Karpov's 1st Loss As World Champion! - Best Of The 70's - Karpov vs. Andersson, 1975

In 1975, Anatoly Karpov had won the right to play Bobby Fischer in a much anticipated world championship match. Unfortunately, for the chess world, Fischer's intensive demands could not be met, and ultimately, Karpov was declared world champion without a match against Fischer.

Through no fault of his own, Karpov had become world champion without the traditional legitimacy of a match against the prior champion. As we know now, he would establish his legacy with 10 years at the top of the chess world and two convincing world championship defenses.

In 1975 though, things were not yet clear and many other claimants aspired to Karpov's place. One such player was the Swedish grandmaster Ulf Andersson. A talented player who was born in the same year as Karpov, he had the honor of handing Karpov his first defeat in a deeply impressive positional rout. The game reminds one strikingly of our best game of the 1980's, Karpov vs. Kasparov from the 16th game of their 1985 world championship match. Andersson also uses a ...d5 sacrifice with many of the same positional themes to tie down Karpov and then outplay him.

Top 10 Games of the 1970s

• #1: ???
• #2: ???
• #3: ???
  
• #4: ???
• #5: ???
• #6: Karpov vs. Andersson, 1975
  
• #7: Diemer vs. Trommsdorf, 1973
  
• #8: Reshevsky vs. Vaganian, 1976
  
• #9: Catig vs. Mills, 1974
  
• #10: Keene vs. Miles, 1976
  
• See also: Top 10 of the 1980s, Top 10 of the 1990s, Top 10 of the 2000s, and Top 10 of the 2010s

The game opens with a Sicilian Defense and the SAME opening variation that Kasparov employed later against Karpov, but Andersson does not try Kasparov's incredible 8...d5!? gambit (it was not yet invented), and instead he settles into a Hedgehog. After much maneovering, Andersson strikes out with 24...d5!! and impressive sac that creates serious problems for Karpov, but it is the shocking 27...Rxe3!! that really makes this game unforgettable.

After 37.Na2?, Karpov is lost, but he puts up stiff resistance, never allowing a forced win, and even creating an AMAZING stalemate swindle before finally succumbing to Andersson's gradual heavy piece intrusion.

My annotations are below. I understand that if you speak Swedish, Andersson's annotations are available and incredible, but I've not found any English transcriptions

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