The Best of Chess Informant – Anatoly Karpov

Zdenko Krnic

We have published 97 volumes of Chess Informant, spanning a period of forty years, and it was as far back as our second volume in 1966 that Anatoly Karpov first made his appearance in our pages. Since then we have published 1,600 of his games, 559 of which were annotated by Karpov himself. Now we are pleased to announce the release of a new CD: The Best of Chess Informant – Anatoly Karpov.

Presented below are his fourteen games that were voted as the best game of the volume in which it appeared, along with a table of the jury’s voting. In analyzing these games we can conclude that despite his narrow opening repertoire, Karpov was always excellently theoretically prepared. This is evident from the second game from his match against Korchnoi in 1974, when he introduced the novelty 19. Qd3, followed by 20. g5!!, after which he won the game without any serious resistance from his opponent. I was also deeply impressed by the exchange sacrifice 18. Rd5 against Sax in Linares in 1983.

Karpov will be remembered in chess history as the champion with the greatest number of tournament wins. His zenith came in 1994 at Linares, where he scored 11 out of 13, achieving the highest single-tournament performance rating ever. He also defeated Topalov with beautiful combinatory play.

Karpov’s first chess idol, the great Josι Raϊl Capablanca, had a far reaching influence on his style of play. Legendary champion Mikhail Tal once said: “Many of Karpov’s intentions become understandable to his opponents only when salvation is no longer possible.” And Karpov’s long-standing coach Semen Furman once stated: “I was very glad of Karpov’s natural gift for subtle positional feeling, masterly endgame play and technically accurate conduct of the game.”

 

 

18

EDITORIAL SELECTION

   

1

 KARPOV,A. – KORCHNOI,V.

433

10

10

9

10

10

10

10

10

10

89

2

BROWNE,W. – BISGUIER,A.

252

7

9

10

8

8

7

3

6

8

66

3

QUINTEROS,M. – PORTISCH,L.

600

8

3

8

6

7

8

–

9

9

58

4

BROWNE,W. – POLUGAEVSKY,L.

473

–

5

6

7

4

5

1

8

2

38

5

GELLER,E. – SPASSKY,B.

453

9

–

7

5

9

–

–

–

5

35

6

JANSA,V. – SMYSLOV,V.

311

3

2

4

9

–

–

–

5

7

30

7

PETROSIAN,T. – BRONSTEIN,D.

647

4

4

–

–

–

4

7

7

–

26

8

KORCHNOI,V. – KARPOV,A.

569

–

7

–

–

6

2

9

–

–

24

9

PLANINEC,A. – TIMMAN,J.

234

6

8

–

4

–

–

–

–

–

18

10

SPASSKY,B. – CHEBANENKO,V.

178

–

–

3

–

–

6

2

–

6

17

 

 

20

EDITORIAL SELECTION

   

1

 KARPOV,A. – SPASSKY,B.

601

5

10

9

–

7

10

8

–

10

59

2

PORTISCH,L. – GLIGORIC,S.

702

7

9

4

8

9

8

–

–

8

53

3

BRONSTEIN,D. – KEENE,R.

535

–

1

6

10

10

–

1

9

2

39

4

GUFELD,E. – SMYSLOV,V.

200

10

7

2

–

–

–

9

7

–

35

5

TAIMANOV,M. – VAGANIAN,R.

26

9

2

–

9

–

–

5

8

1

34

6

KARPOV,A. – ANDERSSON,U.

385

8

6

3

6

–

–

6

–

–

29

7

ROMANISHIN,O. – PETROSIAN,T.

32

6

8

1

–

–

4

–

–

9

28

8

KORCHNOI,V. – PETROSIAN,T.

540

–

3

5

–

–

9

10

–

–

27

9

UHLMANN,W. – LJUBOJEVIC,LJ.

66

–

–

10

4

4

5

3

–

–

26

10

BELIAVSKY,A. – GELLER,E.

71

–

–

–

7

8

2

–

1

7

25

 

 

23

EDITORIAL SELECTION

   

1

 TATAI,S. – KARPOV,A.

86

10

9

5

10

8

10

9

6

9

76

2

PLANINEC,A. – GLIGORIC,S.

237

8

10

3

4

2

–

8

7

7

49

3

SMEJKAL,J. – LJUBOJEVIC,LJ.

75

–

–

7

9

10

5

–

–

10

41

4

BRONSTEIN,D. – UHLMANN,W.

232

–

–

10

–

–

2

10

10

–

32

5

KARPOV,A. – LIBERZON,V.

415

–

–

–

–

3

8

6

9

6

32

6

TIMMAN,J. – POMAR,A.

195

6

6

–

8

1

3

2

–

4

30

7

AUGUSTIN,J. – NUNN,J.

235

7

7

–

–

9

–

–

–

5

28

8

STEAN,M. – UNGUREANU,E.

506

–

5

–

6

–

6

5

5

–

27

9

JANOSEVIC,D. – BARETIC,D.

236

4

–

4

–

–

9

–

4

3

24

10

TAL,M. – VADASZ,L.

157

2

–

8

2

7

–

3

–

–

22

 

 

28

EDITORIAL SELECTION

   

1

TIMMAN,J. – KARPOV,A.

40

9

10

8

7

–

2

9

10

4

59

2

POLUGAEVSKY,L. – TAL,M.

98

5

–

10

10

–

1

8

8

10

52

3

GUFELD,E. – IVANOVIC,B.

359

1

4

6

8

10

10

–

–

8

47

4

ADORJAN,A. – RIBLI,Z.

452

–

9

9

–

–

9

10

1

3

41

5

MILES,A. – ADORJAN,A.

78

8

–

3

1

4

8

–

9

2

35

6

TSESHKOVSKY,V. – KUPREICHIK,V.

382

2

3

–

9

8

5

–

–

7

34

7

PORTISCH,L. – BALASHOV,Y.

661

3

5

–

4

–

7

7

–

5

31

8

CHIBURDANIDZE,M. – RODRIGUEZ,A.

450

–

1

7

6

7

–

5

–

–

26

9

TIMMAN,J. – SMYSLOV,V.

274

6

–

–

–

9

–

–

–

6

21

10

POKOJOWCZYK,J. – TIMOSCENKO,G.

435

10

–

–

3

–

6

–

–

–

19

  

 

29

EDITORIAL SELECTION

   

1

 KARPOV,A. - HUEBNER,R. 374 8 10 10 10 2 9 10 10 5 74

2

 KASPAROV,G. - PRIBYL,J. 565 7 9 9 9 7 10 9 5 9 74

3

 SEIRAWAN,Y. - KORCHNOI,V. 39 10 8 7 – 6 – 8 2 6 47

4

 TAL,M. - POLUGAEVSKY,L.  392 9 – 8 – 8 – 7 8 – 40

5

 WEDBERG,T. - OGAARD,L. 348 – 7 1 8 3 3 2 1 10 35

6

 MILES,A. - ANDERSSON,U.  8 4 5 6 – 1 – 5 – 3 24

7

 TAL,M. - POLUGAEVSKY,L. 393 – – – 7 10 – 6 – – 23

8

 MEDNIS,E. - ERMENKOV,E. 302 1 2 – 5 4 – – – 8 20

9

 BUKIC,E. - CEBALO,M.   142 – 6 – – – 7 – – 4 17

10

 TSEITLIN,MI. - ROGULJ,B.  114 – – 3 6 – – – – 7 16

 

 

34

EDITORIAL SELECTION

   

1

 KARPOV,A. - HUEBNER,R. 186 – 9 7 10 9 9 3 10 9 66

2

 SEIRAWAN,Y. - KARPOV,A. 523 9 2 9 – – 10 10 2 8 50

3

 KORCHNOI,V. - KASPAROV,G. 115 – 10 – 7 4 6 4 9 10 50

4

 TIMMAN,J. - TORRE,E.  437 5 3 – 8 10 2 – 8 6 42

5

 ADORJAN,A. - HULAK,K. 64 6 – 1 9 – 7 8 1 5 37

6

 TAL,M. - CHANDLER,M  506 3 5 5 – – – 9 6 2 30

7

 KASPAROV,G. - NUNN,J. 127 – – 8 – 7 3 1 – 7 26

8

 HUEBNER,R. - SMYSLOV,V. 572 – 8 3 – 3 – 5 7 – 26

9

 LJUBOJEVIC,LJ. - PORTISCH,L.   361 1 – 10 5 8 – – – – 24

10

 PSAKHIS,L. - GELLER,E.  421 8 7 – – 5 – – – – 20

 

 

35

EDITORIAL SELECTION

   

1

 KARPOV,A. - SAX,GY. 299 9 10 10 10 10 9 9 10 10 87

2

 POLUGAEVSKY,L. - FTACNIK,L. 50 10 8 1 8 9 10 – 8 8 62

3

 BELIAVSKY,A. - KASPAROV,G. 697 8 – 5 – 6 1 10 4 6 40

4

 KASPAROV,G. - BELIAVSKY,A.  548 5 – 7 – – 8 7 – 9 36

5

 SMYSLOV,V. - HUEBNER,R. 66 – – – 9 3 4 – 9 5 30

6

 ROMANISHIN,O. - KARPOV,A. 470 6 7 – – – 5 5 – 7 30

7

 TUKMAKOV,V. - RAZUVAEV,YURI 621 – 4 9 7 – – – 7 – 27

8

 SEIRAWAN,Y. - KULIGOWSKI,A. 63 4 6 – 4 2 – – 3 2 21

9

 KULIGOWSKI,A. - NUNN,J.   702 3 – – – 7 7 – – – 17

10

 HORT,V. - RIBLI,Z.  312 1 5 – – – – 6 – 4 16

 

 

38

EDITORIAL SELECTION

   

1

 KARPOV,A. - KASPAROV,G. 562 8 8 8 10 1 6 9 8 – 58

2

 DZINDZICHASHVILI,R. - BELIAVSKY,A. 11 – 10 10 6 10 9 8 – – 53

3

 SPEELMAN,J. - UHLMANN,W. 807 6 – 9 – – 10 4 10 9 48

4

 KASPAROV,G. - KARPOV,A. 416 9 1 2 9 – 7 – 9 4 41

5

 LJUBOJEVIC,LJ. - BELIAVSKY,A. 410 10 7 – 8 4 – – 7 2 38

6

 MILES,A. - TIMMAN,J.  37 5 – 5 3 7 – 7 5 – 32

7

 KORCHNOI,V. - POLUGAEVSKY,L. 8 4 – 1 5 8 8 – 3 – 29

8

 SUBA,M. - PORTISCH,L. 53 – – – 4 9 – 6 – 8 27

9

 LJUBOJEVIC,LJ. - PORTISCH,L.   464 3 5 – 7 2 – – 6 – 23

10

 TIMMAN,J. - PORTISCH,L.  370 2 2 3 – 5 3 3 4 1 23

 

 

45

EDITORIAL SELECTION

   

1

 KARPOV,A. - KASPAROV,G. 564 6 8 – 10 – 10 8 7 1 50

2

 VLADIMIROV,E. - EPISHIN,V. 271 9 5 10 2 6 1 2 – 9 44

3

 KORCHNOI,V. - TIMMAN,J. 553 2 7 6 – 9 – 10 8 – 42

4

 BELIAVSKY,A. - KASPAROV,G. 581 – 10 9 9 – – 4 6 2 40

5

 KASPAROV,G. - SOKOLOV,AND. 16 10 – 7 – 3 – 9 3 8 40

6

 HJARTARSON,J. - KORCHNOI,V.  387 – – –