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Russia’s invasion of Georgia reminded me of a conversation I had three years ago in Moscow with a high-ranking European Union official. Russia was much freer then, but President Vladimir Putin’s onslaught against democratic rights was already underway. “What would it take,” I asked, “for Europe to stop treating Putin like a democrat? If all opposition parties are banned? Or what if they started shooting people in the street?” The official shrugged and replied that even in such cases, there would be little the EU could do. He added: “Staying engaged will always be the best hope for the people...

Garry Kasparov criticizes Western countries for providing the autocratic regime in Russia with much needed legitimacy and for ignoring violations of basic human rights in Russia ("Russia's Pre-Olympic Nightmare," op-ed, April 26). Mr. Kasparov ignores the truth that there is only so much that other countries can do to encourage Russia to be freer and less autocratic. It is the job of Mr. Kasparov and other leaders of the Russian opposition to invent and promote a social and economic model that combines freedom and governability. They need a model that combines Russian traditions deeply rooted in the country's autocratic history...

Vladimir Putin will now use Time magazine's honor to enhance his own power. BY GARRY KASPAROV Sunday, December 23, 2007 12:01 a.m. EST Ever since President Vladimir Putin took office eight long years ago, the political and media leadership of the West have had a full-time job trying to look on the bright side of Russia's rapid turn from democracy. The free press has been demolished, elections are canceled and rigged, and then we hear how popular Mr. Putin is. Opposition marches are crushed, and we're told--over and over--how much better off we are today than in the days of...

Vladimir Putin will now use Time magazine's honor to enhance his own power Ever since President Vladimir Putin took office eight long years ago, the political and media leadership of the West have had a full-time job trying to look on the bright side of Russia's rapid turn from democracy. The free press has been demolished, elections are canceled and rigged, and then we hear how popular Mr. Putin is. Opposition marches are crushed, and we're told--over and over--how much better off we are today than in the days of the Soviet Union. This week Time magazine named Mr. Putin...

She is far and away the strongest female chess player that ever lived. [Note: She has always declined to play in competitions limited to females, which is why she never won the Women's World Championship.] At times she was in the top ten of the overall world rankings, but in the last three years, due to the birth of two children, has dropped back a little in her preparation and results. But as everyone can see from her recent tournaments this remarkable lady is on the rebound. Interviewing Judith Polgar [born July 23, 1976, in Budapest, Hungary] implies some kind...

Yet again we see Garry Kasparov on a big American TV network. One Good Move, which provides the video feed, writes: "Kasparov makes a compelling case for the Bush Administration's hypocrisy in the world, and that Putin has the puppet Bush dancing to his tune. A dance meant to keep the world in turmoil so that KGB Inc. can benefit from high oil prices." Interview and our readers' reactions. Kasparov on Chris Matthews' Hardball No wonder the Skype calls have temporarily ceased. This has been the Garry Kasparov Week, with the former world champion and current Russian opposition leader appearing...

He did it again: the former world champion and leader of the Russian opposition has appeared on yet another prime time American TV show. After Colbert and Maher, this time Kasparov argues with CNN's Wolf Blitzer about Russian politics under the regime of the president Vladimir Putin. Late Edition can be seen all over the world – in case you missed it here are transcripts and a podcast. Kasparov vs Wolf Blitzer on CNN's Late Edition It is the third time in a week that the former world chess champion and current opposition leader in Russia has appeared on a...

Kasparov on Maher – checkmate in two 20.10.2007 – Bill Maher is a colorful, eloquent and witty talkshow host, a comedian who has very high ratings and a dedicated following. Maher also tends to dominated his guests with his superior intellect and verbal skills. But his encounter with Garry Kasparov ended in a double checkmate for the former world chess champion. It was an impressive display in a tough talk show. Good stuff, must watch.  

Kasparov Wins Opposition Primaries In Russia 27.09.2007 – The Moscow branch of the Other Russia opposition party Monday chose former world chess champion Garry Kasparov as candidate for the 2008 presidential elections. Kasparov garnered 66 of a possible 113 votes at the all-important Moscow primary, defeating ex-premier Mikhail Kasyanov. In addition to many international reports there is a remarkable 12-page (!) story in the New Yorker [Letter From Moscow: "THE TSAR’S OPPONENT — Garry Kasparov Takes Aim at the Power of Vladimir Putin" by David Remnick].

MURMANSK, Russia - Heavy sedatives keep Larisa Arap languishing in a woozy haze at a mental asylum, the victim not of a troubled mind, her family says, but of a Soviet-era practice that continues to muzzle and punish dissent in today's Russia. Earlier this summer, Arap, an activist with former chess champion Garry Kasparov's opposition movement, co-wrote an article that alleged abusive practices at local psychiatric clinics. When Arap appeared at a Murmansk clinic to pick up a routine medical certificate July 5, a doctor called police and had her taken to a local asylum. The doctors handling Arap's case...

Kremlin blocks chess master from attending EU summit Last updated at 12:43pm on 18th May 2007 Moscow airport police stopped Russian anti-Kremlin activist and chess champion Garry Kasparov and other opposition leaders boarding a flight to Samara near an EU summit where they had hoped to lead a protest today. Russia and the European Union clashed over a string of issues at the summit today, showing moves towards closer ties have stumbled. The EU firmly took the side of its members Poland, Lithuania and Estonia in their separate rows with Moscow, which once dominated them, over trade and a war...

Excerpt - MOSCOW. May 17 (Interfax) - Former chairman of the Russian Central Bank Viktor Gerashchenko is ready to work with the Other Russia as a possible opposition candidate in the upcoming presidential elections, United Civil Front leader Garri Kasparov told a Moscow press conference in Moscow. "We certainly welcome the readiness of such an important person, who has such a serious biography, to become the opposition candidate in the Russian presidential elections. As far as I understand, he discussed the issue with representatives of various political forces, including me. I was not surprised by his statement," he said. ~...

MOSCOW, April 17 (RIA Novosti) - Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, now head of a socioeconomic and political think tank, said opposition marches in Russia only undermined stability in the country. Opposition protests, March of Dissent, were held in Russia's two largest cities over the weekend. Rights groups, oppositionists and journalists have accused Russian police of abusing their power in dispersing the unsanctioned opposition demonstrations. A total of 250 and 170 people were detained respectively. "Somebody wants to complicate the situation in the country and push for instability," Gorbachev told a RIA Novosti news conference. "We must learn our lesson, and...

MOSCOW, April 14 — Garry Kasparov, the former chess champion turned opposition politician in Russia, was arrested with nearly 200 other protesters during a rally in Moscow on Saturday that ended in clashes with riot troops. The rally, the third so-called Dissenters’ March held by a loose antigovernment coalition known as Other Russia, was noteworthy because authorities aggressively pursued the organizers, including President Vladimir V. Putin’s former prime minister, Mikhail M. Kasyanov, whom the police jostled but did not arrest. The rally was principally supported by Mr. Kasyanov and Mr. Kasparov, who leads a group here called the United Civil...

Police have arrested Russian opposition leader Garry Kasparov at a banned anti-Kremlin rally in central Moscow. He was detained during a huge security operation to prevent opponents of President Putin gathering at Pushkin Square. The former chess champion leads the United Civil Front group, part of the opposition coalition Other Russia. It accuses President Putin's regime of trampling on democracy. The Kremlin says Other Russia destabilises Russia. Mr Kasparov was seen inside a police van waving and smiling at gathered media after his arrest, the Associated Press said. Reports say dozens of other opposition activists were arrested, as well...

GARRY KASPAROV, the former world chess champion, took a pen and notebook and diagramed the protesters’ march through St. Petersburg on March 3. Like a general reliving a battle or a player analyzing a winning combination, he sketched Uprising Square and showed where the police had gathered in strength, blocking the street leading to the governor’s office. A tactical mistake! “This is typical for this government,” he explained. “They protect themselves.” As a result, only a few police officers guarded St. Petersburg’s main commercial street, Nevsky Prospekt. And that was where Mr. Kasparov and thousands of others — as many...

The Other Russia, a coalition of opposition groups, vowed Thursday that it would defy the authorities and press on with its March of Dissenters on Saturday. Moscow officials this month banned the march, which is meant to protest what opposition leaders describe as Russia's slide into the authoritarian abyss. United Civil Front leader Garry Kasparov blasted the city for trying to shut down the demonstration, citing federal law No. 54. "This is an absolute violation of our constitutional rights," Kasparov said. Kasparov, a former chess champion, spoke with other members of The Other Russia at a news conference at the...

<p>MOSCOW -- Law enforcement officers searched an opposition group's office in Moscow, an activist said.</p> <p>About 20 people who identified themselves as security and criminal police officers raided the office of the United Civil Front headed by former world chess champion turned fierce Kremlin critic Garry Kasparov, his aide, Marina Litvinovich, told The Associated Press.</p>

Report: Kasparov slams Russian authorities Tuesday, August 23, 2005 (Moscow): Former world chess champion and Kremlin foe Garry Kasparov was delayed while entering Russia over the weekend due to a technical problem in passport control. Kasparov, who has turned to politics and become an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, said he was held up for about a half-hour at Moscow's Domodedovo airport. He had suggested on Monday that authorities may have wanted to keep him out of Russia. "A failure in the technical control system caused a delay," Interfax quoted the news service of the Federal Security Service as...

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Peter Lavelle.) Garry Kasparov claims to have retired from chess, or simply quit, to take an active role in opposition politics. If Kasparov intends to lead or organize Russia’s liberals against the Kremlin in 2008, Russian liberalism – weak as it already is – may find itself facing extinction for a generation. Kasparov is the Kremlin’s greatest hope to sustain the current political status quo for years to come. It is hard to know whether to cry or laugh when thinking about Kasparov’s reawakened interest in politics. His comment that he will "do everything possible...

Garry Kasparov had nothing left to conquer. For two decades he reigned over international chess with the swagger of a Cossack and a memory that took on supercomputers. His peers vanquished and his patience worn thin by the politics of his game, the fiery, unpredictable chess legend yearned for a new arena. This year he found one. Announcing his retirement from professional chess in March, Kasparov threw himself headlong into Russian politics, undaunted by its tripwires or its steely overseer, President Vladimir Putin. In fact, Kasparov has made clear he sees Putin as his new archrival. Kasparov is virtually alone...

MOSCOW - Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion who quit to focus on political activities, on Monday accused Russian officials of interfering in his four-day trip to the troubled Caucasus region. Kasparov, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, told a news conference that officials conspired to prevent him from meeting with local residents and organized hooligans to throw eggs and tomatoes at him and his entourage. In one city, authorities denied permission for his chartered plane to land, he said. He lamented the continuing violence and endemic corruption that has plagued the region where war-torn Chechnya is located,...

Former world chess champion and chairman of the Committee 2008 Free Choice Garry Kasparov, speaking at a public meeting on Wednesday in Novosibirsk, announced the formation of the United Civil Front, which will be able to “dismantle the Putin regime.” According to Kasparov, the main task of the Front will be to “establish a free political arena in which normal elections can be held in 2008.” Marina Litvinovich told Kommersant that “in six months or a year, it will be clear whether that is a united democratic party.” As soon as he arrived in Novosibirsk, Kasparov held a press conference...

A noisy rally by supporters of Mikhail Khodorkovsky outside the court ended in a brawl Monday, with police detaining 28 people, including Yabloko deputy head Sergei Mitrokhin, and beating former chess champion Garry Kasparov with batons. About 300 people -- a mix of children, students, middle-aged adults and pensioners -- rallied outside the Meshchansky District Court at noon as judges inside started reading the verdict in the 11-month trial of Yukos founders Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev. Some boarded buses and trams and rode down the street outside the courthouse, waving flags from the windows and drawing loud cheers from the...

MOSCOW (AP) - Garry Kasparov, the world's former No. 1 chess player who quit the professional game last month to focus on politics, said Saturday he had been hit over the head with a chessboard in a politically motivated attack. Kasparov, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, was not injured Friday when he was hit with the chessboard after signing it for a young man at an event in Moscow. A spokeswoman for Kasparov, Marina Litvinovich, said the assailant told the chess champion: "I admired you as a chess player, but you gave that up for politics." She said...

Opposition plans to check Kremlin's master By Simon Tisdall LONDON: The decision by Garry Kasparov, the world's top chess player, to retire from the game and devote his talents to opposing Vladimir Putin will hardly induce the Kremlin's grandmaster to resign his position. But Mr Kasparov's move reflects broader, increasingly vocal discontent over the president's perceived descent into authoritarianism. The Putin paradox is that the more he tries to exert control, the more uncontrollable a changing Russia may ultimately prove to be. Mr Kasparov's assertion that the country "is heading down the wrong path" echoed the words of a more...

Garry Kasparov, the world's top chess player for two decades and considered by many the greatest player in history, has announced his retirement from professional chess in an ambitious gambit and vowed to devote his energy to battling what he called the "dictatorship" of President Vladimir Putin. Kasparov, 41, a former world champion who has been No. 1 in the rankings since 1984, made his announcement Thursday in Spain after winning the annual Linares chess tournament, one of the game's most prestigious events, on a tiebreak despite losing his final-round game to Bulgarian grandmaster Veselin Topalov. "Before this tournament I...

GARRY Kasparov, the chess world’s youngest-ever champion and undisputed king for the past two decades, made a stunning move shortly after winning a prestigious tournament in Spain: he retired from professional play. Kasparov yesterday said he had achieved all he wanted to in the game and was planning to turn his attention to politics. The announcement by the Russian grandmaster - the world’s No 1 ranked player since 1984 who is considered by some to be the best in the history of the game - came shortly after he won the 14-match Linares tournament in Spain. "Before this tournament...

MADRID (Reuters) - Former world champion Garry Kasparov has announced his retirement from competition chess, according to Spanish media reports. Kasparov, 41, announced his decision after winning a prestigious tournament in the southern Spanish town of Linares for the ninth time on Thursday, state radio said. Kasparov, a leading member of a Russian liberal grouping known as Committee 2008, plans to devote himself to politics and to writing books, the radio said. Tournament organisers could not immediately be reached to confirm the reports. "I will play chess, because I like it a lot, but not professionally. I may play...

Democratic reform in the former Soviet Union has been much in the news lately thanks to the victory of Viktor Yushchenko in Ukraine. Citizens took to the streets in the millions to protest and force a new election when his Kremlin-backed opponent tried to steal it the first time around. President George W. Bush came in dead last in the race to congratulate the new Ukrainian president. He waited for his "good friend" Vladimir Putin's own tardy acknowledgment that he had been unsuccessful in undermining Ukrainian democracy as effectively as he is dismantling Russia's. In Mr. Putin's view, Ukraine provides...

It didn't work with Adolph Hitler and it's not likely to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin either. That's the ominous warning of 1980s world chess champ Garry Kasparov. Writing in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal, Kasparov says as long as the West continues to support Putin as he moves towards reestablishing Soviet-era authoritarianism, the Russian leader is going to continue along that course. In 1936, the world thought that allowing Berlin to host the Olympics would placate a power-mad Hitler. As history shows, it didn't. Neville Chamberlain, Britain's prime minister at the time, also tried appeasement with Hitler. Chamberlain's reward...

The European and Russian governments are living in two different worlds "Business is politics in up-to-date Russia. The government controls all aspects of the nation's life and the commercial field is not an exception," the chairman of the committee "2008: Free Choice", Grand Master Garry Kasparov said on September 13th at the Baltic Forum of Development in Hamburg. Below you can find excerpts from the chess player's speech. "We must draw a distinction between the current Russian leadership and the citizens of Russia. The rich culture, creativity, the knowledge and humanity of our nation is still alive and means a...

It is said that to win a battle you must be the one to choose the battleground. Since the Abu Ghraib abuses were revealed, the battleground has been chosen by those who would blur the lines between terrorists and those fighting against them. The Bush administration has contributed to the confusion with its ambiguous "war on terror." You cannot fight a word. You need targets, you need to know what you are fighting for and against. Most importantly you must have beliefs that enable you to distinguish friend from foe. While al Qaeda may not have a headquarters to bomb,...

11.10.2003 On Tuesday Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger was elected California's new governor, replacing incumbent Grey Davis. The Austrian-born body builder and Hollywood action star (Terminator, Predator, Total Recall, Running Man, Conan) becomes the head of the world's fifth largest economy. So can you figure out why all of this is of interest on a chess newspage? You will never guess... Regular visitors to our site will know that Arnold Schwarzenegger is interested in chess – a few months ago we had an article on his involvement in the game. But did you know that "Arnie" is a good buddy of Garry...

"Kremlin Terrorists" by J. R. Nyquist It comes again. Another Russia-U.S. summit, another swindle by way of Kremlin “democracy”; led by KGB-democrat Vladimir Putin; financed by a capitalism based on KGB ownership of the means of production; celebrating freedom after the last independent television station has been shut down; demilitarized with its armored hordes momentarily parked behind the Urals, with hundreds of strategic missiles held past the agreed timetable of decommission; and there is more. Russia will be keeping us warm this winter, selling us the natural gas we need to keep our furnaces, water heaters and stoves lit. It...

<p>When Russia's President Vladimir Putin arrives at Camp David for next week's summit, President Bush will be welcoming the leader of a democratizing nation, a staunch ally in the U.S.-led war to defend the free world.</p> <p>Right?</p> <p>Wrong.</p> <p>The world view that designates Mr. Putin as America's democratic ally is part of the same fragmented U.S. foreign policy in which the Pentagon has emerged as the most efficient branch of government. That's not to fault the Pentagon, which in its ability to cover any significant task in remote quarters has proved ready and efficient. But where the State Department and National Security Council should be providing diplomatic coverage and a plausible strategic rationale -- which certainly does exist -- for the global "War on Terror," there has been failure. Instead of offering us a new vision of global development, on the scale of Winston Churchill's historic 1946 "Iron Curtain" speech, the current administration has reduced its foreign policy to a vehicle of crisis micro-management.</p>

LINARES, Spain -- On one side, the kid, dressed in black but baby-faced and fidgety. On the other, his opponent: the icy, scowling chess eminence Garry Kasparov. Against all odds, Teimour Radjabov, 15, beat Kasparov, the world's top-ranked player, although the teen did benefit from a Kasparov blunder as the champ looked poised to win. That duel of David and Goliath -- culminating in Kasparov's failure to shake Radjabov's hand afterward -- was a highlight of the Linares Chess Tournament, sometimes called the Wimbledon of chess.

The final game of the epic Man vs Machine match between Garry Kasparov and Deep Junior ended today in a 3-3 tie. With millions of TV viewers watching Kasparov came out fighting, but with the black pieces he was unable to gain enough to secure a clear win. A full report and pictures will follow. Here's the game. Game 6(Link not available yet.)

THE idea that chess-playing skill is a proxy for machine intelligence is not new. It goes back as far as 1770, when Wolfgang von Kempelen, a Hungarian inventor, unveiled a wooden, clockwork-powered mannekin at the court of Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria-Hungary. This machine, known as the Turk because of its exotic costume, could play chess, moving the pieces with a mechanical arm and defeating even the best human players. It was, of course, a trick—a hidden human operator controlled the automaton's movements—but some observers equated its chess prowess with intelligence. This notion was revived in the 1950s, when the...

A blunder cost chess legend Garry Kasparov the third game in a series of Man Vs. Machine champiosnhip games with the supercomputer 'Deep Junior.' 'I had a complete blackout,' Kasparov said after the contest. 'Despite Deep Junior having a great team and grandmaster trainers, I had great positions.' [to try and win the game]After sacrificing a pawn, Kasparov was left nearly crippled as Deep Junior capitalized on the mistake and prevented any possibility of being checkmated.Seeing few options to win, Kasparov resigned the game.The six game series is tied at 1 and one half games each. Kasparov won the first...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov broke a spell in his contests against computers on Tuesday when he drew the second game of his 6-game match in New York against world champion program Deep Junior. In Kasparov's epic struggles against the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue in 1996 and 1997, the winner of the second game went on to win the overall match. Kasparov faded after losing at this stage six years ago, troubled psychologically by analysis that showed he missed an opportunity to draw the game. "The whole plan worked, but because of this spell on game two,...

NEW YORK, Jan. 26 — World chess champion Garry Kasparov defeated computerized challenger Deep Junior on Sunday in the first of six games pitting human wit against computer logic.KASPAROV FORCED the Israeli-programmed Deep Junior into a position from which it could not win, compelling the human moving its pieces to resign four hours into the game. Both players’ queens, the most powerful pieces on the board, were captured by the end of the game, leaving them to use less powerful knights, bishops and rooks. That gave the advantage to Kasparov, who used white pieces and moved first. “Once he was...