Anatoly Karpov: Playing Style, Openings and Best Games
Anatoly Karpov was world champion from 1975 to 1985 and one of the most successful tournament players ever (peak FIDE rating 2780). His style was the slow positional squeeze: he gained small advantages, removed every counter-chance and then tightened the grip.
Who is Anatoly Karpov?
Born in 1951, Karpov became world champion in 1975 when Bobby Fischer declined to defend the title. He proved himself over the next decade with a long run of tournament wins and two title defences against Viktor Korchnoi, before losing to Garry Kasparov in 1985 after the longest rivalry in title history. He later held the FIDE world title from 1993 to 1999 and reached a peak rating of 2780 in 1994.
Karpov's playing style
Karpov rarely needed spectacular moves. He improved his worst piece, took away squares, and waited for his opponent to run out of useful moves. Many of his wins look simple only because he never let the opponent's pieces become active.
What to copy: when nothing is happening, find your worst-placed piece and improve it.
Karpov's style shape
How strongly each skill shapes Karpov's play, 0 to 100. It shows style, not strength: Chess DNA compares the shape of your own 8 skills with this one.
Karpov's openings
Karpov played 1.e4 with the Ruy Lopez for much of his career, and as Black he relied on the Caro-Kann and the Queen's Indian.
Karpov's best games to study
His five world-title matches against Kasparov (1984–1990) are among the most studied games in chess.
Do you play like Karpov?
Chess DNA reads your recent Chess.com or Lichess games, scores the same 8 skills shown above, and compares the shape of your play with all 12 champions. It is a style match, not a strength test: a 900 and a 2200 can both play like Karpov if they lean on the same skills.
The other champions: Magnus Carlsen · Garry Kasparov · Mikhail Tal · Tigran Petrosian · José Raúl Capablanca · Bobby Fischer · Hikaru Nakamura · Viswanathan Anand · Paul Morphy · Gukesh Dommaraju · R Praggnanandhaa.
Frequently Asked Questions
How did Karpov become world champion?
In 1975 Bobby Fischer did not defend his title, so Karpov, the challenger, was declared champion. He then defended it twice against Viktor Korchnoi.
What is Karpov known for?
Positional pressure: small, steady improvements that leave the opponent without active plans.
How do I find out if I play like Karpov?
Enter your Chess.com or Lichess username in the box at the top of this page. Chess DNA analyses your recent games for free and shows which of 12 world champions your style is closest to, with your match percentage.
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