Chessmaster Turns to Politics by Andrew Brooks

Throughout his brilliant professional chess career, Russian Garry Kasparov has involved himself in Soviet and Russian politics. Since his retirement in 2005 from the World Chess Federation, the former World Champion has stepped into the international spotlight. While his celebrity has come from his abilities in the game of chess and not from his political message, he stands to become an influential figure in Russia’s future. His arrest in April of this year has created controversy, bringing Russian human rights and free speech abuses to the fore of international news.

His accomplishments in chess are vast. After becoming a Grand Master at the age of only 17, he catapulted into highest circles of world chess, winning the title of World Champion five years later at the age of 22. The youngest World Champion in history, he also increased his rating to become the highest rated player in the world at the age of 23. He is the only player to have earned a rating higher than that of Bobby Fischer, chess champion in exile and American Cold War chess hero. This development came in 1990, and, though Kasparov left the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) later that year, was a point of Soviet pride in the final years before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Kasparov is also well-known for his victory in 1996 over Deep Blue, IBM’s super-computer chess machine, and subsequent loss to the smarter Deeper Blue in 1997. He lost the title of World Champion to fellow Russian Vladmir Kramnik in 2000, but kept his position as highest rated in the world until his retirement in 2005. He cited an inclination towards writing and Russian politics, which he saw as “misguided.”

Kasparov began his political participation in 1984, when he joined the CPSU. By 1987, he was elected to the Central Committee of the Komsomol, or “Communist Union of Youth.” Throughout the 1990s, Kasparov involved himself in the Russian democracy movement. After leaving the CPSU in 1990, he helped create the Democratic Party of Russia. Three years later, he helped create a coalition of parties advocating democracy, called the “Choice of Russia” bloc. In 1996, Kasparov campaigned for Boris Yeltsin, former Russian president.

While part of his record is pro-democratic, his more recent political involvement and overall political participation is mixed. His involvement with the “The Other Russia” coalition has drawn criticism from those who accuse the coalition of including parties like the National Bolshevik Party and the Workers’ Party, who oppose the democratically elected government. Other accusations assert that the coalition contains fascist, nationalist, and far-left elements. He has faced personal criticism and occasional violence for his political leanings, including eggs thrown by Putin supporters, and a blow to the head with a chessboard by a Russian who disagreed with him.

In Russian political circles, Kasparov has gained the title of gadfly during Russia’s post-Soviet period, and particularly during the years after his retirement from chess in 2005. Often followed by the Federal Security Service (FSB), Kasparov has noted that he is under suspicion of “extremist activity.” He once complained, “I don't even understand what the G8 means because the G7 stood for seven great democracies, which Russia is not.” In late 2006 and in March of 2007, he helped organize a string of demonstrations opposing President Putin and St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko’s policies. In mid-April he was arrested on his way to a rally in Moscow, briefly held by police, and fined the equivalent of approximately 40 US dollars. “Today, the mask came off the Putin police state,” he said. “They are violating the Constitution. It's obvious the regime is nervous and unstable if this is how they react to a nonviolent march.”

While Kasparov himself was not injured in the event, many others, some elderly, were beaten, arrested, and interrogated, drawing attention from all major international media. The event allowed Kasparov to use his celebrity to bring criticism of Putin’s policies affecting free speech and to win international legitimacy for Russia’s anti-Putin democracy movement. Kasparov has said that there is a national debate on democracy and free society and that he and those Russians who advocate democracy are winning. While Russian officials would like to keep Kasparov and his political allies muzzled, and have taken steps to do so, Kasparov has vowed to continue raising eyebrows.