Looking Back: 9th November 1985

Exactly 30 years ago, on 9th of November 1985, something special happened in the world of chess. Anatoly Karpov held out his hand in resignation and at the age of 22 years Garry Kasparov became the youngest World Champion in the history of the game.

After 30 years, this is what Garry Kasparov had to write on his Facebook page:

 "Thirty years ago today! Hard to believe, but it was that long ago when I won the World Championship against Anatoly Karpov. November 9, 1985 at the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow. Karpov resigned game 24 at 9:54pm Moscow time. The "worst times ahead" I refer to in that old voiceover was the rematch in 86 and then yet another Karpov match in 1987, when my comments were recorded. Of course there was yet another "K-K" match, the fifth and last, in 1990. I'll see about posting the full video of my ceremony and speech later. Today is a day to remember and celebrate with friends. Thank you everyone!

PS: I like to tell the story of how I was congratulated that day by the wife of former world champion Tigran Petrosian, Rona. I was expecting more kind words, but Rona said to me, "Garry, I feel sorry for you." What?! Sorry for me, now, the day I became the youngest world champion in history? "I feel sorry for you," she went on, "because the happiest day of your life is over." Wow! I couldn't believe it. I could imagine, after all, well, maybe she is right. But her words also gave me a new challenge in my life: to prove her wrong! If you always have new challenges, the happiest day of your life is never over."

You can check out the exclusive video footage that Garry published on his facebook page over here.

Let's have a look at the few defining moments from the games of the 1985 match between the reigning World Champion Anatoly Karpov and the challenger Garry Kasparov.

Karpov struck back in the fourth game with a beautiful positional decision which each and every student of the game should be aware of: 

 The knight on d4 is so much superior to the bishop on e6. Yet Karpov took the dead piece on e6 with Nxe6 and after fxe6 made brilliant use of the light squares to launch a deadly attack on the black king. Here's the remainder of the game:

In the fifth game Karpov once again played a fine positional game in the Ruy Lopez with the black pieces to beat Kasparov. It was a smooth effort typical of Karpov's style:

After the 16th game, Kasparov was leading the match by a full point. He further strengthened his lead with a nice victory in the 19th game.

With just five games to go it seemed as if it was all over. Kasparov was leading the match by two points and only needed 1.5 points out of the five rounds to win the title. But Karpov was not someone who would be going down easily. In the 22nd game, he beat Kasparov and thus narrowed his lead by just one point.

I just cannot believe it!