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When I hit my 30's, and even more so in my 40's, I no longer cared for tactical battles (this doesn't mean that I don't appreciate a truly brilliant combination), much preferring the subtlety of a deep strategic maneuver or full board domination. Naturally, this attitude brought me to Karpov. This immensely talented player quickly became my new favorite, and his incredible defensive powers, patience, technique, and oh-so-deep positional understanding never ceased to impress me.
Here are two of his games (both against the same strong opponent). I hope you find them as enjoyable as I do.

A Karpov -- A Yusupov
Moscow, 1983
1.e4 [Like so many players, the early part of Karpov's career saw him favor 1.e4, while later he switched to 1.d4.] 1...e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 [The Open Variation of the Lopez was a favorite of Yusupov's.] 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.c3 Bc5 [Also common is 9...Be7.] 10.Nbd2 0-0 11.Bc2 Bf5 [It would have been interesting to see how Karpov would have met the very aggressive 11...Nxf2!?, known as the Dilworth Variation.] 12.Nb3 Bg6 13.Nfd4 Bxd4 14.cxd4 a5 [A line that both players had a deep knowledge of. Black gets an active game, but his weaknesses along the c-file might come back to haunt him.] 15.Be3 a4 [In an earlier game against Savon, Black played 15...Nb4 16.Bb1 a4 17.Nd2 a3, but Karpov grabbed a clear advantage with 18.Qc1! and won the game in fine style.] 16.Nd2 a3 [This move gives the Black Knight access to the c3-square.] 17.Nxe4 [And not 17.bxa3?? Nc3, winning on the spot.] 17...axb2 18.Rb1 Bxe4! [An improvement over 18...dxe4 19.Rxb2 Ne7 20.Rxb5 Rxa2 21.Qb1 Qa8 22.Rc1, which favors White.] 19.Rxb2 Qd7 20.Bd3 [Not falling for 20.Rxb5?? Bxc2 21.Qxc2 Nxd4, winning the Exchange. 20.Bd3 is a recommendation of Huebner's, and avoids 20.Bxe4 dxe4 21.Rxb5 Nxd4 22.Rc5 Rfd8 23.Bxd4 Qxd4 24.Qxd4 Rxd4 25.Rxc7 b5, =, A Ivanov-Yusupov, USSR ch. 1979.] 20...Bxd3 [Inferior is 20...b4 21.Bb5 when 21...Rfb8 is met by 22.Rxb4.] 21.Qxd3 Rfb8 [This position is fascinating; Black's main idea is to swing his Knight to c4 where it will dominate the game. Yusupov feared 22.f4 here, intending to launch a kingside attack by f4-f5-f6. Karpov, though, remains true to his prophylactic style and plays to prevent ...Na5 and eventually tie Black down to his weaknesses along the c-file.] 22.Rfb1 [Now 22...Na5 is met by 23.Rxb5.] 22...b4 23.h3! [The first new move of the game! An earlier contest between Huebner-Korchnoi, Lucerne 1982, saw White try an immediate attack against b4 via 23.Bd2. This was answered by 23...Qg4, with a counterattack against d4. Karpov's move stops backrank mates and also deprives the Black Queen of the g4-square.] 23...h6 24.Rc1 [Not only placing pressure against c6 and c7, but also preventing Black's dream-move 24...Na5 due to 25.Qb1! Nc4 26.Rxb4 Rxb4 27.Qxb4 Rxa2?? 28.Qb8+ Kh7 29.Qb1+, winning the Rook (analysis by Yusupov).] 24...Rb6 25.Qb1 [Still not allowing ...Na5.] 25...Rab8 26.Rc5

[He can't allow that Knight to migrate to c4!] 26...Nd8 [Intending to play 27...Nb7 and, when the Rook moves, 28...Na5. Naturally, Karpov doesn't allow this to happen.] 27.Rcc2 Nc6 ["Can I go to a5 now?"] 28.Qc1 [Evidently, the answer is "no." It's important to notice that Karpov isn't just defending against an enemy threat-he's also slowly but surely increasing his own pressure against Black's weak c-pawn.] 28...R8b7 29.Rc5 [Again stopping ...Na5 and, now that Black's Rook is on b7, White doesn't have to worry about the ...Nc6-d8-b7-a5 maneuver.] 29...Ne7 30.Kh2 [White intends to eventually make use of his kingside pawn majority by f2-f4-f5 and, perhaps, g2-g4. However, instead of rushing forward Karpov continues to patiently take his time and prepare for the kingside rush.] 30...Nf5? [A confused Yusupov hangs his c-pawn.] 31.Rbc2 Rg6 [Now desperate, Black tries to keep things as complicated as possible.] 32.Rxc7 Rxc7 33.Rxc7 Qb5 34.g4 [Chasing the Knight away from its strong perch. Since White is a pawn up, an exchange on e3 would make him happy.] 34...Nh4 [The Knight appears to be well placed here, but Karpov shows that it's actually rather vulnerable.] 35.Rc8+ Kh7 36.Qd1 [A nice tightening move; White keeps the enemy Queen out of d3 and e2, keeps the Knight off of f3, prevents ...b4-b3, and prepares to advance his kingside units by f2-f4-f5.] 36...Qa6 37.Rc2 f5 [This speeds up the loss, but his position was already bad.] 38.Kg3! [Suddenly the Knight is trapped!] 38...fxg4 39.Kxh4 gxh3 [Yusupov noticed that his intended 39...g3 40.fxg3 Qa3, with the threat of 41...b3 and 42...Qe7+, failed to 41.Qc1!.] 40.f4! [Much stronger than 40.Kxh3 Qe6+ 41.Kh2 Qf5 when Black gets some counterplay.] 40...Qe6 41.Qh5 Qe7+ 42.Kxh3 Qf7 [Threatening 43...Rg3+ 44.Kh4 Rh3+, winning the Queen.] 43.Rh2! Qd7+ 44.f5, 1-0.
A much deeper look into this wonderful game is available in Dvoretsky's and Yusupov's excellent, Training for the Tournament Player.

The next game is another demonstration of Karpov's "give the opponent nothing so I can execute him at my leisure" approach.

A Karpov - A Yusupov
Tilburg 1993
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.Nc3 Ne4 7.Bd2 Bf6 8.Qc2 Nxd2 9.Qxd2 d6 10.d5 0-0 [White also has an edge after 10...e5 11.h4! Nd7 12.Bh3] 11.Nd4 e5 12.Nc6! Qd7 13.Nxb8! [What is White doing? Why move his Knight four times so it can be traded for an enemy Knight that never moved once?] 13...Rfxb8 14.h4 [A good move that gains kingside space and prepares to develop the Bishop outside the pawn chain on h3.] 14...a5 15.a4!? [Suddenly Karpov's plan is clear: this closed position favors Knights over Bishops so he went out of his way to deprive Black of his only horse (i.e., the Ng1-f3-d4-c6xb8 maneuver). Now he kills the queenside (via a2-a4) so Black will have no counterplay in that sector (allowing the White King to live comfortably there) and, secure that Black will then be helpless, will expand on the kingside at his leisure. It should also be added that White still retains the option of eventual queenside play with b2-b4.] 15...Rf8 16.e4 h5 17.0-0-0 g6 18.Bh3 Qe7 19.Kc2 Kg7 [19...Bg7 leads to a clear White plus after 20.g4!.] 20.f3 Rh8 21.Rh2 Ba6 22.Nb5 Raf8 [Taking the Knight by 22...Bxb5 would allow White endless pressure along the c-file after 23.cxb5.] 23.Kb1 Qd8 24.Qd3 Be7 25.Re2 Bc8?! [This allows the Knight to dominate Black's remaining Bishop. For better for or worse, he had to try 25...Bxb5 26.cxb5 Qe8 followed by ...Bd8.] 26.Bxc8 Qxc8 27.Rg1

[Black is now helpless, while White constantly threatens breaks like g3-g4 or f3-f4.] 27...Bd8 28.Na7 Qh3 29.Qc2 Re8 30.Nc6 Bf6 31.Rf2 Qd7 32.Qe2 Rhf8 33.Rh2 Rh8 34.Qf2 Ref8 35.Rf1 [Also very strong was 35.g4. As usual, Karpov is not in any hurry.] 35...Kg8 36.f4 Qg4 [No better is 36...exf4 37.gxf4 when White will eventually play the crushing e4-e5.] 37.Qf3 Re8 38.Qxg4 hxg4 39.f5 g5 40.h5 [Black's Bishop creates an almost comical impression.] 40...Ra8 41.Kc2 Kg7 42.Kc3 [White finally turns his attention to the queenside and prepares b2-b4.] 42...Ra6 43.Ra1 Rha8 44.b4 Kf8 45.b5 R6a7 46.h6 Bh8 47.f6 [A little tactic that stops Black from holding tight with ...f7-f6.] 47...Bxf6 48.Rf1 Bh8 49.Nxa7 Rxa7 50.Rh5 Ke7 51.Rxg5 Ra8 52.h7 f6 53.Rg8 Rf8 54.c5! [The final touch. White's King now decisively penetrates into the enemy position.] 54...dxc5 55.Kc4 Kf7 56.d6 cxd6 57.Rxf8+, 1-0.

I've played over these two Karpov games many, many times and continue to learn something new each time I look at them.

I hope you've enjoyed these examples. Of course, you should pick out the players that interest you or whose styles you would like to emulate. You can find reviews to a large selection of game collections in the book review section of this site.

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