 However, in the final however he lost to Anatoly Karpov, 3½–7½.Having beaten Karpov at Bugojno 1986, he felt his pre-match mood had been overly optimistic and described his defeat as "very severe".Nevertheless, in 1987/88 his rating peaked at 2645 and he was listed as the third strongest player in the world behind Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov.