World Champion 1975-1984
Born: 1951, Zlatoust in Ural Mountains
Very much like Petrosian in style, Karpov plays highly positional chess. He plays without taking many risks, and without making many mistakes. He waits for his opponents to make the slightest inaccuracy and then he grinds them to dust. Karpov won the World Championship title in 1975 when Bobby Fischer forfeited the match to him. He held this title for nine years, until he was brought down by Garry Kasparov in 1984.