Talent with iron discipline — Anatoly Karpov celebrates his 75th birthday
Anatoly Karpov, one of the most decorated and recognizable chess players in history, will be 75 years old in 2026. He became the 12th world champion without playing with the reigning king, survived the most intense matches in the history of chess, which attracted the attention of people from all over the world, and held his position at the top for decades. Read more about the life of this extraordinary man in the Izvestia article.
Early years, early career
Anatoly Karpov was born on May 23, 1951 in the Ural city of Zlatoust. He officially started playing chess at the age of four and a half, although, according to him, interest in the game appeared even earlier.
"I watched my father play with friends at home,— Karpov recalled in an interview.
View of the city of Zlatoust
It was his father who explained the rules to him, becoming the first coach and rival of the future champion. Already at the age of 11, Karpov received the title of candidate for Master of Sports, and at 14 — Master of Sports of the USSR. After school, he entered the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of Moscow State University, and then transferred to the Faculty of Economics of Leningrad State University. At the same time, he began training with the main chess mentor in his life, the master (later grandmaster) Semyon Furman, who corrected the main drawback of the young Karpov — gaps in the opening theory.
In parallel with his studies, Karpov successfully competed in tournaments: in 1969 he became an international master, and in 1970 — an international grandmaster. Later, he admitted that he did not set himself the goal of becoming the champion of the USSR, but immediately focused on the world championship, realizing that he "has prospects in chess."
Anatoly Karpov with the prize won at the X World Youth Chess Championship, 1969
This approach paid off: in the early 1970s, his career skyrocketed. At the age of 23, he became the world champion, but he did not have a chance to play with the current champion at that time.
The failed fight with Fischer
In April 1975, Soviet grandmaster Anatoly Karpov was officially proclaimed the 12th World chess champion. He worked towards this achievement for several years: in 1973, he shared first place at the interzonal tournament in Leningrad, after which he won the candidates matches against Lev Polugaevsky, Boris Spassky and Viktor Korchnoi. This gave him the right to play for the title with the reigning world champion, American Robert Fischer.
Chess player Robert Fischer
Fischer has held the chess crown since 1972, when he defeated Spassky in the famous Match of the Century in Reykjavik. This victory has become a symbol of triumph in the West: for the first time in a quarter of a century, the world championship has gone away from Soviet chess players. In the USSR, this was perceived as a serious political defeat, striving at all costs to regain the title.
However, the match between Fischer and Karpov, scheduled for the spring of 1975, did not take place. The American grandmaster, who has not played any official games since his victory, has put forward a number of conditions to FIDE. Among them is holding a match to 10 wins without taking into account draws and retaining the title for the champion with a score of 9.:9. If the first requirement was satisfied, the second one was rejected, as it placed the applicant in obviously unequal conditions (he had to win by a margin of two points, 10-8 or more in order to take the title).
As a result, Fischer refused to participate, and Karpov was declared world champion.
Grandmaster Anatoly Karpov and his coach Semyon Furman analyze a game during the preparation for the final match of the contenders for the title of world chess champion, 1974
The situation turned out to be unique: Karpov won the title without playing with the reigning champion and subsequently never met Fischer at the chessboard — the American grandmaster did not return to official competitions.
Nevertheless, Karpov quickly confirmed his right to the title of the strongest. In the second half of the 1970s, he dominated the international scene, regularly winning tournaments in Milan, Amsterdam, London, Tilburg, Las Palmas and other cities. In 1976, he became the USSR champion for the first time (later repeating this success in 1983 and 1988). In 1978, Karpov defended the world crown in a tense match with Viktor Korchnoi, who had left the Soviet Union by that time. This confrontation attracted the attention of the whole world and became one of the most famous in the history of chess.
Confrontation with Korchnoi
Despite the age difference, the careers of Karpov and Korchnoi developed in parallel. They were even friendly for a while, but everything changed after the final match of the candidates in 1974 in Moscow. It was a decisive match for the right to face the then world champion Robert Fischer. Karpov won the match 3-2 (with 19 draws). After the defeat, Viktor Korchnoi gave a scandalous interview to a Yugoslav newspaper, saying that "Karpov's chess arsenal is very poor" and "he is unlikely to have a bright future." The interview angered Soviet functionaries, and the newspaper Sovetsky Sport published a collective letter from the grandmasters condemning Korchnoi, after which he was stripped of his state scholarship and temporarily banned from traveling.
Having finally received the opportunity to attend an international tournament in Amsterdam in July 1976, Korchnoi declared that he would not return to the USSR. He was granted asylum in Switzerland, where he continued to play. And although Korchnoi ceased to exist as a chess player for the Soviet press, it soon became impossible to ignore him — he won the challenger cycle and got the opportunity to fight Karpov again.
A scandalous meeting took place in Baguio (Philippines) in 1978, when the new champion had to defend his title. The match was played to six wins.
The World Chess Championship match between Anatoly Karpov and Swiss chess player Viktor Korchnoi in Italy, 1981
The first seven games ended in a draw. Then Karpov gradually "found" the candidate's vulnerabilities and began to win. After the 27th game of the match, the score was 5-2 in favor of Karpov. It seemed that everything had already been decided, but something unexpected happened. Viktor Korchnoi managed to win three games in a row and drew one game. The score was 5:5. Describing the events of those days many years later, Karpov admitted that he had serious sleep problems during the match.
— Sooner or later, all chess players have these problems. The third month of the match was coming to an end, and for another five months we worked almost without rest before the match. You can imagine that for eight months we've been looking at the board, at these squares and shapes. Korchnoi had the opposite situation. Feeling that he had nothing much to lose, he began to play more freely and boldly, which allowed him to even the score. Of course, this came as a complete surprise to me," Anatoly Karpov told Komsomolskaya Pravda.
According to the chess player, he was helped by a friend, a cosmonaut pilot, chairman of the USSR Chess Federation Vitaly Sevastyanov. He insisted that Karpov take time out, and the two of them went to Manila for the basketball World Cup.
— The national teams of the USSR and Yugoslavia were playing in the final. The drive and intensity of the game was enough for me to distract myself, get rid of the accumulated tension and unnecessary emotions. I arrived at the game refreshed. And already on October 17, the final game of the match with Korchnoi took place, which ended with my victory," noted Karpov.
Anatoly Karpov, World Chess champion, after returning from Baguio, where he defeated Viktor Korchnoi, 1978
Back in Baguio, the victory of one Soviet chess player over another former Soviet chess player, who was called nothing but a traitor, went far beyond the scope of sports. The whole world was literally watching the match. Years later, when asked by a Moskovsky Komsomolets journalist that defeat was like death back then, Karpov laughed it off.:
— Tal (chess player Mikhail Tal was one of Karpov's seconds in Baguio. — Editor's note) said later that if we had lost, the whole team's place in Siberia would have already been prepared. I think he made it up. I didn't hear any of that.
After the victory, Anatoly Karpov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, presented the award to the chess player in the Kremlin. At the same time, he said his famous phrase: "I took the crown, keep it, don't give it to anyone!".
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and Anatoly Evgenievich Karpov, world chess champion, awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, during the award ceremony in the Kremlin, 1978
The creators of the musical Chess were inspired by the events in Baguio Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Tim Rice. They also formed the basis of the film "World Champion", which was shot in 2021 by director Alexei Sidorov.
Three years later, Korchnoi became a contender again and again tried to take the chess crown from Anatoly Karpov, but the victory of the champion in a new match, in Merano, Italy, with a score of 6:2 was more than convincing.
Endless match with Garry Kasparov**
Anatoly Karpov had been reigning on the chess Olympus for almost 10 years when he was challenged by 21-year-old Garry Kasparov (recognized in Russia as a foreign agent and included in the list of terrorists and extremists). Their first fight for the championship title started on September 9, 1984 in the Column Hall of the House of Unions in Moscow and went down in history as endless.
Before the start of the match, the head of FIDE, Florencio Campomanes, approved the new rules of meetings for the world championship. According to him, the match was supposed to continue until one of the chess players won six times. There were no time limits.
The columned hall of the House of Unions, where the first World Chess championship match between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov took place, 1984
As a result, the confrontation between the two chess players lasted about six months. At first, Karpov confidently confirmed the status of the favorite — after nine games, the score was 4-0 in his favor. However, a long series of draws followed. In the 27th game, Karpov again prevailed and the score became 5:0. The 32nd game was already left for the opponent - and again a series of draws, in total, the grandmasters drew 40 times.
Kasparov won in the 47th and 48th games, the score was 5:3 in favor of Karpov, but on February 15, 1985, Campomanes announced the termination of the match without declaring a winner. The FIDE president explained his decision by "exhausting the physical and psychological resources not only of the participants in the match, but also of everyone involved in it."
Both chess players were against it, but they couldn't do anything. Later, they repeatedly blamed each other for this outcome. According to Karpov, the match was interrupted by Kasparov's powerful patron, the then first deputy chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, Heydar Aliyev. So, according to Karpov, he saved the challenger from an inevitable defeat. Garry Kasparov, on the contrary, claimed that the match was completed with the help of hardware intrigues and it was done in the interests of Karpov.
Soviet grandmasters Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov participate in the World Chess Championship match, 1984
They decided to replay the meeting seven months later with the account reset. In a new match in September 1985, Kasparov wrested the championship title from Karpov. Several more times (in 1986, 1987 and 1990) Karpov tried to return it, but without success.
The confrontation between two outstanding grandmasters played a role in the split of the chess world in the 90s. Due to the conflict with FIDE, Kasparov created his own Professional Chess Association (PCHA), which held World Championship matches without the international chess federation. After that, Anatoly Karpov became FIDE world champion three more times, winning matches with Jan Timman in 1993, with Gata Kamsky in 1996, and the first Olympic championship tournament in 1998, defeating Vishy Anand in the final.
According to his own calculations, Anatoly Karpov has won 185 international tournaments and team championships in his career.
Public and political activities
Karpov's socio-political career began long before the end of sports. Since 1982, he became Chairman of the Board of the Soviet Peace Foundation. In 1989-1991, Karpov was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In December 1995, he ran for the State Duma, but was not elected. As a result, he got to the State Duma on December 4, 2011 on the list of United Russia. He sat in the sixth, seventh and in the current eighth convocations.
Anatoly Karpov during the plenary session of the State Duma
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he was actively involved in business - he was the founder and head of the Petromir gas production company, and was a member of the boards of directors of a number of banking organizations (in particular, Mosbusinessbank). He was the president of Berghoff–Russia.
Since 2011, he has collaborated with the All-Russian Popular Front (ONF). On December 17, 2022, he was elected Honorary President of the Russian Chess Federation.
Anatoly Karpov has been developing the system of his chess schools for many years, in particular, in the Tyumen region. During this time, he complained more than once that the Soviet multi-level system of sports selection of children had been lost. The grandmaster also drew attention to the lack of a state program for the development of chess sports in Russia and called for its adoption as soon as possible to educate a new generation of talented chess players.
Chess player Anatoly Karpov, 2023
Karpov always spoke more than modestly about his success in this field. In particular, he said that there were much more gifted chess players. He called organization and iron discipline his strengths.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
