My Best Games

My Best Games

“I always want to be first”, stated Anatoly Karpov, who in 1975 was declared chess champion of the world when the eccentric American Robert James Fischer declined to defend his title against his Russian challenger. The fact that “Tolya” was no “paper tiger” was something he proved over the next three decades: during it he held the FIDE world championship for 17 years (1975–1985 and 1993–1999) and won more than 160 major chess tournaments – an all-time record!

The unique career of the Russian grandmaster can be appreciated from these 100 annotated games, which demonstrate that Karpov is not only a master in the conversion of a minimal advantage. All chess enthusiasts can profit and learn from them!

“Anatoly Karpov’s absolute will to survive and his singular chess talent unite to form an inseparable combination of Lasker’s psychological skill and Capablanca’s perfect machine-like technique.”

— Garry Kasparov, 13th world chess champion

“When Karpov had an advantage he would maintain the status quo and thereby mysteriously increase his advantage! Nobody before or since him has managed to do this.”

— Vladimir Kramnik, 14th world chess champion