Anatoly Karpov

Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (Анато́лий Евге́ньевич Ка́рпов; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, ⁣and politician.

Karpov was born into a Russian family on May 23, 1951, in Zlatoust, in the Urals region of the former Soviet Union, and learned to play chess at the age of four.

His early rise in chess was swift, as he became a candidate master by age 11.

At 12, he was accepted into Mikhail Botvinnik's prestigious chess school, though Botvinnik made the following remark about the young Karpov: "The boy does not have a clue about chess, and there's no future at all for him in this profession."

Karpov acknowledged that his understanding of chess theory was very confused at that time, and later wrote that the homework Botvinnik assigned greatly helped him, since it required that he consult chess books and work diligently.

Karpov improved so quickly under Botvinnik's tutelage that he became the youngest Soviet master in history at the age of fifteen in 1966; this tied the record established by Boris Spassky in 1952.

Karpov finished first in his first international tournament, in Třinec, several months later, ahead of Viktor Kupreichik.

In 1967, he won the annual Niemeyer Tournament in Groningen.

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 Championship, scoring an undefeated 10/11 in the final A group at Stockholm.

This victory earned him the International Master title.

In 1970, Karpov tied for fourth and fifth places with Pal Benko at an international tournament in Caracas, Venezuela, and earned the international grandmaster title.

FIDE awarded him the title during its 41st congress, held during the Chess Olympiad in Siegen, West Germany in September 1970.

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.

His Elo rating shot from 2540 in 1971 to 2660 in 1973, during which he shared second place in the 1973 Soviet championship, one point behind Spassky, and qualified for the Leningrad Interzonal.

The International Association of Chess Press awarded him nine Chess Oscars (1973–77, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984).

Karpov's chess tournament successes include over 160 first-place finishes.

He had a peak Elo rating of 2780, and his 102 total months at world number one is the fourth-longest of all time, behind Magnus Carlsen, Garry Kasparov, and Emanuel Lasker.

Karpov is also an elected Member of the State Duma in Russia.

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.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest chess players of all time, he was the 12th World Chess Champion from 1975 to 1985, a three-time FIDE World Champion (1993, 1996, 1998), twice World Chess champion as a member of the USSR team (1985, 1989), and a six-time winner of Chess Olympiads as a member of the USSR team (1972, 1974, 1980, 1982, 1986, 1988).

Karpov's world junior championship qualified him for one of the two Interzonals, a stage in the 1975 World Championship cycle to choose the challenger to play world champion Bobby Fischer.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 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.

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 (draws not counting), but also that the champion retain the crown if the score was tied 9–9.

Since 2006, he has chaired the Commission for Ecological Safety and Environmental Protection of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, and since 2007, he has been a member of the Public Council under the Ministry of Defence.