Anatoly Karpov is 64!

Well since this is a forum about Anatoly Karpov. I have a questoin to ask you SpiritoftheVictory whats your favorite line to play inspired by Anatoly Karpov. Is there any in particular.

Well, Karpov inspired me as a player in general. I like his style, I like some of his games. I also like the fact that he was a stable player and played for many decades and managed to stay on the top. As a person he was also a rather stable person. So while I was firstly inspired by Fischer, I recently grew more fascinated by Karpov. It's interesting how they are the polar opposites of each other in so many ways.

There. We reached the 100th comment. And that was a good question, thanks!

Here's Karpov's profile on the chessgames.com:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=20719

As of yet, he has played more games than any other World Champion. Good thing he didn't retired early and kept on playing. Even when he was way past his peak, he still remained Karpov the Great. It must have been an honor for the younger generation of players to sit accross the board from him. And that, in my opinion, is very admirable.

I agree. Karpov got some comments over the years about his hair, though. It was much too greasy, according to some chess players and commentators. 

LOL! Too funny!

What about this? "I seem to remember something about Karpov not washing his hair when he was on a winning streak or something. Was this just a myth?" 

No idea. But I guess lots of rumors surround famous people. Some are true, some aren't.

He did look awfully greasy back when.

That was just Bryl Cream.  It was the thing back in the day.  Little known fact but Elvis used it--and he got it from Karpov.

I'm all shook up.

Ok, folks. I think this thread is closed. There were some interesting discussions but the thread didn't go the way I originally envisioned. I was hoping more people would jump in and appreciate Mr. Karpov as a champion, chess player, and a person. I was hoping to see chess.com running an article about him since he turned 64 - a notable mark in any chess player's life. I am disappointed. Most people can talk endlessly about Fischer or Kasparov while failing to appreciate Karpov. Still, I'm glad that some discussion still took place here and thank you all for participation.

Found a nice game by Karpov in the World Blitz 2009. He didn't do very well there but won a really nice game against Magnus Carlsen.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1564084

And it's nice to see one of my favorite players still doing well & still playing some chess, even if it's blitz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHlL-SaUCdY

 Annoying habit of adjusting the pieces after the move a lot. 

64 chess games that chart Anatoly Karpov's illustrious career, from his early games and learn how to play chess as a young grandmaster on his way to the world title, through his ten years as undisputed champion, and the marathon battles against Kasparov. Karpov's play is shown to have become much more combative in the 1990s.