Notable Games
Anatoly Karpov
17 celebrated games · 1600 in the full archive
◈The games that made the legend
Karpov – Hort · 1971 · 1–0
Alekhine Memorial, Moscow 1971 — the 20-year-old Karpov's breakthrough onto the world stage, where he shared first place with Leonid Stein. A model Sicilian, Keres Attack: Karpov rolled his kingside pawns forward (6.g4, then h4–h5) to prise open Vlastimil Hort's king and won in 33 moves.
→
Karpov – Uhlmann · 1973 · 1–0
Madrid 1973 — from the tournament the rising Karpov won outright. Against Wolfgang Uhlmann's French Defence he liquidated into a superior endgame, doubled his rooks on the seventh rank (26.Re7, then Rae1–e7), and squeezed out the full point in 42 moves.
→
Karpov – Spassky · 1974 · 1–0
Candidates semifinal, Leningrad 1974 — a decisive win over former World Champion Boris Spassky, whom the 22-year-old Karpov beat 7–4 to reach the Candidates final. A crisp Sicilian in which Karpov seized the initiative and never let it go.
→
Karpov – Unzicker · 1974 · 1–0
Nice Olympiad 1974 — one of the most admired positional games ever played, a textbook Ruy Lopez squeeze. Karpov manoeuvred every piece to its ideal square, gained space on both wings, and reduced Wolfgang Unzicker to helpless shuffling until zugzwang forced resignation on move 44.
→
Karpov – Kortschnoj · 1974 · 1–0
Candidates final, Moscow 1974 (game 2) — a celebrated Sicilian Dragon miniature. Karpov met the Yugoslav Attack with a textbook pawn-storm (h4–h5, g4–g5), landed his knight on d5, and broke through so fast that Viktor Korchnoi resigned facing 27.Qh8+. Winning this final earned Karpov the title match with Fischer.
→
Karpov – Dorfman · 1976 · 1–0
44th USSR Championship, Moscow 1976 — from the event that gave the reigning World Champion his first Soviet title. Another razor-sharp Keres Attack: Karpov sacrificed a knight with 14.Nd5 to tear open the long diagonal and hunted down Josif Dorfman's king.
→
Karpov – Kortschnoj · 1978 · 1–0
World Championship, Baguio 1978 — the dramatic final game (game 32) of a match played to six wins. Level at 5–5, Karpov won this Pirc to take the game and the match 6–5, retaining his title against Viktor Korchnoi.
→
Timman – Karpov · 1979 · 0–1
Montreal 'Tournament of Stars' 1979 — the super-tournament Karpov won jointly with Tal. Playing Black in an English, Karpov grabbed material with a sharp knight raid (15...Nxh2) and converted the extra pawns to beat Jan Timman in 31 moves.
→
Karpov – Kortschnoj · 1981 · 1–0
World Championship, Merano 1981 — the final game (game 18) of Karpov's second title defence against Korchnoi. A model Open Ruy Lopez: his rook invaded on d7, his passed pawns advanced with f5–f6, and the win sealed the match 6–2.
→
Karpov – Sax · 1983 · 1–0
Linares 1983 — winner of the tournament's brilliancy prize. In yet another Keres Attack, Karpov sacrificed to strip Gyula Sax's king of cover, then finished with the rook thrust 35.Re7! and a mating queen hunt.
→
Karpov – Kasparov · 1984 · 1–0
World Championship 1984/85, Moscow (game 9) — from the first, unlimited match against Garry Kasparov, which Karpov led 5–0 before it was controversially halted after 48 games. A classic Karpov Queen's Gambit Declined: he outplayed Kasparov into a won ending and ground it out over 70 moves.
→
Karpov – Kasparov · 1985 · 1–0
World Championship 1985, Moscow (game 4) — Karpov drew first blood in the epic second match, winning this Queen's Gambit Declined in 63 moves. Kasparov would ultimately take the match 13–11 to become the 13th World Champion.
→
Karpov – Kasparov · 1988 · 1–0
Belfort World Cup 1988 — a prized win over the reigning World Champion in their individual game. In the Grünfeld Exchange Karpov unbalanced the position with 12.Bxf7+ and outplayed Kasparov in 38 moves.
→
Karpov – Kasparov · 1990 · 1–0
World Championship 1990, New York and Lyon (game 17) — from the fifth and final Karpov–Kasparov title match. Karpov won this Grünfeld with the white pieces; Kasparov retained the crown by the narrowest margin, 12½–11½.
→
Karpov – Anand · 1991 · 1–0
Candidates quarterfinal, Brussels 1991 — Karpov eliminated the 21-year-old Viswanathan Anand, a future undisputed World Champion, on his march back toward the title. A sharp Semi-Slav decided by Karpov's relentless queenside play.
→
Karpov – Kramnik · 1994 · 1–0
Linares 1994 — a win over the 18-year-old Vladimir Kramnik, another future World Champion, at one of the strongest tournaments ever held. In a Semi-Slav Meran, Karpov broke open the centre with 15.e5, won the exchange on e6, and converted.
→
Karpov – Topalov · 1994 · 1–0
Linares 1994 — Karpov's immortal, the crown jewel of the greatest result of his career (11/13, a 2985 performance, finishing 2½ points clear of Kasparov). Against future FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov, he unleashed a stunning combination — 18.Nc5, 20.Rxe6 and 21.Rxg6+! — sacrificing material to lay the king bare and forcing resignation on move 39.
→