Karpov, Putin's deputy and Honorary Citizen of Ukraine, 'in check' for a slip in the snow

What Bobby Fischer failed to achieve, the first snow of autumn in Moscow has just achieved.

A slip has put the great world chess champion

in check , and has sent him to the Intensive Care Unit of the neurology ward of the Sklifosovski hospital in Moscow, one of the most prestigious medical centers in the Russian capital.

It all happened around midnight last Friday, when Karpov,

, a deputy for Vladimir Putin's party, United Russia, was leaving a dinner at the Ritz Hotel on the occasion

In the Moscow night, the general winter, although late, began to make an appearance with its first snowflakes and ice sheets.

A chauffeur was waiting for the politician and chess grandmaster in the courtyard of the State Duma, a three-minute walk from the Ritz, when Karpov, 71, slipped and hit his head on the sidewalk.

But a great chess champion during the cold war, and now an ally of Putin, you can't hit your head on the ground just like that, least of all in the midst of an invasion of Ukraine, so it didn't take long for an alternative version to be unleashed:

, taking advantage of the fact that Karpov always travels without an escort.

Numerous media outlets, especially dissidents, soon echoed this version, promoted by the head of the Russian Entrepreneurs Movement, Andrey Kovalev, who said: "He is in critical condition in the hospital. God bless him. We pray for the health. What a good person.

."

His daughter Sofia, his wife Natalya Bulanova, his assistant Albert Stepanyan, and even the head of public relations for the Russian Chess Federation, Kiril Zangalis, came out to deny this version, but it was too late.

In addition, they did not agree on where the events had occurred: some in his house, others in the Duma.

Nor about Karpov's state of health: if he was in a coma from the beating, if from a cardiovascular accident, if from the fall, if he had broken his left femur, if his hip.

Nor about how the great champion of the dinner had turned out.

Some Russian media not only did not hesitate to say that

, but even provided the blood alcohol level.

Among the proven facts is that Karpov spent the entire Friday in his office in the Duma,

.

That at some point he received a call from the Embassy of Kazakhstan to confirm that he would come to the dinner, and that he said yes.

That around 6:00 p.m. he left the building through the stairs of Okhotny Ryad carrying a package with two bottles of milk, cheese and sour cream that a deputy had given him.

That he got into a car that took him home, that he changed his clothes, and that he went to the party at the Ritz.

His wife denied any injury beyond the blow to the head, as well as that he was in a coma.

After his visit on Tuesday morning, he said: "He is conscious, very active, he does not feel any pain and

and they will not let him. The doctors say that it is still early, but that he will probably be discharged. at the end of the week".

President Vladimir Putin with the great chess champion Anatoli Kasparov.

Karpov was born in the Urals.

His father, a mining engineer, taught

, as he was called at home, to play chess at the age of five.

He soon became a grandmaster at the same time that he received his doctorate in Economic Sciences.

He occupied the world chess throne between 1975 and 1985, a time he also used to

, and then between 1993 and 1999.

The first time due to the resignation of

.

Who refused to defend the title against him because FIDE did not accept that it be played without limit of games.

System that was followed years later.

His successor was

with whom he would live the most exciting duels in the history of this sport, with a balance of 21 to 19 for Kasparov and 104 draws.

Some of them were suspended in the middle of the game by the International Federation so as

of the players.

Many players did not quite add up that Karpov was drunk.

Among them the great champion and disciple

, who claims to be in permanent contact with the great master's entourage, and acts as a link between him and the world of chess.

A few weeks ago, Karyakin faced

in Moscow , who also mentions in his resume having been a member of Kárpov's team, and even having beaten him the only time they met: "From what they have told me, he is better, I hope he Get well soon. Not only is he an idol in the chess world, but he has also been a great promoter, visiting more than a hundred countries."

The accident has served to expose Karpov's position regarding the war in Ukraine.

He is one of the

for supporting the war, which he defended in March in a letter addressed to George Bertola, director of the French chess magazine

: "I have not voted in favor of war, as you say, is a lie".

What I did vote for, on February 15, just nine days after the start of the invasion, was in favor of recognizing the independence of the Ukrainian provinces of Lugansk and Donietsk.

Karpov is an

for his work after the Chernobyl nuclear accident, and has received the highest decorations in this country at the hands of several presidents.

He and Kasparov, this Putin opponent in exile in New York, donated

of the 1986 world title prize money to the victims of the Chernobyl nuclear accident.

He is also a UNICEF ambassador for Eastern European countries.

"To declare that Karpov is an enemy of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people is to totally ignore reality," he vented in his letter to Europe Echecqs.

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