Stigma wrote on 04/13/11 at 00:17:12:
Karpov just had the very bad luck of being contemporary with nr.1
Karpov's bad luck was good luck for all chess lovers. If you weren't around in the 80's you have no idea what impact the K-K matches had.
I found Karpov's attacking games always very instructive; I'm not sure if I can say the same about Kramnik's.
Karpov,A (2700) - Kortchnoi,V (2670) [B78]
Kandidatenmatch finale Moskwa (2), 1974
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.h4 Rc8 11.Bb3 Ne5 12.0-0-0 Nc4 13.Bxc4 Rxc4 14.h5 Nxh5 15.g4 Nf6 16.Nde2 Qa5 17.Bh6 Bxh6 18.Qxh6 Rfc8 19.Rd3 R4c5 20.g5 Rxg5 21.Rd5 Rxd5 22.Nxd5 Re8 23.Nef4 Bc6 24.e5 Bxd5 25.exf6 exf6 26.Qxh7+ Kf8 27.Qh8+ 1-0
Karpov,A (2710) - Sax,G (2560) [B81]
Linares Linares, 1983
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.g4 h6 7.Rg1 Be7 8.Be3 Nc6 9.Qe2 Bd7 10.h4 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 e5 12.Be3 Bc6 13.Qd3 Qa5 14.0-0-0 Nxe4 15.Nxe4 d5 16.Qb3 dxe4 17.Bc4 Rf8 18.Rd5 Bxd5 19.Bxd5 Rd8 20.Bc4 Bb4 21.c3 b5 22.Be2 Bd6 23.Qd5 Ke7 24.Bc5 Bxc5 25.Qxe5+ Kd7 26.Qxc5 Qc7 27.Qf5+ Ke7 28.Qxe4+ Kd7 29.Qf5+ Ke7 30.Re1 Rd6 31.Bc4+ Kd8 32.Bxb5 a6 33.Ba4 g6 34.Qf3 Kc8 35.Re7 Rd1+ 36.Kxd1 Qxe7 37.Qa8+ Kc7 38.Qa7+ Kd6 39.Qb6+ 1-0
Karpov,A (2725) - Van der Wiel,J (2465) [B66]
IBM Amsterdam, 1980
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 h6 9.Be3 Bd7 10.f3 Qc7 11.g4 Ne5 12.h4 b5 13.Rg1 h5 14.g5 Ng8 15.Be2 Rb8 16.f4 b4 17.Nb1 Ng4 18.Bxa6 g6 19.Rgf1 Nxe3 20.Qxe3 Ne7 21.f5 gxf5 22.exf5 e5 23.f6 exd4 24.Rxd4 Be6 25.fxe7 Bg7 26.Re4 Qa5 27.Rxe6 Qxa6 28.Rxf7 Kxf7 29.e8Q+ Rbxe8 30.g6+ Kg8 31.Rxe8+ Bf8 32.Qe6+ 1-0
Kasparov,G (2740) - Karpov,A (2700) [A29]
Wch-34 Sevilla (2), 1987
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 Bb4 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 e4 7.Ng5 Bxc3 8.bxc3 Re8 9.f3 e3 10.d3 d5 11.Qb3 Na5 12.Qa3 c6 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.f4 Nc6 15.Rb1 Qc7 16.Bb2 Bg4 17.c4 dxc4 18.Bxf6 gxf6 19.Ne4 Kg7 20.dxc4 Rad8 21.Rb3 Nd4 22.Rxe3 Qxc4 23.Kh1 Nf5 24.Rd3 Bxe2 25.Rxd8 Rxd8 26.Re1 Re8 27.Qa5 b5 28.Nd2 Qd3 29.Nb3 Bf3 30.Bxf3 Qxf3+ 31.Kg1 Rxe1+ 32.Qxe1 Ne3 0-1
I don't think the most dominating player of all time ever has been dominated like this.