“Karolyi dissects Karpov’s wins thoroughly and the books examine Karpov’s career in detail. It was a colossal undertaking and Karolyi spent several years studying his protagonist. He delivers a fascinating account of Karpov’s skills.”
GM Lubomir Kavalek, full column at Huffington Post and ChessBase
“Karpov’s Strategic Wins 1 is a masterpiece! The explanations are written with clarity and precision, the depth of the analysis is incredible, the production is outstanding, and the game examples are as enlightening as they are entertaining. This deserves book of the year accolades. Do yourself a favor and buy it in hardcover, it’s worth it! [6/6 stars]”
Brian Almeida, ChessCafe (full review)
“The ability to easily follow his life, games, and stats makes for compelling reading… WOW! It’s easy to see that lots of thought, planning, love, passion, and hard work were put into this magnificent book… Karpov’s Strategic Wins 1 gets my highest recommendation if you enjoy going over master games, are a fan of Karpov, or wish to study high-level positional concepts through the use of Karpov’s games. This is, quite simply, one of the finest game collections I’ve ever seen.”
IM Jeremy Silman
“I never seriously studied Karpov’s earlier masterpieces. Whilst reading Karpov’s Strategic Wins 1, written by Tibor Karolyi, I realized how much I had missed… Karpov himself has written several books on this period… and in my view Karolyi does a better job in presenting this material objectively (and with up-to-date analysis)… What Karolyi’s book does show is that Karpov truly was one of the greatest of all time, and that his games will always serve as examples of superior strategical insight and technique. I can’t wait to get my hands on the sequel.”
Arne Moll, ChessVibes (full review)
“This is the Karpov some of us remember best of all. The 1.e4 player who made the lives of French Defence and Sicilian fans a misery… This is the Karpov who was the magnificent champion, dominating tournament chess like no other, with his customary White wins and Black draws, and losses so rare they caused a sensation across the chess world.”
Sean Marsh, Chess magazine
“Not many managed to outplay their opponents in the cool and quiet way Karpov could; they tried, but Karpov was in a class of his own… Thus my joy at receiving in the mail ‘The Making of a Champion’, a book with Karpov’s strategic wins from 1961-85. Such a book has been sorely missing. There are lots of great things in this book. That the author Tibor Karolyi praises Karpov to the heavens is something you just have to accept!”
GM Simen Agdestein
“The Hungarian International Master has succeeded in writing something special that should appeal to a wide range of players… Karpov’s Strategic Wins Volume 1 is not only a tribute to Karpov’s strategic brilliance, it is also a fine instructive work… Many of the notes that Karolyi offers will be of great benefit to amateur players as well as professionals… Wonderful prose like this makes the book special… Karpov’s Strategic Wins Volume 1 belongs in every chess player’s library. Highly Recommended.”
IM John Donaldson, jeremysilman.com (full review)
