Further Evidence that Chess is Among the Most Noble of Human Pursuits
By Mr. Kasparov, 43, is not Mr. Putin’s only critic, but he may be the most prominent. And he has brought to oppositional politics the same energy and aggression that characterized his chess, attacking Mr. Putin and the Kremlin — or the regime, as he repeatedly calls it — with language rarely spoken so bluntly in Russia.
“This regime is getting out of touch with the real world,” he said. “It’s a deadly combination of money, power and blood — and impunity.”
Such attacks have drawn the scrutiny of the authorities, though so far nothing worse; someone who sounded angry that Mr. Kasparov had given up chess for politics attacked him with a chessboard in 2005. (“I am lucky,” he said at the time, “that the popular sport in the Soviet Union was chess and not baseball.”)
Just try not to get yourself killed, Garry. Seriously.
Unfortunately, his old rival Anatoly Karpov has developed from being an apologist for the Soviet state to becoming an apologist for Putin.
“I don’t think [Kasparov] has a big future in politics. I don’t think he has traveled much in Russia. Russia is a state within a state. To understand the population of Russia, you need to know the areas of the country, you need an understanding of the people and their interests,” he said. “He knows Moscow. He has an understanding of the Russian elite, but not of the people of Russia. This is his problem.” …
“In general, I believe Putin has [done] the necessary things to keep Russia as one country. Putin needs strong moves to keep the country as one,” he said. “There is some criticism that he is centralizing power, but in Russia, if you don’t centralize power, you have the risk of losing the country.”