Botvinnik M.M. Anatoly Karpov: His Road to the World Championship

Pergamon Press Ltd, 1978. — 181 p. — ISBN: 0-08-021139-9.Anatoly Karpov had to play three matches — against L. Polugayevsky, B. Spassky and V. Korchnoy — in order to gain the right to play a
deciding match for the World Championship. Then, when Fischer refused to defend his title, Karpov became the twelfth World Champion
in the history o f chess. His task was not easy: while Fischer in 1971 played 21 games in three Candidates’ Matches, Spassky 29 games in
1965 and 26 in 1968, Karpov had to play a total of 43 gam es!*In addition, he had to face stronger opposition. True, Polugayevsky was playing in a Candidates’ event for the first time, but on the other
hand, Spassky had twice won such an event, and had already been World Champion, while Korchnoy had played in Candidates’ events on
several occasions, and had once reached the Final.But let us try to make a more exact appraisal of these players. Back in 1938 I suggested that a chess player’s strength could be
determined by four factors. The first of these is chess talent. Without a specific chess talent one cannot become a strong player (although according to Em. Lasker, one can nevertheless reach first category rating). All three of Karpov’s match opponents satisfy this requirement, though to a varying degree, while in addition their respective talents are of different types.The second factor is character. And not only competitive character, which is usually identified with will to win, tenacity in defence,
resourcefulness, and penetration into the psychology o f the opponent. Of no less importance is how a player behaves when he is not at the
chess board, when he is not taking part in a chess event.Indeed, the daily routine of a chess master has little in common with his competitive character. Whether a player sleeps at night, or leads a
high life and only gets up in time for lunch, whether he takes part in sports or plays cards, whether he takes care of his nervous system or
drinks too much — all this depends on the human side o f his character, on his upbringing and self-education.