LaviChess

Karpov vs. Ulf Andersson, Milan 1975

Anatoly Karpov had been world champion for a few months when he met Ulf Andersson in Milan in 1975. The Swede, known for his calm play, sacrificed the exchange and in the end chased the white king back and forth. After 79 moves Karpov resigned.

  • WhiteAnatoly Karpov
  • BlackUlf Andersson
  • WhereMilan
  • When1975
  • EventMilan tournament, preliminary group, round 8
  • Result0–1, Black won
  • OpeningSicilian Defense, Taimanov Variation (B44)
  • Length79 moves

Anatoly Karpov became world champion on April 3, 1975, without playing a match. Bobby Fischer set conditions for the title match that FIDE, the world chess federation, would not accept, and FIDE's president Max Euwe named Karpov the new champion. Karpov wanted to show he deserved the title, and over the next ten years he played in nearly every major tournament.

That same year he came to a strong tournament in Milan. Twelve players first met in a group of eleven rounds, and the top four went on to semifinals and a final. For Ulf Andersson it started badly: one point from the first five rounds. He never made the final stage, but in round 8 he sat across from the world champion.

The game was long. In those days a game that was not finished at the end of the session was adjourned. The player to move wrote his next move on a sheet of paper, which was sealed in an envelope, and the game went on later. This game was adjourned twice.

The players

Anatoly Karpov (born 1951) won the World Junior Championship in Stockholm in 1969 and was world champion from 1975 to 1985. He is usually counted as the player who has won the most tournaments of all time. He won Milan 1975 too, after a final against Lajos Portisch.

Ulf Andersson (born 1951) from Västerås became Swedish champion in 1969 and a grandmaster in 1972. He was known for calm, safe play and for winning endgames others would have called drawn. In January 1983 he was fourth on the world list.

Read more about Anatoly Karpov and Ulf Andersson among the great chess players.

The game move by move

Step through with the arrows or tap a move. Moves with a dot have a comment.

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Anatoly Karpov has the white pieces, Ulf Andersson the black.

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Open on the analysis board

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Play like Andersson

Guess the moves Andersson played, one at a time. The move from the game earns two points, and a move Lavi thinks is about as good earns one. The other side's moves and the game's notes come as you go.

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The moments that decided it

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After 27…Rxe3: Andersson gives the rook for the bishop. “Violent slugging,” wrote Tidskrift för Schack.
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After 76.Ke1: Karpov's first move after the second adjournment. Here the stalemate trap lay waiting.

The end

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The final position after 79…Qf3+. White resigned after 79…Qf3+.

Why the game is famous

Tidskrift för Schack wrote that the win was a consolation after the bad start: Andersson was “the first to defeat the reigning world champion.” Karpov had been world champion for a few months. He won the tournament all the same.

The game showed a side of Andersson that many did not know. Thomas Engqvist, who in 2025 published a book on Andersson's attacking games, calls it one of his favorites: “if you only want to play through one game in this book, this is the one you should see.”

The whole game with notes, as text

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nb5 d6 6. c4 Nf6 7. N1c3 a6 8. Na3 Be7 Ten years later Karpov reached exactly the same position in his world championship match against Kasparov. There Kasparov sacrificed a pawn with 8…d5. Andersson chooses the quiet bishop move. 9. Be2 O-O 10. O-O b6 Black has put his pawns on a6, b6, d6 and e6. The setup is called the Hedgehog: Black waits behind his pawns, but the spines can shoot out at any moment. Andersson was one of the players who developed it. 11. Be3 Bb7 12. Rc1 Re8 13. Qb3 Nd7 14. Rfd1 Rc8 15. Rd2 Qc7 16. Qd1 Qb8 17. f3 Ba8 18. Qf1 Nce5 19. Nab1 Nf6 20. Kh1 h6 21. Rdd1 Bf8 22. Nd2 Rcd8 23. Qf2 Ned7 24. a3 d5 Now a spine shoots out. Black strikes in the center, and the lines open. 25. cxd5 exd5 26. exd5 Bd6 27. Nf1 Rxe3 An exchange sacrifice: the rook is given for the bishop. “We have never seen Ulf like this before: violent slugging,” wrote Tidskrift för Schack. The magazine doubted that the sacrifice was sound. White was indeed better afterwards, but White had been better before it, too. 28. Nxe3 Bxh2 The bishop takes the pawn in front of the white king. 29. Nf1 Bf4 30. Rc2 b5 31. Bd3 Nb6 32. Be4 Nc4 33. a4 Re8 34. axb5 axb5 35. Re2 Be5 36. Qc5 Nd6 37. Na2 A serious mistake, wrote Tidskrift för Schack, and so it was. With, for example, 37.Bd3, which the magazine suggested, White would still have been better. Now Black captures on e4. 37… Ndxe4 38. fxe4 Bd6 39. Qc2 Re5 40. g3 Qe8 41. Rde1 Bb7 42. Kg1 Here the game was adjourned for the first time. Karpov wrote his move on the sheet and put it in the envelope. 42… Nh7 43. Nc1 Ng5 44. Nd2 Bb4 45. Kf2 Bxd2 46. Rxd2 Nxe4+ 47. Rxe4 Rxe4 After the trades Black is a pawn up. Now a long fight with queens and rooks begins. 48. Ne2 Bc8 49. Nc3 Re1 50. Ne2 Ra1 51. Rd4 Qd8 52. Qc6 Bd7 53. Qd6 Qe8 54. Qf4 Qc8 55. b4 Bh3 56. Qe4 Bf5 57. Qe3 Qc2 58. g4 Bd7 59. Qe4 Qb3 60. Qd3 Qb2 61. Qe4 Ra8 62. Qe3 Ra2 63. d6 Karpov pushes his passed pawn to get counterplay. 63… Ra8 64. Re4 Bc6 65. Qd4 Qb1 66. Re7 Qh1 67. Qf4 Qg2+ 68. Ke1 Ra1+ 69. Kd2 Qd5+ 70. Qd4 Ra2+ 71. Kc3 Qf3+ 72. Re3 Ra3+ 73. Kd2 Ra2+ 74. Ke1 Qh1+ 75. Kf2 Qg2+ 76. Ke1 Karpov's first move after the second adjournment. According to the reporter from the Soviet chess magazine 64, he went here to see whether Andersson would fall into a beautiful trap: 76…Bf3 77.Re8+ Kh7 78.Qd3+ g6 79.d7 Bxe2 80.Rh8+ Kxh8 81.d8=Q+ Kh7 82.Qxg6+ Kxg6 83.Qg5+. If Black takes the queen, with the king or with the pawn, it is stalemate. Otherwise White gives check again and again. The trap only worked if Black took the knight on e2 at the wrong moment. 76… Qh1+ Andersson does not fall into the trap. He keeps checking and brings the rook into the attack. 77. Kf2 Ra1 78. Rc3 Qg2+ 79. Ke3 Qf3+ Karpov resigned. The king has only one square, d2, and after 80.Kd2 Ra2+ the knight on e2 is lost.

PGN – the game as text for other chess programs
[Event "Milan tournament, preliminary group, round 8"]
[Site "Milan"]
[Date "1975.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Anatoly Karpov"]
[Black "Ulf Andersson"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B44"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nb5 d6 6. c4 Nf6 7. N1c3 a6 8. Na3 Be7 9. Be2 O-O 10. O-O b6 11. Be3 Bb7 12. Rc1 Re8 13. Qb3 Nd7 14. Rfd1 Rc8 15. Rd2 Qc7 16. Qd1 Qb8 17. f3 Ba8 18. Qf1 Nce5 19. Nab1 Nf6 20. Kh1 h6 21. Rdd1 Bf8 22. Nd2 Rcd8 23. Qf2 Ned7 24. a3 d5 25. cxd5 exd5 26. exd5 Bd6 27. Nf1 Rxe3 28. Nxe3 Bxh2 29. Nf1 Bf4 30. Rc2 b5 31. Bd3 Nb6 32. Be4 Nc4 33. a4 Re8 34. axb5 axb5 35. Re2 Be5 36. Qc5 Nd6 37. Na2 Ndxe4 38. fxe4 Bd6 39. Qc2 Re5 40. g3 Qe8 41. Rde1 Bb7 42. Kg1 Nh7 43. Nc1 Ng5 44. Nd2 Bb4 45. Kf2 Bxd2 46. Rxd2 Nxe4+ 47. Rxe4 Rxe4 48. Ne2 Bc8 49. Nc3 Re1 50. Ne2 Ra1 51. Rd4 Qd8 52. Qc6 Bd7 53. Qd6 Qe8 54. Qf4 Qc8 55. b4 Bh3 56. Qe4 Bf5 57. Qe3 Qc2 58. g4 Bd7 59. Qe4 Qb3 60. Qd3 Qb2 61. Qe4 Ra8 62. Qe3 Ra2 63. d6 Ra8 64. Re4 Bc6 65. Qd4 Qb1 66. Re7 Qh1 67. Qf4 Qg2+ 68. Ke1 Ra1+ 69. Kd2 Qd5+ 70. Qd4 Ra2+ 71. Kc3 Qf3+ 72. Re3 Ra3+ 73. Kd2 Ra2+ 74. Ke1 Qh1+ 75. Kf2 Qg2+ 76. Ke1 Qh1+ 77. Kf2 Ra1 78. Rc3 Qg2+ 79. Ke3 Qf3+ 0-1

Download .pgn

Sources

  • PGN Mentor, Andersson.pgn and Karpov.pgn
  • Wikipedia: Ulf Andersson
  • Tidskrift för Schack 1975 no. 7: the report from Milan (p. 206) and the game with Gunnar Johansson's notes (pp. 223–224)
  • Thomas Engqvist: Ulf – the Attacker! (New in Chess 2025), the preface
  • Wikipedia: Anatoly Karpov

The moves compared in three sources (PGN Mentor, Wikipedia and Tidskrift för Schack 1975, the Swedish federation's magazine, which printed the game with notes that autumn): identical, 158 half-moves. Karpov resigned after 79…Qf3+. Round 8 according to PGN Mentor; we have not found the day. The stalemate trap after 76.Ke1 is checked move by move: both ways of taking the queen on g5 give stalemate. Every move has also been replayed by computer and checked against the rules of chess.

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Updated November 14, 2026