Lindsborg ? Lindsborg has captured a major chess player. Former world champion Anatoly Karpov will appear at the Lindsborg Rotary Open in December.

Karpov is not expected to play, but his presence should help the tournament draw a crowd.

“It’s really unheard of for someone of that caliber to come to a small town,” said Wes Fisk, president of the 60-member Lindsborg Chess Club, which sponsors the event with funding from the local Rotary Club.

The event has expanded from three to seven days, he said, and like the 2001 tournament, a number of high-ranking players from the United States and world are expected Dec. 17-23.

Karpov was world champion from 1975 when Bobby Fischer forfeited the title until 1984 when he lost it to Garry Kasparov. After Kasparov broke away from the FIDE, the World Chess Federation, and was stripped of the title, Karpov was FIDE world champion from 1993 to 1999.

Ralph Bowman, Kansas Chess Assn. board member and executive vice president of the Kansas Scholastic Chess Assn., said Karpov’s arrival would be the first time a world chess champion had ever visited the state. The tournament also would have more grand masters competing than in any previous Kansas event, he said.

Chamber of Commerce director Kathy Malm said Karpov would conduct a special tournament for Kansas children on Dec. 14.