Karpov's longevity

[Mats Winther]

In the Second Anatoly Karpov Trophy, Karpov never castles as white and plays the Scandinavian with Qd6 as black, beating Ivanchuk, among others. It's highly unconventional play. I have always admired Karpov, especially his endgame prowess. I remember reading "Practical endgame lessons" (Edmar Mednis) in the seventies, in which the author demonstrates Karpov's highly practical endgame play. This is probably the reason why he is still so strong at rapid chess. Kasparov once expressed his admiration for Karpov's practical capacity. He needn't put in such hard work as Kasparov did, in order to play good chess.

M. Winther

[Greg Breed]

Yes Karpov I think was in the Capablanca mould whose style I wish I could emulate because he made it look so easy sometimes

[Kevin Thurlow]

Karpov has always been under-rated. Yes I know he won the world title on default, but surely he's proved himself a long time ago? And it appears he still knows what he is doing...

[Matt Mackenzie]

Actually, this has probably been his best event for a while (despite the unfortunate finale) Good to see that the old lion still has a few teeth

[Mick Norris]

His training is interesting
http://www.thechessmind.net/blog/2013/1 ... rrr-1.html

[Christopher Kreuzer]

His training is interesting
http://www.thechessmind.net/blog/2013/1 ... rrr-1.html

Not exactly Vladimir Putin, but still impressive. Did he win the game?

[Geoff Chandler]

"Karpov has always been under-rated." EH?

Who by?

Perhaps over-shadowed by Kasparov but never under-rated.

[Matt Mackenzie]

There was some sniffiness about him after he became world champion by default, definitely. He soon put that to rest, though

Also the rather simplistic (and often self-serving) political stuff which surrounded his battles with both the other K's.

[Stewart Reuben]

I was chatting to Kasparov in 1986.
Stewart 'I wouldn't be at all surprised if Karpov retired from the World Championshcip cycle, if he lost this match to you.'
Kasparov, 'Yes, that would make a great deal of sense.'
And then ironically it was Kasparov who retired first.
I have a theory that perhaps Karpov would have been an even stronger player, had he played against Fischer. Surely he holds the record for number of international tournaments won.

[Roger de Coverly]

I have a theory that perhaps Karpov would have been an even stronger player, had he played against Fischer

Kasparov suggests much the same in one of his books.

Elsewhere on the forum, someone has found some links to an American sports magazine from 1972. There's an interesting comment from Fischer to the effect that for the Soviet GMs, chess was just a job, whereas for him, it was a passion.

That doesn't seem to fit with his withdrawal from play in 1972.

[Arshad Ali]

Karpov's chess was less "fragile" than Kasparov's -- that's one reason for his longevity. Kasparov's success depended on heavy analysis of complex openings off the board and then using that analysis on the board, followed by heavy calculation when analysis ran out and where he would have the edge because of the opening analysis, because he had probed the thematic patterns of the studied openings a bit further, and because the calculational style suited him. Without this constant hard work, Kasparov's rating would plummet. Karpov's approach was different: less dependent on opening study, less dependent on heavy calculation, and based more on subtle positional judgment

[AustinElliott]

...Karpov's approach was different: less dependent on opening study, less dependent on heavy calculation, and based more on subtle positional judgment

In which respect Karpov resembles (from an earlier Russian generation) Vassily Smyslov, who also stayed a strong player until notably late in life - see e.g. reaching the Candidates Final at age 62.

[Arshad Ali]

In which respect Karpov resembles (from an earlier Russian generation) Vassily Smyslov, who also stayed a strong player until notably late in life - see e.g. reaching the Candidates Final at age 62.

I find Karpov a more attractive personality -- subtler and more nuanced, a rapier to Kasparov's club.

[AustinElliott]

In which respect Karpov resembles (from an earlier Russian generation) Vassily Smyslov, who also stayed a strong player until notably late in life - see e.g. reaching the Candidates Final at age 62.

I find Karpov a more attractive personality -- subtler and more nuanced, a rapier to Kasparov's club.

Talking of the Karpov-Kasparov relationship, there are interesting literary / dramatic takes on it in a couple of recent plays, Matt Charman's brilliant The Machine (about the Kasparov v Deep Blue match, but also has a kind of 'flashback' scene with the two Ks), and Mark Reid's rather smaller-scale (a two hander, as they say in the theatre, imagining a K & K reunion) The Gambit.

Pretty sure both plays have been discussed on here at some point; certainly the first one has.