KARPOV’S STRATEGIC WINS Volume 1: The Making of a Champion
Author: Tibor Karolyi
Quality Chess (2011)
458 pages
Paperback $24.95
Hardcover $38.95
Reviewed by John Donaldson
KARPOV’S STRATEGIC WINS 1: 1961-1985 – The Making of a Champion by Tibor Karolyi is part one of a two book series on one of the greatest players of all time. While the other members of the Holy Trinity of Chess (Fischer and Kasparov) have many books devoted to them, until recently most works on the 12th World Champion (1975-85) dated back to the 1970s. This was most unfortunate because Karpov, who holds the world career record for most tournaments won, has produced many positional masterpieces.
The need for a series of books examining Karpov’s strategic brilliancies became apparent to Karolyi while he was working on an earlier book devoted to the former World Champion’s best endgames (ENDGAME VIRTUOSO: ANATOLY KARPOV published by New in Chess in 2007). The Hungarian International Master has succeeded in writing something special that should appeal to a wide range of players.
KARPOV’S STRATEGIC WINS Volume 1 starts at the very beginning of Karpov’s career, when he was still a little boy living in Zlatoust not far from the Ural Mountains. Karolyi’s long experience as a trainer of young players (he worked with Peter Leko for four years during which time he developed into a world class player) helps as he is able to put Karpov’s play at age 10 into perspective in comparison with other junior talents. Karolyi was particularly impressed that the vintage Karpov’s brilliant ability to maneuver was already in evidence when he was 11.
Karolyi has a big respect for chess history and the people behind the scenes who help to make it. With much effort he was able to track down and interview Karpov’s earliest coach, Leonid Gratvol, who not only gave the future World Champion a solid foundation but also helped players like Svesnikov, Timoscenko, Panchenko and Dvoitys become Grandmasters. Likewise, who remembers the name of Ilya Mikliaev who in 1968 was one of the most promising Soviet juniors, defeating Ulf Anderson 1.5-.5 that year in a USSR-Scandinavia match. We learn from Karolyi that not long after his victory over Anderson he gave up the game and later became a successful cardiologist.
Looking back at Karpov and Kasparov’s careers one often has the impression that their rise up through the ranks to becoming World Champion was inexorable. But even giants need a few breaks. Kasparov’s escaping from seeming defeat (down 5-0) in the first WC battle of the two K’s is well known, but how many would remember that Karpov in one interview in the late 1970s said his holding a draw two pawns down in an ending with Eugenio Torre in the 1969 World Junior preliminaries was his most important game. Karolyi writes, “Had he lost he would not have qualified for the finals, and there is no telling how much of a difference this might have made to his career.”
KARPOV’S STRATEGIC WINS Volume 1 is not only a tribute to Karpov’s strategic brilliance, it is also a fine instructive work. The 76 games selected for this volume are all extremely well annotated with plenty of explanatory prose supported by concrete analysis. The author not only utilizes all existing annotations but also has made plenty of new discoveries of his own. One need only examine the 16(!) pages he devotes to Karpov-Kavalek, Nice(ol) 1974 in which finds much which is new in this previously well examined ending.
Many of the notes that Karolyi offers will be of great benefit to amateur players as well as professionals. One example is the author quoting Grandmaster Lukacs who advises: in the Chigorin variation (of the Ruy Lopez) one should almost always play d4-d5 in response to Black developing his Bishop on b7.
Annotating a game between Karpov and Andersson from the 1969 World Junior, Karolyi writes about a Black Knight heading to b4.
“ The knight reaches a seemingly impressive outpost, but achieving this objective consumed several tempo and a lot of effort. Depending on the specific situation, such a knight could either be a dominant force or a wasted resource which shoots the air. Let me offer you, dear reader, one small tool which can be used to determine whether the knight is strong or weak. It is often enough to ask whether or not the knight attacks a weakness in the opponent’s camp. If the knight attacks nothing, then its value is questionable. For example, if Black’s pawn was on a3 and White’s on a2, the b4-knight would be better than the game, as it attacks a weakness.”
Wonderful prose like this makes the book special.
KARPOV’S STRATEGIC WINS Volume 1 is filled with classic maneuvers. Players of a certain generation will instantly recognize 19.Bb7!! (Andersson - Madrid 1973) or 24.Ba7!! (Unzicker -Nice(ol) 1974), but there are many lesser known but equally exquisite positional efforts on display.
KARPOV’S STRATEGIC WINS Volume 1 belongs in every chess player’s library.
Highly Recommended
Click to buy (or get more information about) the paperback version of: KARPOV'S STRATEGIC WINS Volume 1: The Making of a Champion (1961-1985)
Click to buy (or get more information about) the hardcover version of: KARPOV'S STRATEGIC WINS Volume 1: The Making of a Champion (1961-1985)
Click to buy (or get more information about) the paperback version of: KARPOV'S STRATEGIC WINS Volume 2: The Prime Years (1986 - 2010)
Click to buy (or get more information about) the hardcover version of: KARPOV'S STRATEGIC WINS Volume 2: The Prime Years (1986 - 2010)
You should also take a look at this other excellent by Tibor Karolyi: ENDGAME VIRTUOSO: ANATOLY KARPOV
