Karpov won 10 games and tied for first with Victor Kortchnoi in
the
1973 Leningrad Interzonal, he then proceeded to win the following
3
candidate elimination matches:
a)
Defeated Lev Polugaevski 5.5 – 2.5, with 3 wins, 5 draws, 0
losses.
b)
Defeated ex World Champion Boris Spassky 7-4, with 4 wins, 6 draws,
1 loss.
c)
Defeated 2-time world champion contender Victor Kortchnoi 5-4, with
3 wins, 19 draws, 2 losses.
d) Karpov was proclaimed World Champion when Bobby Fischer
refused to defend his title.
Karpov's
title defenses:
In
1978 Karpov won 6 games and successfully defend his
title against Victor Kortchnoi . By a score of 16.5 - 15.5. The match was
decided by the first player to win 6 games.
In
1981 Karpov won 6 games and successfully defended his
title against Victor Kortchnoi, by a score of
11 - 7.0. The match was decided by the first player to win 6 games.
In
1984 Karpov defended his title against Garry Kasparov,
after jumping out to a 5 point lead, Karpov tired and the match was called
off after 48 games with Karpov leading 6-3.
Karpov tried to regain his title against Garry Kasparov in
1986,
1987,
1990. However he was not able to defeat
Garry Kasparov.
So there is no question, Karpov is a great player, a worthy
challenger and champion. He was forged into steel
by the process. He
reaffirmed this by winning all those tournaments in the 70’s and 80’s.
Karpov won 20 games to win his title in 1975
|