
A BAD OPENING BY ANATOLY KARPOV
It is unfortunate that Anatoly Karpov’s unconstrained desire to promote
himself as a potential candidate for the FIDE Presidency has driven him down
a slippery path of falsification of facts and use of extremely abusive language
towards his opponents. Anatoly started his political game with a very bad opening,
presenting himself as a candidate with no principles who will use any unethical
means in order to achieve his goals.
There are people who know Karpov better than me and they were not surprised
at all by his
interview, published at ChessBase.com on 6 July 2005. However, for me,
as I know Karpov mainly from his enormous contribution to our sport and to
a lesser extent from the rare discussions we have had, it was really surprising
to see Anatoly Karpov as this kind of candidate politician. I sincerely hope
that if he indeed decides to run for FIDE President that he will at least improve
his middlegame play...

Deputy FIDE President Georgios Makropoulos
Anatoly alone, among the dependable chess world, advanced the version of Zurab
Azmaiparashvili attacking policemen like a "madman" in Calvia. This
version served better the short-sighted political vision of Anatoly and he
didn't hesitate to use it in his interview. The way he has turned against one
of his fellow chessplayers, shows exactly how he would behave against others
when he believes that abandoning or calumniating his colleagues serves best
his personal interests.
The ACP, on the contrary, had the moral fortitude to stand by Azmaiparashvili
although he was not an ACP member and despite the differences between FIDE
and ACP.
The court in Calvia recently did
justice to Azmaiparashvili since, on the judge's initiative, the local
police dropped all charges when facing the danger of actually having their
own policemen being convicted for the beating of Zurab.
What will Karpov do now? Will he show any kind of moral stature and apologize
to Zurab and to FIDE? If not, how does he expect chessplayers to trust him
as FIDE President? And if his fellow chessplayers cannot trust him, why should
the FIDE delegates do so?
For the sake of truth I also have to state that Mr Ummer Koya has not been
convicted, as Karpov states in his interview. Again, Karpov uses such accusations
in order to serve his short-term interest. Concerning the developments in India,
FIDE has already taken all the necessary decisions and made all the necessary
announcements in order to protect chess in India and worldwide.
What is this story about Crisan from Romania whom Karpov, in a very underhanded
way, tries to present as an official of FIDE? Crisan has never been even in
a sub-committee of FIDE. On the contrary, it is well-known that FIDE made a
huge effort to protect Romanian chessplayers, trainers, arbiters and journalists
who suffered from Crisan's decisions and behaviour. Where was Karpov during
that period? Why was he silent? How did he support his colleagues in Romania?
People like Crisan will be among the most eager supporters of Karpov's candidacy
for FIDE President!

FIDE Presidential candidate? Anatoly Karpov
There are many fields in which criticism from a candidate could be creative
and constructive. The first step is always to accept the accomplishments of
your opponents. Anatoly should have recognized that, at least for the last
years, FIDE has improved significantly its overall performance and at the same
time FIDE expenditure has been drastically reduced while FIDE income has increased.
During the last two years FIDE also secured more than 3,000,000 USD as sponsorship
money for its World Championships, an amount which this time did not come from
the FIDE President.
Since Karpov is talking about a "gang" which is "plundering"
FIDE, and at the same time I'm personally one of the people who co-operate
closely with Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, I would like to know how, according to Karpov,
am I exactly "plundering" FIDE and on what grounds Anatoly bases
such accusations? If Karpov cannot support his claims, then at least he should
admit the very bad opening of his campaign by releasing lies and throwing mud
instead of presenting arguments (if any) to support his candidacy.
At the end of the day, I personally believe that Karpov should have been more
generous with Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Kirsan is the only president in the history
of FIDE, and maybe in the history of all international federations, who has
contributed dozens of million dollars for the sport he loves. By the way, some
of these millions went directly to Anatoly's pocket...
Georgios Makropoulos
FIDE Deputy President