpov's dominance over his peers as champion, his score was +13−1=22 versus Spassky, +8=19 versus [[Robert Hübner]], +12−1=29 versus [[Ulf Andersson]], +3−1=10 versus [[Vasily Smyslov]], +1=19 versus [[Mikhail Tal]], +19-7=23 versus [[Ljubomir Ljubojević]].<ref name="chessgames, 2002" />

=== Rivalry with Kasparov ===
{{excerpt|Karpov-Kasparov Rivalry|Overview}}

===FIDE champion again (1993–1999)===
[[Image:Anatoly Karpov.jpg|thumb|Karpov in 1993]]
In 1992, Karpov lost a Candidates Match against [[Nigel Short]]. But in the [[World 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 1994 [[Linares chess tournament]]. The field, in eventual finishing order, was Karpov, Kasparov, [[Alexei Shirov|Shirov]], [[Evgeny Bareev|Bareev]], [[Vladimir Kramnik|Kramnik]], [[Joël Lautier|Lautier]], [[Viswanathan Anand|Anand]], [[Gata Kamsky|Kamsky]], [[Veselin Topalov|Topalov]], [[Vasyl Ivanchuk|Ivanchuk]], [[Boris Gelfand|Gelfand]], [[Miguel Illescas|Illescas]], [[Judit Polgár]], and [[Alexander Beliavsky|Beliavsky]]; with an average [[Elo rating system|Elo 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 won [[San Remo 1930 chess tournament|San 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 his [[Elo rating system|Elo rating]] tournament performance at 2985, the highest [[Performance rating (chess)|performance rating]] of any player in history up until 2009, when [[Magnus Carlsen]] won the category XXI [[Pearl Spring chess tournament]] with a performance of 3002. Chess statistician [[Jeff Sonas]] considers Karpov's Linares performance the best tournament result in history.<ref>[http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5828 "Facts and figures: Magnus Carlsen's performance in Nanjing"]. ChessBase. Retrieved  October 26, 2009.</ref>

Karpov defended his FIDE title against the rising star [[Gata 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, the [[FIDE World Chess Championship 1998]], champion Karpov was seeded straight into the final, defeating [[Viswanathan 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 the [[FIDE World Chess Championship 1999]].<ref>{{cite news |author1=[[Leonard Barden]] |title=Games |work=The Guardian |date=4 September 1999 |location=Greater London |page=37 |quote=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.}}</ref>

===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.