Ustroń Festiwal

Anatoly Karpov met chess at the age of four. His first major success on the international stage was winning the junior world title in 1969, for which he was awarded the title of grandmaster.

In 1973 he joined the world championship games, sharing first place in a long-distance tournament in Leningrad. This series of games was to reveal the opponent of the then world champion, Bobby Fisher. In the quarterfinal match of the contenders in 1974 in Moscow, he defeated Lev Pougajevsky to face the former world champion Boris Spassky in the semi-final. Before the match, Karpov predicted a loss to Spasski, announcing his victory only in the next cycle of the championship. The match played in Leningrad ended with Karpow's victory despite defeat in the first game. In the final match in Moscow, Karpov minimally defeated Viktor Korcznoj. Both meetings were full of struggles, full of theoretically important parties.