Anatoly Karpov gave the first interview after resuscitation: “I play with a computer”

The twelfth world chess champion announced a possible attack

At the end of October, all major world agencies spread the sensational sad news – the twelfth world chess champion Anatoly Karpov was hospitalized in serious condition – giving rise to many conflicting rumors.

Today, the brilliant chess player, fortunately, is already at home and in a cheerful, energetic voice gives the first interview after resuscitation – for Moskovsky Komsomolets.

– Anatoly Evgenievich, what happened?

— I’m not ready to discuss it in detail, but I think it was an attack.

– Hit?

– It seems so. Most likely in the back. We still have to deal with all this. Someone called an ambulance. Unfortunately, the situation also affected the condition of the lungs.

– Remember, Vysotsky: “To whom should I thank that he is alive”?

— High-class specialists from the Sklifosovsky Institute. For a week, the doctors kept me in intensive care, from where I kept trying to escape. But the doctors urged me to be patient. Then in the ward he constantly asked: let me go home. In total, I spent more than a couple of weeks there, but they also asked me to stay at the hospital for a week or two at home.

Are any additional examinations necessary?

– During the time I was in Sklifa, I passed as many tests as I had not passed in several years. But he did not waste his time in the hospital, thinking over future articles, for example, on the historical and political topic of relations between Russia, Poland and the so-called Ukraine. I recalled how in 1966, when I went to Sweden for the first time and the Battle of Poltava arose in conversations, the Swedes surprised me – it turned out that no one was angry with us for Poltava, but on the contrary, in the end the country became neutral. And now, suddenly, incomprehensible political ambitions have woken up in them, and they have floundered into NATO.

– Have you been allowed to sit down at the chessboard yet?

– There are no restrictions, I play with the computer.

– When you were preparing for the World Cup matches, you always included tennis in your program. Are you thinking of going out on the court?

– In tennis, there is a big load on the legs, I try to compensate for the “physics” with walks. I go fast. When I was 13 or 14, Botvinnik said: “Karpov is a very gifted chess player, but physically weak.” And so I came to him on Nikolina Gora, went to the store for something. A couple of miles there, a couple back. And I quickly “driven” him. He did not make any more comments about my physical condition.

– Anatoly Evgenievich, you were with us at MK not so long ago, we even sat down at the board. And I am very grateful that you agreed to a draw, which was recorded by our friend, the president of the Yashin Foundation, Gennady Venglinsky. We look forward to seeing you again at the editorial office.

Thank you, Peter, I will definitely come. By the way, when I returned home from Moskovsky Komsomolets, where we remembered Lev Yashin, I found a commemorative diploma at home, which was dedicated to his farewell match. My friend Lev Ivanovich gave it to me in Tel Aviv in 1989, where I visited him in the hospital. After all, I also headed the committee for the rehabilitation of Eduard Streltsov. It was very important for Yashin that his friend was rehabilitated.

– Anatoly Evgenievich, on behalf of the entire editorial staff, I congratulate you on the upcoming New Year. I wish you health and that all troubles remain in the past.

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 28928 dated December 8, 2022

Newspaper headline:
Anatoly Karpov – “MK”: “It looks like it was an attack”