World Championship 1984–1985: Karpov – Kasparov

10 September 1984 – 15 February 1985 · Moscow, USSR

Match annulled — no result

▦ 48 GAMES

The first Karpov–Kasparov match ran five months and forty-eight games before FIDE simply stopped it. Karpov led in wins but could never land the decisive sixth; Kasparov had begun to roar back; and with no title awarded, the whole epic was annulled and replayed.

Dates

10 September 1984 – 15 February 1985

Venue

Moscow, USSR

Format

First to 6 wins, draws not counting (unlimited games)

Result

Annulled — no result (replayed in 1985)

◈Karpov races ahead

Under the open-ended, first-to-six-wins rules, Karpov surged to a 4–0 lead after nine games, and — after a record-setting run of draws — reached 5–0 by game 27, a single point from retaining the crown. But he could not finish the job.

The sixth win simply would not come.

◈The endless draw, then the axe

Forty of the forty-eight games were drawn, seventeen of them in an unbroken streak; Karpov reportedly shed around twenty pounds under the strain. Then Kasparov won games 47 and 48, and the momentum shifted alarmingly.

On 15 February 1985, FIDE president Florencio Campomanes halted the match citing the players' health — over the objections of both men — with Karpov ahead 5–3 in wins and no champion crowned. The title was settled in a fresh, limited match later that year, which Kasparov won to become the youngest World Champion.

5–3

Wins when halted (Karpov)

Games played

Draws (17 in a row)

Titles awarded

◈Cross Table

Player	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	Pts
Karpov	½	½	1	½	½	1	1	½	1	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	½	½	½	0	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	0	0	25
Kasparov	½	½	0	½	½	0	0	½	0	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	0	½	½	½	½	1	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	23

1 win · ½ draw · 0 loss — click a game number to replay it.

EXPLORE ALL 48 GAMES →