Philosopher’s beard

12th World Chess Champion Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov and Russian Grandmaster Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin gave a joint press conference Wednesday, December 14, 2022 at Moscow’s TASS multimedia press centre, at which the subject of the Presidential elections in the Chess Federation of Russia was introduced. So far there are only two candidates before the great electors — Karjakin himself and the incumbent Andrey Vasilievich Filatov, who, by virtue of his political connections, is widely seen as the favourite for the Presidency. “We hope that elections will be free and fair without undemocratic interventions”, Karpov said, proudly donning his new goatee beard. “As for the candidates’ programs, our priority must be to protect our professionals, many of whom have to leave Russia in order to survive and earn an income. The first teams must be provided with sufficient salaries: there are companies interested in chess”. Photo: Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov.