My best wishes for his full recovery. About 30 years ago I used to buy Chess books and study games. I really liked his style, usually a slow tightening of advantages on the board, with some attacking games also. His play inspired me to be patient in Chess, appreciate getting a small advantage and working with that.
Chessbase [1] and Reddit [2] show reporting to be all over the place, with completely contradictory quotes from Karpov's wife and from his daughter. Reddit's summary of events:
According to emergency service, the grandmaster was found unconscious at the State Duma this Saturday. Now he is in intensive care. Doctors diagnosed Karpov with a closed craniocerebral injury, a fracture of the left femur, as well as severe alcohol intoxication.
Chairman of the All-Russian Movement of Entrepreneurs Andrey Kovalev said that "Karpov was attacked at the exit from the State Duma. He is in a serious condition in the hospital."
Karpov's assistant Albert Stepanyan refuted Kovalev's words: "There was no attack. Everything is fine with Anatoly Evgenievich, there are no injuries."
However, Kovalev later wrote that "Karpov was put into induced coma."
Information about the coma was confirmed by Karpov's daughter, Sophia. According to her, the chess player "was injured as a result of a domestic injury, there was no attack."
The source of "RIA Novosti" noted that Karpov is in the department of neuro-intensive care of the Institute. Sklifosovsky. Previously, he was injured due to a fall.
Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin confirms the version about the fall: "He is in the hospital. Unsuccessfully fell. I am in touch with Anatoly Evgenievich's assistants. I know that everything is not as they say in the telegram channels."
Karpov's wife Natalia Bulanova unexpectedly denied the information about the hospitalization of the chess player: "There was no attack, nothing like that. He's at home, he's fine."
According to Izvestia, Karpov was connected to a ventilator. He was diagnosed with cerebral edema, fractures of the right parietal and right temporal bones, multiple head hematomas and traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage. As well as a combined injury, a closed craniocerebral injury and a closed fracture of the neck of the left femur
Updates make this super weird. First he is injured, then in the update he's in stable condition and not injured, which makes it sound like it was a medical emergency like a heart attack, and then in the second update he fell and suffered head trauma, which is an injury. Add all this in to the fact that he's a member of the Duma and high profile Russians under Putin suffer accidents or "suicide" at a higher then expected rate and I doubt we'll ever be sure what happened.
Russia is a country of 140 million people. You must understand that it is not possible or sensible to suggest that Vladimir Putin spends day and night orchestrating and micro-managing the luck, life, fortune and misery of every single person in Russia.
Karpov is a member of the Duma, as well as being the former World Chess Champion. He is a prominent person who knows Putin personally and professionally.
