Considered the best tournament chess player in the world, Karpov has many other credits to his name as well; for instance, he played every FIDE championship match between 1978 and 1998, has an asteroid named after him, and is involved in humanitarian efforts. Although his life in chess was occasionally controversial, no one can deny his permanent place in the chess world and his contribution to the game and FIDE.

He was born in the Ural region of the former Soviet Union in 1951, and learned to play chess at four years of age. He made rapid progress, and became a Candidate Master at age 11. A year later, Mikhail Botvinnik's chess school accepted Karpov, although Botvinnik didn't think the boy had what it took to be a champion. As if to spite the man, Karpov became the youngest Soviet National Master. He was only 15 years old.

Over the years he would go on to win tournaments and rise in the chess world, as well as earn a degree in economics from Leningrad State University. He studied chess with Grandmaster Semion Furman while at University, whom he credits with giving him many of his qualities as a world-class chess player. In 1969, Karpov won the World Junior Chess Championship, the first player from the former Soviet Union to do so since Boris Spassky in 1955.

Throughout the years, he worked his way up the tournament ladder, and eventually had the opportunity to face American Bobby Fischer. However, FIDE would not meet Fischer's odd demands, and the match for the World Championship never happened. Karpov ended up winning by default, and spent many years afterward proving he deserved the title.

Today Karpov is still involved in Chess, but prefers to devote much time to humanitarian causes as well as politics-he has been a member of the Public Chamber of Russia since 2005.