Editing Anatoly Karpov (section)

===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>