An article from Edmar Mednis's book How Karpov Wins (p. xiii-xvi):

Introduction
Who Is Anatoly Karpov?

Anatoly Evgenyevich Karpov (the middle name, derived from the father's first name, is important for Russians) is already a giant in the world of chess. His slight build, 120 pounds and 5 feet IVi inches, masks a great will and fighting ability. With longer and longer brown hair and piercing green eyes, his modest but magnetic manner stamps him as a man of note. Who is he and where does he come from?

Anatoly Karpov was bom on May 23, 1951, in the southern Ural town of Zlatoust. Zlatoust with 160,000 inhabitants is far away from the mainstream of Russia, so far away that it actually lies in the Asian part of the Soviet Union. This is where Anatoly grew up and learned chess. When he was fourteen, he and his family moved to Russia proper, to Tula, a medium-sized town of 360,000 about 120 miles south of Moscow. Therefore it was logical enough that he enroll in Moscow State University when he first became a student. However, soon thereafter he gained the right to be the Soviet representative to the 1969 World Junior Championship, scheduled to be held in Stockholm, Sweden. As part of the training, he spent a month in Leningrad acclimatizing himself to the Scandinavian-type weather. He liked Leningrad so well that, after a brief return to Moscow following his Stockholm triumph, he settled there permanently. And as a result of his outstanding 1974 chess success, he was awarded a new and better apartment there.

Anatoly's chess career started at age four when his father taught him the moves. Though without theoretical training, his native talent was sufficiently substantial that fairly soon he was able to beat his father. By the time he was seven he had obtained his first official ranking, Category III. A year later he had advanced to Category II„ and in 1960, at the age of nine, Karpov was already Category I—a level quite respectable even for experienced oldsters. Two years later, in 1962, he became a Candidate Master (something like our "Expert"). From here on the going was tougher. Anatoly continued to play in various youth and school tournaments, always with good success, but the relatively low level of the competition no doubt slowed down his overall rate of progress.

From an objective standpoint Karpov's first major success came in 1966 when, at age fifteen, he obtained the title of master. That made him the youngest master in the Soviet Union. (At age fourteen Bobby Fischer was already the U.S. Champion.) Soon thereafter Karpov began to compete in international tournaments and matches, though mostly in youth classifications. Late in 1966 he was first in a medium-strength tournament in Czechoslovakia, scoring an excellent 11 out of 13 points. At the 1967/68 European Youth Tournament at Groningen, Anatoly was again first with a 5.5—0.5 result. He also competed successfully in matches against Yugoslavian juniors in 1968 and 1969.

Karpov's first significant foreign debut was to be the 1969 World Junior Championship held in Stockholm. He had become the Soviet representative by beating out Vaganian and Steinberg in a match tournament. The quality of his play in the preliminaries at Stockholm was both spotty and rocky, apparently due in part to nervousness. But with some luck he qualified for the Finals. And the Finals was all Karpov! He won his first eight games, and with a fantastic 10-1 score he finished three points ahead of the field. This was sweet music to the Soviet Chess Federation for Russia thus recaptured the Junior Chess crown which had been in foreign hands since 1957.

The appropriate chess authorities had already decided in late 1968 that Karpov's talent deserved extensive assistance from a professional trainer. This started Karpov's relationship with grandmaster Semyon Furman which remains very strong today. Under Furman's tutelage, Anatoly's chess career took great leaps forward. At the 1970 Caracas International Tournament Karpov attained the Grandmaster Title. His result was only a tie for 4th to 6th places (out of 18), but the rather lenient regulations in force at that time allowed him to become a grandmaster at age nineteen.

In the meantime he had also qualified for the 1970 USSR Championship where he achieved a very respectable 5th-7th place, with a 12-9 score. In summer of 1971 he was on the winning Soviet Team to the World Student Championships at Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. Playing on Board 3 Anatoly demolished the opposition 7.5-0.5! Again he qualified for the 1971 USSR Championship and finished a very strong fourth with a 13-8 result. This opened the doors to the 1971 Moscow International Tournament to him and the rest is history. The detailed story from then on is the subject of this book.
Karpov's rapid progress from then on can be represented well by a series of numbers—the FIDE International Ratings.

Date Rating
July 1,1971 2540
July 1,1972 2630
July 1,1973 2660
July 1,1974 2700
November 1,1974 2705

By way of comparison, Fischer's rating since his 1972 Spassky match has been 2780—the highest of all time. Karpov's rating is second only to Fischer's. The ratings themselves are rather like a batting average: if you win you gain points, and if you lose you lose points. Comparing the level of proficiency in one sport with that in another is of course difficult and must by its very nature be inexact. But the following hypothetical relationship between FIDE rating and major league baseball batting average at least suggests something of his proficiency:

FIDE Rating Batting Average
2500 .300
2600 .340
2700 .380
2800 .420

Like all great players, Karpov is a uniquely individual chess talent. While there is no one after whom he has tried to pattern himself, he has admitted that his greatest respect is reserved for Capablanca and Botvinnik. It may be of interest here to note that in 1964Karpov, together with a small number of other promising youngsters, took part in a chess study program directed by Botvinnik. As Karpov tells it, he was much impressed and greatly influenced by Botvinnik's serious approach to the study of chess.

Karpov has been an excellent student all his life, not only in chess hut also in his regular schoolwork. When he was graduated from high school he received a gold medal for academic excellence. During his studies at Moscow State University and Leningrad State University (where he is majoring in political economy), Karpov has been nearly a straight A student all the way through.

Anatoly is rather like two people: inwardly he is all iron will and determination, but outwardly he is modest. In his public expressions there is little boasting and bravura. Which does not mean, however, that he does not value himself and his time highly. Despite his having been brought up in an "obedient society," he shares an attitude toward journalists and spectators that is not unlike Fischer's. Basically, Anatoly wants to be sure that the time he spends on anything is worth the effort. He has been quite receptive to and cooperative with American editors and journalists, for instance, be it Robert Byrne, Burt Hochberg, George Koltanowski, or Anthony Saidy—all have had informative interviews and ready access. Karpov realizes that Americans don't know much about him and is quite anxious to oblige. But his attitude towards Eastern European and Soviet journalists is quite different. He has already given literally hundreds of "performances" and wants to be quite sure that any new ones are meaningful. He regularly says "no" to what he considers trite requests, and there is considerable amazement there at his "nonreceptiveness." Let me give just one interesting example. At the time of the 1973 Interzonal tournament at Leningrad, the Soviet Latvian Chess Magazine "Sahs" asked all the participants to give their answers to the following three questions: (1) What do you respect most in chess?, (2) What are your hobbies?, and (3) Who will be Fischer's opponent in 1975? Some masters gave long replies, others short. Karpov's response was "At the moment it is very difficult for me to answer these questions." And that's all he ever said in this matter!

Karpov also regularly ignores requests for autographs and other attempts at contact made by spectators and the general public in the Soviet Union. This also is an almost unheard of situation. While his fellow grandmasters sign busily away, Anatoly simply walks on by. But when he spies a familiar face, his attitude changes and a friendly, interested "hello" invariably follows. To Karpov friends are friends; strangers are and remain just that—and the less time wasted, the better.

Like that of any true professional, Anatoly Karpov's life is chess. As he himself has stated: "Chess is everything—art, science, and sport." And yet there are also other things that concern him. His excellent school studies have already been cited. His principal hobby is stamp collecting, and he specializes in those containing reproductions of paintings. (Some of his friends believe that Anatoly collects stamps less for their beauty than for their ultimate value.) In addition, Anatoly enjoys attending the theater, listening to light classical music, and reading, both prose and poetry. More actively he participates in such sports as skiing, swimming, table tennis, and badminton.

From the above you can get some small idea of Karpov, the person. Now you will meet Karpov, the championship chess master.

ok!

From the same book, here are a list of "secrets" of how karpov wins (p. 10-11):

The conclusions coming from the statistical survey presented above already tell us much about Karpov, the chessmaster. What else can we add about his chess style and approach to the game? A number of other qualities, many of them clearly apparent from the actual games presented in Chapters 2 through 17, do stand out:

• Karpov is a practical player, mainly concerned with results. His overriding interest is in winning; artistic elements are very clearly of secondary importance.

• Karpov prefers clear, strategically comprehensible positions. In such positions he can use his positional judgment ("intuition") to chart the future course of the game. Such an approach saves time and energy and contributes to the general excellence of his competitive results. He rarely gets into time pressure.

• Karpov abhors obscure tactics. He will never voluntarily enter complications when he can not clearly ascertain an end favorable to him.

• Karpov values the role of the initiative over material gain. He will prefer to keep up positional pressure rather than go for material advantage if the latter course would definitely negate his positional advantages. He is probably the least "materialistic" of all leading grandmasters.

• Karpov uses all his pieces, including the King, in the middlegame. After Steinitz, he is the second most active King user of all grandmasters.

• Karpov prefers a superior endgame to a superior middlegame. He is interested in best overall results. He feels that his winning chances in superior endgames are equivalent to those from superior middle-games, whereas the losing chances are virtually nonexistent. Much to gain, little to lose is traditionally the Karpov approach.

• Karpov does not always strive to make the perfect or best move. He is satisfied in playing "good moves" if he feels the search for the "best moves" is not required and will lead to an uneconomical expenditure of time. He rarely spends much time (thirty minutes or more) on! a single move.

• Karpov does not make bad moves. With his thorough understanding of chess and great inner discipline he avoids making moves which are "obviously" strategically inferior. He loses rarely because his moves! are seldom bad enough to lead to a definitive loss.

• Karpov likes to complete the development of all his pieces prior lo undertaking active middlegame operations.

After all of the above discussion, statistics, and analysis, here is the "ultimate advice" in how to win a la Karpov:

• Play active, but strategically healthy, opening systems.

• Never allow sharp, complicated opening variations unless you have reasons to believe that you will know them much better than your opponent.

• Never rush your attack or middlegame operations. Be sure that your preparations are as complete as is reasonable.

• Always make sure that your King is as safe as is reasonable. Only after you are convinced of your own King's safety should you go after your opponent's.

• Understand the strategic concepts behind your opening systems. Always play in accordance with these concepts. Resist temptations for "sudden inspirations."

• Make good, logical, purposeful moves. Do not be concerned if they are not absolutely the best. It is sufficient that they be "good."

• Do not spend too much time deciding which of several positional moves is the "best one." Save time by choosing one of them quickly.

• Always save thinking time. This way you will be able to use it later on when possible complications require precise calculations and play.

• Keep on top of the position. Do not go for unclear complications when there is a clear positional course.

• Retain the initiative once you have it. Do not trade it for obscure ii of material if this would impair your positional advantages.

• Never make moves which seem positionally bad. They will be bad!

• Choose a superior endgame over a superior middlegame. This minimizes losing chances.

• Never be in a hurry—with respect to time or moves—to win. Slow and easy does it!

• Try to be as objective as possible about your actual position on the board. Play the position rather than such external factors as opponent, tournament standing, etc.

• Study hard, play hard, fight hard! With confidence you can do it!

Now that's good advice!

I will never be (like) Karpov...

A thought I consider to be both negative and positive.

Of course it is impossible that everyone plays like a certain player. Everyone is different. Though it always helps to learn from a player who is different from you, because it is likely that his strength is your weakness.

woah!

Karpov is unique. I think.

Monstrously strong! Though Karpov seems to carry this mystique, that is almost too mysterious....

Karpov is currently featured at Planet Chess.

The featured player changes each day, If you miss the Cover Story, you can access the Karpov Bio at: planetchess_hall_of_masters

PC

Karpov appears to believing in Kansas and running a chess school.
He also appears to be a close friend of B. Putin.

And your point is? Malbase.