Who WOULD Have Won in 1975, Fischer or Karpov?

...had they played. I think Bobby would have still won. He was in his prime, Anatoly was still up and coming. Karpov would have played great defense, but Fischer's attacking would have overcome. Score for Bobby about 10-4-3

If I’m not mistaken Kasparov once said Karpov would win and Fischer was scared because chess evolved and Fischer didn’t understand Karpov style. Kasparov cited Karpov’s and Fischer’s games VS Spassky, where Karpov was dominating Spassky with new style of chess.

On the other hand Korchnoi believed nobody could touch Fischer at that time. Karpov might have mentioned, I read somewhere, that he believed he’d lose the first match narrowly, but win the next time around.

Didn’t someone run a computer simulation? I would be curious what the strongest engine today says if it analyzes and scores the games of Karpov and Fischer around that time and assesses who was stronger.

Except Lasker, everyone thought Lasker would win against Capablanca.
Everyone thought Capablance would dominate Alekhine.
Everyone thought Euwe has no chance against Alekhine (in both matches).
Until Fischer, everyone predicts these matches wrongly. I, inspired by the character Sam, believe that the only winner is FIDE. 😊

Fischer was no schmuck when it came to positional play. This talk of Fischer not understanding Karpov's new style of chess does not make sense to me. Karpov's positional play was not novel, it started with the likes of Wilhelm Steinitz and Philidor many decades prior. I believe Fischer would win, with little difficulty, granted his mental state was intact. In those days, masters feared Fischer's mastery of the opening--he had everything analyzed and memorized to the T. In the middlegame, his agression and "crystal clear" style of play was a force to reckoned with. And, finally, Fischer was a master of endings, particularly bishop endings, to the point where him obtaining the bishop pair warranted swift resignation. Yeah, maybe Karpov would win the second attempt.

Who would have won Fischer or Karpov, haven't heard that one before expect for maybe 100 times.

my money is on fischer. stronger player and in much better shape physically.