Karpov vs. Taimanov
Leningrad 1977

Anatoly Karpov, born 1951 in Russia, became Grandmaster at the age of 19 and won more tournaments than any other chess player, so far.
In 1977, he was considered almost invincible after winning nearly every event he played.
It was then when he took part in a tournament at Leningrad (today St. Petersburg) and played against Mark Taimanov.

Taimanov, born 1926 in Kharkiv (today in Ukraine), was one of the strongest players in the former Soviet Union, although he never made it to Karpov’s Chess level. In 1971, after losing 6-0 to Bobby Fisher - an embarrassment to the Soviet Union – he lost his job, his title, and later on his wife as well. But he was a real fighter. In the following game we can see a nice example of his creative mind.

We are after 36 moves. Karpov, in White, has a spare Pawn and is focusing in pushing up his B Pawn...