World Chess Championship 1985
Garry Kasparov becomes the 13th world chess champion at 22 — the youngest ever, defeating Anatoly Karpov in the rematch decided by Game 24.
- Year
- 1985
- Format
- Best of 24 classical games
- Venue
- Tchaikovsky Concert Hall
- Cycle
- classical
The rematch was scheduled under the standard FIDE 24-game format, with the title going to whoever scored 12.5 points first or to the leader after Game 24 (defending champion retained title in case of 12–12 tie). It started on 3 September 1985 at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow — the same city as the terminated previous match, in a higher-prestige venue chosen partly to reset the narrative.
The Match
Played to 24 games. Kasparov won the famous Game 16 — a Sicilian Najdorf in which his queenside attack overwhelmed Karpov’s slower kingside play — and held the lead into the final games. With the match level going into Game 24, Kasparov won as Black with the Sicilian, securing the match 13–11 and the world title.
The Thirteenth Champion
Kasparov became the thirteenth world chess champion at 22 years and 210 days — the youngest ever, breaking Tal’s 1960 record. He held the title for fifteen years and contested five championship matches against Karpov alone (1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990) before finally losing it to Vladimir Kramnik in 2000. (See our 1990 entry for the final Karpov–Kasparov classical match.)