Karpov lambastes FIDE (again)

Anatoly Karpov was in St. Louis to participate in an exhibition match with GM Yasser Seirawan. The encounter ended with the former World Champion winning the match 8-6 (1-1 classical, 1-1 rapid, 6-4 blitz-Karpov). The blitz match was thrilling to watch.

Anatoly Karpov

During the press conference Macauley Petersen relayed a question I posted (forward to 12:50). Karpov was asked whether he had any additional political ambitions in FIDE. He mentioned that FIDE is “wrongly led” and suggested that the current leadership be removed. He then went on to elaborate on the issues.

I think things should be changed. this is quite clear. The structure of the federation in making decisions should be changed. This is also quite clear. We have big problems because of this wrong voting system. So lets’ say federations which has 30-40 players has the same vote as of U.S., or Russia, or Germany… in Russia, they have millions of players… in China, they have millions of players. Of course something should be done. Of course it is very difficult to change voluntarily because this is part of count of delegates for small federations, so it will be difficult to change because they don’t want to give up the strength advantage they have. Maybe some other team will be able to convince them to change. This is not only in chess. United Nations also. They have the veto system… which is very important. At least it should be done in chess… the veto system… for federations who have millions of players.

Of course, the United Nations has the type of structure on the Security Council where five nations (U.S., U.K., China, Russia, France) have veto power and ten nations (which completely turn over every two years) have none. This was one of Karpov’s campaign pronouncements in 2010.