Karpov was one of the all time best at bamboozling opponents with quiet moves that seemed relatively harmless, only to prove that they weren’t. The move below is one of my favourites of his. Most opponent’s would think something like ‘he thinks Nf4 is coming maybe he’ll play g3, he can’t move another piece backwards, surely?.’
I have studied this game at great depth many times over the years. You can find it here: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1022951
It’s in Karpov’s first publication of his games, although I have to say his analysis of it could have been more extensive. However, the depth of positional understanding in play by Karpov is so great, his opponent never stood a chance. Have a good look at 19. a3 if you don’t believe me. Play through it and ask yourself how an attack with a lone knight and a couple of pawns against 2 knights, 2 rooks, and a queen, as is the case after 37. Nc7 can succeed and why. That’s Karpov there or thereabouts at his best in my opinion. Poor old Bagairov.
MJM
McCreadyandChess 