Anatoli Jewgenjewitsch Karpov (1951, *)
Anatoli Jewgenjewitsch Karpov was chess world master 1975 through 1985 and 1993 through 1999. Karpov was born in Slatoust (Russia) on May 23, 1951. He learned chess at the age of four and a half years. When he was 13, the world master of that time, Michail Botvinnik, admitted him to his famous chess school. When he was 15, he won the Russian master title for the first time. He studied economy sciences, English and Spanish at the university of Leningrad (today St. Petersburg).
In
1969, Karpov became youth world master and in 1970 he got the title of the
international grand master (IGM). By the year 1975 he was the challenger of
the world master Bobby Fischer. Karpov became
world master because Fischer did not compete. Karpov would defend his title
in 1978 and 1981 against the exiled Russian Viktor Kortschnoj. But in 1985,
Karpov lost the title to Garri Kasparov and
could not win the title back.
In 1993, Kasparov and his challenger Nigel Short (GB) retired from the FIDE and founded the Professional Chess Association (PCA). That is why the FIDE disqualified both of them and so Karpov and the Dutch grand master Jan Timman became candidates for the world master title. Karpov won the match and became world master of the FIDE; while Kasparov won over Short and became world master of the PCA. In 1996, Karpov defended his title against the exiled Russian Gata Kamski. In 1999 the mode of the world's championship was changed by the FIDE. Now, the world's championship should be hold like a tournament. The winner of this tournament should become the new world master. But the participants of that tournament did not play against Karpov. Karpov was not very happy about this decision and did not participate. He wanted to play like it was before this new mode. The new titleholder is now Alexander Khalifman.