Master Class Vol.6: Anatoly Karpov
On this DVD a team of experts looks closely at the secrets of Karpov's games. In more than 7 hours of video, the authors examine four essential aspects of Karpov's superb play.
On the site of the Russian Chess Federation it is said that the victory in Platja d'Aro was Anatoly Karpov's 184th tournament win. The oldest tournament for 67-year-old ex-champion, according to the ChessBase online database, dates from the year 1961 — Karpov has now participated in major international tournaments for well over 50 years!
Master Class Vol.1: Bobby Fischer
No other World Champion was more infamous both inside and outside the chess world than Bobby Fischer. On this DVD, a team of experts shows you the winning techniques and strategies employed by the 11th World Champion.
Grandmaster Dorian Rogozenco delves into Fischer’s openings, and retraces the development of his repertoire. What variations did Fischer play, and what sources did he use to arm himself against the best Soviet players? Mihail Marin explains Fischer’s particular style and his special strategic talent in annotated games against Spassky, Taimanov and other greats. Karsten Müller is not just a leading international endgame expert, but also a true Fischer connoisseur.
Alone, these numbers would be enough to make this man a legend, but he had numerous highlights over the course of his career. After Bobby Fischer had won the 1972 World Cup title against Boris Spassky, Karpov prevailed in the subsequent cycle of candidates against Polugaevsky, Spassky and Korchnoi. As we all know, Fischer did not join the 1975 World Championship match so his title went to Karpov without a fight. This was followed by the legendary competitions for the title against Viktor Korchnoi, titanic battles that lasted much longer than today's world championship bouts.
Platja d'Aro is Karpov's victory #184, as he proudly claimed as soon as the blitz was over.https://t.co/5YP5Rjfslm pic.twitter.com/IVk7ZapcIO
— David Llada ♔ (@davidllada) June 30, 2018
Master Class Vol.7: Garry Kasparov
On this DVD a team of experts gets to the bottom of Kasparov's play. In over 8 hours of video running time the authors Rogozenko, Marin, Reeh and Müller cast light on four important aspects of Kasparov's play: opening, strategy, tactics and endgame.
In 1985, Karpov lost his title to Garry Kasparov — and never again regained it in rematch bouts. From 1993 to 1999, Karpov did earn his place as "FIDE World Champion", before transitioning to a political career with only occasional playing. For instance, in the German Bundesliga, the former world champion still occasionally joins a match for his SV Hockenheim team. Simply legendary!
Anatoly Vaisser participated for the first time in the Soviet Championship in 1971. These too are legendary tournaments, of course, and those who were allowed to participate, long before the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, are generally all living-legends. In the recent past, Vaisser has several times been senior world champion. This man is still a force to be reckoned with at the age of 69 — in Platja d'Aro he was beaten by a mere half a point by Karpov!
I had only seen Anatoli Vaisser once, and it was decades ago. Here in Platja d'Aro I had the chance to get to know him a little, and what a charming man he is! pic.twitter.com/MXfiBh9ghB
— David Llada ♔ (@davidllada) June 28, 2018
Now to Ljubomir Ljubojevic: The Serb living in Spain is now, like Karpov, 67 years old. In the seventies and eighties, he was one of the strongest players in the world. Although he could never come close to a World Championship match, he shone during this phase with victories in many strong tournaments. At that time, one could hardly buy a chess book without finding one of his games discussed. But compared to Karpov and Vaisser, he seems to have fallen behind due to prolonged inactivity — at least the results of Platja d'Aro suggest this conclusion.
Just two chess legends gong through my book ☺️ #TheThinkers pic.twitter.com/FXB1lJBnhr
— David Llada ♔ (@davidllada) June 30, 2018
Ljubo, after blundering in a blitz game against Torre.
— David Llada ♔ (@davidllada) June 30, 2018
You can follow the blitz games here: https://t.co/W1bL8LOjnA pic.twitter.com/yafwxzmGfa
And to the final legend: Eugenio Torre of the Philippines became the first Asian Grandmaster (who was not a Soviet citizen) in 1974 (an astounding fact from today's perspective!). He's now 66 (like Karpov born in 1951) and going strong! By the way, Torre is also a record participant in chess Olympiads — he has now participated 23 times in his home country. His performance in Platja d'Aro, however, was a bit sad — solidly in last place.
Eugenio Torre vs Anatoly Karpov | Photo: David Llada
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | TB1 | |
| 1 | GM | Vaisser Anatoly | 2495 | 4,5 |
| 2 | GM | Karpov Anatoly | 2618 | 4,0 |
| 3 | GM | Ljubojevic Ljubomir | 2515 | 2,5 |
| 4 | GM | Torre Eugenio | 2447 | 1,0 |
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | TB1 | |
| 1 | GM | Karpov Anatoly | 2599 | 8,5 |
| 2 | GM | Vaisser Anatoly | 2508 | 7,5 |
| 3 | GM | Ljubojevic Ljubomir | 2504 | 5,0 |
| 4 | GM | Torre Eugenio | 2444 | 3,0 |
Translation from German: Macauley Peterson
