Anatoly Karpov is a great chess player. Biography of Karpov Anatoly Evgenievich

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:46

The ease, virtuosity of the game, observed by millions of connoisseurs of this art in matches broadcast on television, made the viewer confidently think that Karpov was a chess player by nature. In fact, grandmasters are not born. It all started, like many Soviet children.

Childhood of the twelfth chess champion

At the age of five, the boy was introduced to chess by his father, after which there was a sports section at the Zlatoust Metallurgical Plant, where his father worked. Of course, an inquisitive, tenacious mind, natural inclinations, and the interest shown by a teenager in the ancient intellectual game affected. Anatoly became a first-rate student already at the age of nine, at the age of 11 he fulfilled the norm of a candidate for master. Further success was achieved under the guidance of S. M. Furman, an experienced grandmaster mentor. At the age of fourteen he became a master of sports, at the age of eighteen (in 1969) chess player Anatoly Karpov excelled at the World Youth Championship. From this stage, the rise of our talentedcompatriot, to this day, no one has surpassed in the number of victories in international competitions.

The record milestone - 100 won championships - was passed by him in 1994 at the age of 43 (for comparison, the great Alekhin achieved an impressive result in just 78 matches and tournaments).

"Ordinary" personal data

Karpov Anatoly Evgenievich was born in the city of Zlatoust, Chelyabinsk Region, on May 23, 1951. Father - Evgeny Stepanovich, a worker, later - a plant engineer. Mother - Nina Grigorievna, housewife. Anatoly was the second child in the family, his sister is 5 years older than him.

Since 1965, the Karpov family has been living in Tula. Here Anatoly graduated from the mathematical class of school No. 20 with a gold medal. He received further education at Moscow State University (Mekhmat), later transferred to the Faculty of Economics of Leningrad State University, successfully completing his studies in 1978. Until 1980, he worked there as a researcher at the Research Institute for Social Research, then at the Department of Political Economy of Moscow State University.

In the first marriage with Irina Kuimova, the son Anatoly (1979) was born, from the second marriage with Natalia Bulanova has a daughter, Sofia (1999).

Community activities

In 1989-1991. He was a member of the deputy corps of the USSR Armed Forces. Since 2011, he has been a member of the State Duma from the United Russia faction. Karpov is a chess player who knows how to calculate moves not only with pieces on a checkered board. His analytical skills and creative mindset are highly valued by executives.states. Since 2004, in the sphere of his permanent activity - the Presidential Council for Culture, since 2007 - the Public Council under the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, at the same time he headed the environmental fund "TEKHECO". In the State Duma, he oversees issues of economic policy, entrepreneurship and innovative development.

And yet, the first thing that is expected at the mention of the name Anatoly Karpov is a biography of sports victories. No questionnaire could contain all the results he achieved. Let's mention the most important ones.

Championship without a decisive battle

While still a student at the Faculty of Economics, Karpov came close to the chess crown. In 1072-1975, he went through all the qualifying rounds of the World Championship, in the end winning the candidates' matches with the strongest rivals - Viktor Korchnoi, Lev Polugaevsky, Boris Spassky.

Most likely, analyzing the games of Anatoly Karpov, the current champion Bobby Fischer, wanting to leave "undefeated", refused to fight. A unique case in history: in the spring of 1975, the challenger was declared by FIDE the twelfth world champion, having not played a single game with the previously acting "king" in the final match (as you know, the main duel, according to the regulations, should continue until 6 wins of one of the participants), nor in other international competitions.

Sports achievements

Fischer, who left the fight, created a precedent when the declared champion had to prove his title in other high-ranking competitions. and Karpovdid it brilliantly. The Soviet chess player in the same 1975 won the prestigious tournament in Milan. He defended the title of champion in matches with Viktor Korchnoi, representing Switzerland: in 1978 in Baguio (Philippines) he won the last turning point game with a score of 5:5 (the result of the match was 16, 5:15, 5), then in 1981 he won in Italian Merano. Losing only two games with ten "draws", Karpov defeated his opponent with a convincing score of 6:2 (11:7) within twenty-eight tournament days.

For twelve years, from 1971 to 1981, the athlete received the Chess Oscar nine times as the best grandmaster in the world. Three times, in 1976, 1983 and 1988, he won the title of champion of the USSR (in 1988, together with Garry Kasparov).

Fights with Kasparov

The most dramatic period of the champion's sports career, memorable throughout the country, was the defense of the title against the talented young compatriot Garry Kasparov.

Initially developed by Karpov's success (a 5-0 score in terms of victories, in which it was enough to win a single game) was minimized by the contender's willpower. The match was stopped by FIDE without declaring a winner with a score of 5:3 and 40 "draws" (a record number of games played for matches of this rank). A pair of Soviet chess players set another peculiar record - Karpov and Kasparov met in the decisive championship match 5 times (before them, the highest title was contested by their counterparts Smyslov and Botvinnik three times).

The first match, which started on September 9, 1984, lasted until February 15next year. In the same 1985, a new duel took place, where the final score was symmetrical: 5:3 in favor of Kasparov. How strong Karpov was a chess player is shown by the fact that, having lost a rematch to his fatal opponent in 1986 (with a difference of one victory), he twice acted as the only possible contender. Moreover, in 1987 in Seville, only an unfortunate mistake in the 11th game, caused by enormous nervous tension, and the chance he missed to use Kasparov's miscalculation in the decisive match (with a score of +1 in his favor) did not allow Anatoly to regain the title. According to chess experts, the three-year protracted confrontation led to the fact that both opponents were creatively and psychologically exhausted.

Anatoly Karpov is a chess player and a man

In 2002, Anatoly Karpov defeated Kasparov in an unofficial match, drawing the main part of the tournament and winning the additional rapid chess with a score of 2, 5:1, 5. He won the first place in the competition in Linares (1994), wins over Jan Timman, Gata Kamsky, Vishy Anand: three times after the split in the world of chess championships, he won the highest title according to FIDE (in 1993, 1996, 1998).

Karpov Anatoly Evgenievich, thanks to his upbringing and temperament, was not a rebel either in terms of organizing chess championships or in civilian life. At the same time, he showed himself as a man of a broad soul, in 2007 he sought a meeting with his former main rival, a rebel, who was arrested for participating in the March of Dissent.

Karpov in 1982 headed the Internationalassociation of world foundations. He is the author of several fascinating books about his favorite intellectual game, a philatelist who has collected one of the richest collections of chess stamps. An old hobby, according to Anatoly Evgenievich, disciplines thinking, develops the memory, which is so necessary for calculating options for moves.