Page "Anatoly Karpov" Paragraph 6

He won the 1971 Alekhine Memorial in Moscow ( equal with Leonid Stein ), ahead of a star-studded field, for his first significant adult victory.

His Elo rating shot from 2540 in 1971 to 2660 in 1973, when he shared second in the USSR Chess Championship, and finished equal first with Viktor Korchnoi in the Leningrad Interzonal Tournament, with the latter success qualifying him for the 1974 Candidates Matches, which would determine the challenger of the reigning world champion, Bobby Fischer.