The World Chess Championship 1984–1985 was a match between challenger

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born Garik Kimovich Weinstein on 13 April 1963) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion (1985–2000), political activist and writer. His peak FIDE chess Elo rating system, ra ...

and defending champion

Anatoly Karpov Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (, ; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian and former Soviet Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, ⁣and politician. He was the 12th World Chess Champion from 1975 ...

in Moscow from 10 September 1984 to 15 February 1985 for the

World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Gukesh Dommaraju, who defeated the previous champion Ding Liren in the World Chess Championship 2024, 2024 World Chess Championship. ...

title. After 5 months and 48 games, the match was called off, with Karpov leading 5 to 3, and 40 draws. The match was replayed in the

World Chess Championship 1985 The 1985 World Chess Championship was played between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov in Moscow, Soviet Union from September 3 to November 9, 1985. Kasparov won, to become the thirteenth and the then youngest world champion at the age of 22. ...

1982 Interzonals

Three

Interzonal Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by the World Chess Federation FIDE from the 1950s to the 1990s. They were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle and were held after the Zonal tournaments, and before the Ca ...

tournaments were held. The top two finishers in each qualified.

Zoltán Ribli Zoltán Ribli (born September 6, 1951 in Mohács) is a Hungarian chess grandmaster and International Arbiter (1995). He was twice a World Championship Candidate and three times Hungarian Champion. A career in chess As a youngster, he was tw ...

won the

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital city of the Canary Islands (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and the m ...

Interzonal ahead of 61-year-old former World Champion

Vasily Smyslov Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov (; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster who was the seventh World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidates Tournament, Candidate for the World Chess Championship on ...

. Kasparov, 19 years old, won the

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Interzonal by a 1½ point margin ahead of

Alexander Beliavsky Alexander Genrikhovich Beliavsky (, , ; also romanized ''Belyavsky''; born December 17, 1953) is a Soviet, Ukrainian and Slovenian chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1975. He is also a chess coach and in 2004 wa ...

. The

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. Toluca has a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census. The city forms the core of the Grea ...

Interzonal was won jointly by

Lajos Portisch Lajos Portisch (born 4 April 1937) is a Hungarian chess Grandmaster, whose positional style earned him the nickname, the "Hungarian Botvinnik". One of the strongest players from the early 1960s into the late 1980s, he participated in twelve c ...

and

Eugenio Torre Eugenio Oliveros Torre (born November 4, 1951) is a Filipino Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. In 1974, at 22 years old, he became the first Filipino and non-Soviet Asian to qualify for the title Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster. Torre di ...

. : : Tal and Andersson contested a playoff in

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

for a reserve spot for the Candidates Tournament. The match ended 3–3; Tal became first reserve because of his better tie break score, but no reserves were needed. :

1983–1984 Candidates tournament

The six Interzonal qualifiers were joined by

Viktor Korchnoi Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi (, ; 23 March 1931 – 6 June 2016) was a Soviet (before 1976) and Swiss (after 1980) chess grandmaster (GM) and chess writer. He is considered one of the strongest players never to have become World Chess Champion. Bor ...

and

Robert Hübner Robert Hübner (6 November 1948 – 5 January 2025) was a German chess grandmaster, chess writer, and papyrologist. He was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s. Chess career At eighteen, Hübner was joint winner of t ...

, the Candidates finalists from the previous cycle (

World Chess Championship 1981 The 1981 World Chess Championship was played between Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi in Merano, Italy from October 1 to November 19, 1981. Karpov won with six wins against two, with 10 draws. The two players had already played agains ...

). The eight players participated in a series of knockout matches. The winner was Garry Kasparov. The Smyslov–Hübner match was tied at 5–5. After playing four extra games without breaking the tie, the match was resolved by a spin of the

roulette Roulette (named after the French language, French word meaning "little wheel") is a casino game which was likely developed from the Italy, Italian game Biribi. In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a single number, various grouping ...

wheel. The ball went into the zero on the first spin, before deciding in favor of Smyslov. Politics threatened Kasparov's semi-final match against

, which was scheduled to be played in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

. Korchnoi had defected from the Soviet Union in 1976, and was at that time the strongest active non-Soviet player. Various political manoeuvres prevented Kasparov from playing Korchnoi in the United States, and Kasparov forfeited the match. This was resolved when Korchnoi agreed for the match to be replayed in London, along with the

vs.

match. The Korchnoi–Kasparov match was put together on short notice by

Raymond Keene Raymond Dennis Keene (born 29 January 1948) is an English chess grandmaster, a FIDE International Arbiter, a chess organiser, and a journalist and author. He won the British Chess Championship in 1971 and was the first player from England t ...

. Kasparov won 7–4.

1984–1985 Championship match

: : The previous record length for a world title match had been 34 games, the 1927 match between

José Capablanca José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , ...

and

Alexander Alekhine Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhine. He disliked when Russians sometimes pronounced the of as , , which he regarded as a Yiddish distortion of his name, and insisted that the correct Russian pronunciation was . (March 24, 1946) was a Russian ...

, which also followed the "first to 6 wins" format. The match was ended without result by

Florencio Campomanes Florencio Campomanes (22 February 1927 – 3 May 2010) was a Filipino political scientist, chess player, and chess organizer. Education Campomanes was born in Manila and earned his B.A. in political science from the University of the Philip ...

, the President of the

World Chess Federation The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the gove ...

, 5–3 in favor of Karpov, and a new match was announced to start a few months later. The termination was controversial, as both players stated that they preferred for the match to continue. There was speculation that Campomanes had made the decision due to political pressure. Announcing his decision at a press conference, Campomanes cited the health of the players, which had been strained by the length of the match (5 months: 10 September 1984 to 8 February 1985). This match remains the first and only world championship match to be called off without a result. The restarted match (the

) was best of 24. Kasparov won 13–11. In 2020, Karpov said that if he had won this match 6–0, Kasparov would never have become world champion, because he was too emotional.

Notes

General references

* * *

External links

* Edward Winter
The Termination
(1988, updated in 2005, 2007, and 2008) {{DEFAULTSORT:World Chess Championship 1984-1985

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

1984 in chess Chess in Russia Chess in the Soviet Union 1984 in Russian sport 1984 in Soviet sport 1984 in Moscow Sports competitions in Moscow 1985 in chess 1985 in Russian sport 1985 in Soviet sport 1985 in Moscow Garry Kasparov