For me, the Karpov's interview on Chessbase was
not a surprise as I am very well aware of the ungratefulness of his human
nature.
Unfortunately, the language one of the outstanding World Chess Champions has
been using, came as a surprise for me and not only me, as ordinary people know
and respect chess as a wise game, which improves intellectual potential of a
person.
I have mentioned that one should not expect any
gratitude from Karpov to Ilyumzhinov, for everything the latter had done for him.
At least one would think, we should expect some respect to a person who has been
doing his utmost to support chess during the last decade, with a sizeable,
multimillion share for him, Mr. Karpov. This is not a matter of culture, this is
a matter of education.
There are ongoing rumours that Mr. Karpov is
aiming at the office of the FIDE President. The motivation is supreme: to defend
the interests of chess and chess players. Wonderful, but just a moment! I have a
couple of small questions to my double colleague.
1. How would Mr. Karpov explain his attacks
against me, if he does not know the core of the matter? In Calvia I was
defending the interests of my colleagues, the chess players, who were
undeservedly hurt and humiliated: women's team of Russia, who were not called to
the stage for the awards; a live legend Nona Gaprindashvili; Zsuzsa Polgar and
Baadur Jobava, who were best in performance; a captain of the USA's women's team
Mr. Truong, who did not receive all medals. All these people are safe and sound,
and if Mr. Karpov has some doubts about my words, he could make some inquiries
from them. Otherwise, I expect an official apologies from Mr. Karpov, especially
in the light of the recent verdict of the court in Calvia, which announced that
I am totally innocent.
2. Mr. Karpov, 2 years ago, at he Benidorm
tournament, has openly labelled all the tournament participants, Anand, Topalov,
Polgar, Radjabov, Karjakin, etc. as idiots, because they did not agree with his
opinion. The Tournament Organiser, who was following the regulations, and Chief
Arbiter excluded Mr. Karpov from the list. After this he used all his influence
to abolish this wonderful event. After 2003 this tournament stopped functioning.
Bravo, Anatoly Evgenievich, you are a really influential person! My question is
as follows: in your capacity as FIDE President, would you also use all your
influence to abolish the unwanted tournaments and punish the Organisers who do
not obey to you?
This is Anatoly Karpov for the people who don't
know him. An excellent chessplayer who never earned the respect of his
colleagues because of his behaviour.
Now he is dreaming of becoming FIDE President
with the support, as he says, of ECU and its 53 European Federations. Did he
consult the Presidential Board of ECU or at least its President, Mr Boris Kutin
for such a matter? Did he ask for the opinion of the European Federations?
Anatoly is mostly searching for business
opportunities. With the sponsors who can support his campaign, his federation
and possibly with Ilyumzhinov! Even if he doesn't get elected, he will surely
make a little something for himself. If he is also so fortunate to get elected,
he hopes to expand his business throughout the world by using FIDE.
That's why he is talking now about people who are
"plundering" FIDE. Because, based on his own character, he cannot possibly
imagine that someone can be leading an international federation without "plundering"
it.
Unfortunately for Karpov, his history is
well-known and published everywhere. The match he never played against Fischer,
the way he beat Korchnoi, the involvement of the Soviet mechanism in his first
match against Kasparov, his becoming World Champion in 93 after having lost to
Short in the semifinals etc. And fortunately for chess, it is the
representatives of the National Federations (backed by their chessplayers) who
will decide if they should vote for Karpov as FIDE President.
GM Zurab Azmaiparashvili
