Karpov's Strategic Wins: The Making Of A Champion 1961-1985 (Volume 1)

I am enjoying playing over the games and trying to understand the thought process of the 12th, world champion. This is a must have for chess enthusiasts, highly recommended

Anatoly Karpov's games are legendary among chess enthusiasts. Some GM's have even acknowledged that their path to the GM title involved a long and intensive study of Karpov's play. Were it not for one Garry Kasparov, Karpov would have likely held the title of World Champion for 20 years, so strong was his play for so long. This 2 volume work may well be the best extant work on Karpov's games, with competition only from Karpov's own "My Best Games", which includes 100 games. This volume alone has 76 Karpov games, and several dozen other games as a bonus. This work, as the title implies, focuses only on Karpov's strategic wins. While Anatoly could play great attacking games on occasion, his real claim to fame is as a strategic genius, and it is his strategic play that gets center attention here. Karpov was known for his ability to slowly and surely squeeze his opponent like a python, often placing most of his pieces on his own first rank, where their influence still strangled the opponent's postion. The notes to the games show that this work is a real labor of love. Karolyi gives clear, well thought out explanations of the play. Analysis of variations is in plenty of depth, but the real shining feature is the rich, plentiful explanations in WORDS of what is going on. There is a tremendously rich education in positional/strategic play to be found here. Here is just one of hundreds of such notes, taken from Karpov-Unzicker, 1974 Olympiad: (after 35.Bh5!) "Completing the manoeurvre. In this particular case the side w/ extra space is happy to exchage a pair of pieces, considering that we are talking about Black's best defensive piece. The text move illustrates another important principle: in positions w/ a space advantage , one of the most effective strategies is to attack on both flanks. The defending side may be able to protect one weakness, but the difficulties associated w/ transferring defensive pieces from one side to the other will often prove insurmountable." It is not often that I have seen so much distilled chess wisdom in a games collection. In addition to the pleasure of playing over the games of one of the all-time greats, you will be slowly but surely increasing your strategic understanding, and hence your results, as you play through these masterpieces. Highly recommended.

You must have these two volumes in your chess library!

It's time for me to accept just how incredible Karpov was. The man was a GIANT. But I never gave him a chance . . . probably because it felt as if I was betraying Bobby Fischer (and Capitalism) in some way if I admired any of Karpov's achievements.But it's time I let that go.This collection is absolutely extraordinary. Combined with its second volume, it now holds a prime and cherished spot on my chess table.It's so easy to dismiss Karpov. Handed the world title ... then losing it to Kasparov ... and who can compete with Fischer and with Kasparov?! And so we pass over Karpov. Or so I did, anyhow.But look at the facts. The guy was a MONSTER of a chess player. He dominated the world for a good long while and was indisputably the world's greatest tournament player ever. He won more Chess Oscars than any other player but Kasparov. (And consider his record against Kasparov. Sure, Kasparov won more games . . . But not many! Kasparov was only +30 -23 =134 against him, and the bulk of those seven extra wins -- over the course of their entire careers! -- came after Karpov had peaked and was getting older. Imagine not only winning 23 games against the greatest player of all time, but also of drawing 134 games against him!)This collection is especially great because it focuses on the most shining of Karpov's strengths: his absolute supreme positional mastery. The games in this collection are gorgeous and elegant in their precise logic and execution. Plenty of tactics, though most are behind the scenes, as it were, in the annotations. But the real glory of these games is the immaculate precision Karpov brought to the game.I would count Karpov in the top 3 of all time. And to be honest ... much as it pains me to say so ... I might even place him ahead of Fischer at this point.He was that good.

So you pay an incredibly high price for this product, and guess what they ship it for you from overseas with the cheapest possible mail and no tracking number.Such an incredible experience.

Superbe ouvrage en 2 tomes. Karolyi s'attache à disséquer les grandes victoires stratégiques (uniquement, oubliez le tactique plutôt rare chez Karpov) du 12e champion du monde. Chaque année il prend 1 ou 2 parties et les analyse de manière approfondie (l'ordi passe par là) et instructive. Ils ne choisit pas d'ailleurs toujours les plus connues.Il n'oublie pas d'agrémenter le livre du contexte biographique chaque année et ajoute même quelques anecdotes en retrouvant trace 30 ans après d'adversaires oubliés et leur demander leurs souvenirs de la rencontre.Karolyi fait souvent des livres de qualité et celui-ci en fait partie.

See my review of volume 2 for more detailed comments.This two volume survey is one of the finest descriptions of a great player I have ever come across- it is instructive, entertaining and thought-provoking. The selection of games is superb, the commentary detailed and witty, the description of the heat of battle memorable. The quality of the printing and binding is also excellent.This two volume survey deserves a prominent place on any chess player's bookshelf.

A partir des parties de Karpov, l'auteur vagabonde et par analogie retrouve et analyse des positions comparables à celles rencontrées par le champion russe. C'est une démarche trés agréable et intéressante. Les diagrammes résultant de l'analyse aident le lecteur ne disposant pas d'échiquier. Seul petit reproche : la spécificité du style de Karpov n'est pratiquement pas abordée ici, alors que l'on aurait espéré une étude plus personnalisée, surtout à propos d'un champion au style si particulier.