3 min readMar 19, 2026 06:38 PM IST
Former world champion Anatoly Karpov has claimed in an interview with a Russian newspaper that reigning world champion D Gukesh got the crown by “accident”. It must be noted that Karpov’s own first world championship title back in 1975 had come after a forfeit from the American world champion Bobby Fischer.
Karpov’s comments echo a familiar refrain in Russia, which last had a world champion in 2007, when Vladimir Kramnik was on the throne. Since then, two Russians—Sergey Karjakin in 2016 and Ian Nepomniachtchi in 2021 and 2023—have come close but have been thwarted.
In the interview, when Karpov was asked about chess becoming younger and younger, with a 19-year-old currently on the throne, the 74-year-old said: “First of all, the Indian chess player became [champion] by chance, because he wasn’t supposed to win the match against the Chinese player [Ding Liren]. The Chinese player lost a game there that he shouldn’t have lost. Had he not, the Chinese player would have remained the world champion.”
Karpov was being interviewed by daily Russian tabloid newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda as part of his upcoming 75th birthday celebrations. Karpov was the 12th world champion in chess history. After being made the world champion by forfeit in 1975, Karpov faced Viktor Korchnoi twice to defend his titles in 1978 and 1981. Then, he faced off in five consecutive world championship showdowns with Garry Kasparov, which saw the duo facing off in 144 games.
This is not the first time prominent Russians have taken potshots at Gukesh’s world championship credentials.
After the 18-year-old Gukesh had become the youngest world champion in chess history in December 2024 in Singapore, Kramnik had written an acerbic comment on his X account that read: “No comment. Sad. End of chess as we know it.”
The president of Chess Federation of Russia, Andrei Filatov, had meanwhile accused Ding of losing the World Championship match to Gukesh on purpose and asked FIDE to start an investigation.
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During the world championship match between Gukesh and Ding in Singapore, Kramnik had ranted about the quality of chess played.
“Frankly, I am very disappointed by today’s game (Game 6). Even Game 5 was not extremely high level, but today it was really — for a professional — it was really weak play from both players. It’s a very disappointing level,” he had said after Game 6.
“It’s such a strange game. Both players were making mistake after mistake, strategical mistakes. As if they don’t get the sense of the position. Maybe I’m old-school but it’s pretty basic! Of course, they’re both great players and great calculators. They calculate fantastically.
“But I expect something a bit more from a world championship match, like ideas! Human play, human concepts! If I want to enjoy chess as just a game of calculation, I would rather watch a world championship of chess engines!”
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