Champions never get old

On August 19 the oldest of the living world chess champions Anatoly Karpov held an online speech for the participants of the U16 World chess Olympiad in Colombia

The event was organized by the Moscow Region Chess Federation with the support of the Russian Embassy in Colombia. More than 100 people gathered together to listen to the 12-th world champion. Among them were Colombian players and coaches as well as foreign participants of the Olympiad.

In his welcome speech Anatoly Karpov shared some moments of his biography and told how he started his way in chess. The future champion was born in the family of engineers and learnt to play chess at the age of 4 thanks to his father. However, the beginner constantly lost his games against his father and was very upset. That’s why it was decided to send him to the local chess club. There Tolya showed an outstanding chess success and being merely 9 years old he was already playing in team competitions against adults.

Among all his degrees only the Second-class degree was rather hard for Anatoly to obtain. The famous grandmaster mentioned that Colombia looked like his native city Zlatoust that is situated in the Ural highlands.

After the speech the audience had a chance to ask questions. Karpov mentioned his personal top players that have ever lived. His number 1 was the fourth world champion, the great Cuban J.R. Capablanca whose style seems similar to his own. Among the three best players were also the 10-th and the 11-th world champions, Boris Spassky who passed away not long ago and Bobby Fischer.

The 12-th world champion also shared his view on different formats of the game, mentioning that classical time control is very important, however he mentioned that he likes blitz very much. Popular ‘bullet” time control doesn’t seem serious enough for Karpov.

Young chess players were very interested to know more about the strategy at the Olympiad as it is a team competition. “As for the Russian players that participate at the Olympiad, I would recommend to play firmly and not to lose, as only team point count. Every match has four games. If nobody loses then somebody will certainly win. But if one loses then the team has to win two points which is harder to make” – commented Karpov. As for the defeats Anatoly Karpov recommended not to get upset as every single game begins from the very beginning, from scratch. Karpov also pointed out how important it is to analyze the games of past and present world champions for all players regardless their level of play. The grandmaster also shared his success formula: “Love chess and believe in them. Never give up working and your success will come to you”.

The multiple world champion said: “Chess can not normally develop without international tournaments, this is a very important part of the chess life”. It is very important to mention an active role of the MRCF in international collaboration. At the end of May the Colombian Chess Federation president Weimar Munoz came to Moscow on invitation of the MRCF and signed a memorandum of cooperation with its president Sergey Karjakin. According to the signed Memorandum both federations will carry on common online competitions, training and education events for players and coaches.

The participants of the Olympiad also found gratitude words for Anatoly Karpov: “The kid that has just raised his hand, has no questions. He would like to read to you his gratitude speech as you are his and his father’s favorite chess player. He has been studying your biography since he was 8 and studies your best games. That’s why he would like to thank you for your chess legacy”, – translated the translator to the legendary champion.