Anatoly Karpov

Anatoly Karpov, born in 1951, Russian chess player and longtime world champion, the youngest player ever awarded the title of Soviet Master. Born in Zlatoust, Russia (then part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov learned to play chess at age six. He was tutored by former world champion Mikhail Botvinnik when he was 13, and at age 15 Karpov was awarded the title Soviet Master. He attended Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) University, where he studied economics, English, and Spanish.

After winning the World Junior Championship in 1969, Karpov achieved a string of successes in major chess tournaments, earning the title of International Grandmaster in 1970. In 1974 he became the official challenger for the world championship title held by American grandmaster Bobby Fischer. When Fischer refused to play Karpov, the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) named Karpov world champion by default. During the next two years Karpov won seven first prizes in major tournaments, and in 1978 and 1981 he successfully defended his world champion title against Viktor Korchnoi, a grandmaster who had defected from the Soviet Union during the 1970s.

In 1985 Karpov lost the world championship to Russian grandmaster Garry Kasparov. Karpov's attempts to regain the championship from Kasparov in 1987 and 1990 were unsuccessful. In 1993 Karpov failed to qualify as the challenger for the world championship match.

In 1993 Kasparov and challenger Nigel Short of England rejected the FIDE and played for a rival organization, the Professional Chess Association (PCA); Karpov played a FIDE-authorized match with Jan Timman of The Netherlands. Kasparov and Karpov both won their respective championship matches, and both claimed the title of world champion. In 1994, in an international tournament at Linares, Spain, Karpov finished in first place without losing a game, one of the greatest successes of his career. Karpov defended his FIDE title in 1998 but lost it in 1999 when he refused to agree to the organization’s tournament format. His autobiography, Karpov on Karpov, was published in 1990.