Anatoly Karpov, the former chess champion who is now a member of Russia’s Parliament, was injured in a fall outside the Parliament building in Moscow on Saturday, Russian and international news media have reported.
Mr. Karpov has been a loyal defender of Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, and of many of Russia’s more internationally contested acts, notably the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Ukraine. But he has also expressed sympathy for the war’s civilian victims on both sides.
Accounts in the Russian news media about the incident and the seriousness of Mr. Karpov’s injuries have sharply conflicted over the past few days, with speculation fed by the number of Putin critics who have died or suffered injuries since the invasion of Ukraine. People close to Mr. Karpov, however, have said that he slipped and fell.
Mr. Karpov, 71, was the undisputed chess world champion for a decade, beginning in 1975 when the American Bobby Fischer declined to defend his title. He is known for a yearslong rivalry with another Russia chess champion, Garry Kasparov.
In the Soviet era, Mr. Karpov was a Kremlin favorite, while Mr. Kasparov was the maverick thorn in the establishment’s side, a role he has continued to play after leaving Russia in 2013. He is a fierce critic of Mr. Putin and has sharply criticized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
