Anatoly Karpov is a brilliant positional player. Karpov himself once described his playing style with the following remarkable words:

“Let us say the game may be continued in two ways: one of them is a beautiful tactical blow that gives rise to variations that don’t yield to precise calculations; the other is the clear positional pressure that leads to an endgame with microscopic chances of victory…

I would choose [the latter] without thinking twice. If the opponent offers keen play I don’t object; but in such cases, I get less satisfaction, even if I win, than from a game conducted according to all the rules of strategy with its ruthless logic.“

The following famous chess game occurred in a game Karpov played in the strong tournament in Linares in 1994. Karpov won the tournament with an incredible score of 11/13.

Additionally, the names of the players he left behind him in the final standings are impressive. Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Vishy Anand, Alexei Shirov, Veselin Topalov, Vassily Ivanchuk, Boris Gelfand, and Evgeny Bareev – just to name a few.