Karpov, Anatoly

Karpov, Anatoly (unŭtôl'yē kär'pôf) [key], 1951–, Russian chess master. In 1970 he became the world's youngest international grand master. Karpov won (1975) the world championship by default when Bobby Fischer, the titleholder, refused to agree to terms for a match. He successfully defended (1978, 1981) his title against Viktor Korchnoi but lost (1985) to Gary Kasparov. Karpov regained (1993) the International Chess Federation (FIDE) championship in a playoff after Kasparov formed a rival association and was expelled from the federation. Karpov retained the FIDE championship after defeating Viswanathan Anand, an Indian grandmaster, in 1998. Disputes with the sponsoring organization prompted Karpov to refuse to participate in a tournament the following year, and he was stripped of his FIDE championship.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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