Books and Bricks

After a long absence from public life due to health issues, 12th World Chess Champion Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov conceded an interview to Nikolay Mikhailovich Dolgopolov and Albert Faritovich Minnullin, which appeared on Rossiyskaya Gazeta of November 11, 2024, where he is said to be still recovering in the restful surroundings of the Moscow Oblast: “For now I am taking care of my health. Everything seems fine, and overall, things are getting better”, he said. “How do I feel? I follow world news”. Even if platonically, chess is always there: “I’m not playing chess, but of course I follow it”. Although the world has changed enormously since the last century, with both China and India rising as global chess superpowers, he still seems to believe in the quality mark of the post-Soviet Russian chess school: “We have a young and earnest Grandmaster: Ivan Yevgenyevich Zemlyanskii. He studied at my chess school in Tyumen, now he has moved to the Moscow Oblast”. But will he be a meteor or an enduring star? “Ivan Yevgenyevich is talented and brilliant. He earned the Grandmaster title at 13. He has everything in perspective”. Karpov then renewed his criticism of FIDE and most particularly of FIDE Ethics Commission for their continuous interference in matters relating to freedom of thought. He thinks that FIDE Ethics Commission has exceeded its powers and its duty by banning people from chess for “wrongthink”. Finally, there’s still a question on who will be the next World Champion, either 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén) of China or Dommaraju Gukesh of India. Maybe he too, like his archrival Garry Kimovich Kasparov, would like to reply, “Neither one nor the other of them”, but once again, his sense of duty took command: “It is amazing and wonderful that one who won the Candidates Tournament at 17 years and 10 months, is to play a match with the World Champion at 18. And of course, I will not leave you without an answer! He has a good opportunity”.

One of the last public appearances which Karpov (centre) made was on Friday, July 19, 2024, at a ceremonial reception in honour of the International Chess Day at the Central Chess Club named after Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik in Moscow, Russia. Photo: Andrey Fyodorovich Kartashov/TASS.