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Interview - Chess master Kasparov takes on Russia's Putin

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  • Interview - Chess master Kasparov takes on Russia's Putin

    Reuters, UK
    July 4 2005

    INTERVIEW - Chess master Kasparov takes on Russia's Putin

    By Christian Lowe

    MOSCOW (Reuters) - In 20 years at the top of the chess world, he used
    his laser-like focus to destroy his rivals. Now Garry Kasparov is
    turning his fearsome brainpower on a new opponent -- Russian
    President Vladimir Putin.

    Four months after retiring from competitive chess, Russian native
    Kasparov has re-emerged as the leader of his own opposition political
    movement dedicated to destroying what he calls Putin's "growing
    dictatorship".


    Chess legend Gary Kasparov is seen wearing a pair of 'X3D' viewing
    glasses at a news conference in New York City in this November 2003
    file photo. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)
    "I don't think intellect harms you in politics," he said in the
    cramped office of his United Civil Front, flanked by brown paper
    parcels of anti-Putin leaflets.

    "I'm building a strategy," he said. "Today our goal is not to lose
    immediately. Not to get mated in one. Our goal is to survive."

    Kasparov, 42, is still ranked world chess number one and was
    undefeated world champion for 8 years in a row.

    But he has swapped the hushed auditoriums where he played chess for
    boisterous meetings with voters in the Russian provinces. At one, in
    North Ossetia last week, he had eggs hurled at him.

    Kasparov is unbowed. Like many in Russia, he believes Putin will try
    to stay on when his final term ends in 2008 -- the Kremlin denies any
    such plan -- and has set himself the task of mobilising people to
    stop that happening.

    "We want to unify all activists who believe the Putin regime is the
    greatest danger for Russia," he said. "We have to win. We have to
    make sure that in 2008 there is an open, fair contest. We have to
    restore democracy."

    PENDULUM SWINGS

    Kasparov says Putin's administration has stamped on political
    freedoms, swiped businesses from their rightful owners and failed to
    deliver on promises to transform living standards and end a
    separatist war in Chechnya.

    It is the standard liberal critique that to date has fallen on deaf
    ears -- with Russia's economy flooded with petrodollars and incomes
    at their highest for years, Putin is popular and the opposition is in
    disarray.

    But Kasparov says he has spotted a chink in his opponent's defence.

    "Putin was a president of hope ... But when the hope evaporates, the
    pendulum goes in the opposite direction and that's what is happening
    now," he said.

    "(Many people) don't believe this government is capable of bringing
    Russia into a better future."

    "So far, all this turbulence hasn't affected Putin ... But the trend
    cannot be guessed wrong," he said. "(It is) the radicalisation of
    Russian society."

    Kasparov said a revolution -- he described it as "showtime" -- could
    happen as early as next year.

    "Most of the crises that are getting hot now in Russia, they could
    explode," he said. "Nobody wants to see (this) in Russia but this is
    one of the scenarios."

    UNLIKELY PRESIDENT

    Kasparov said he is not interested, for now, in running for political
    office. Hunger strikes, protests and walkouts will be the favoured
    tactics of his group, not elections, he says.

    In any case, he makes an unlikely Russian president.

    His radical politics put him outside the mainstream and his
    Jewish-Armenian parentage may be a handicap in a country where
    parties with anti-Semitic and nationalist sympathies hold more than
    10 percent of the seats in parliament.

    Kasparov has not abandoned chess completely.

    He is working on two books about the sport and at night he takes on
    other players in online blitz chess games. "Of course, not under my
    real name," he said.

    But he says he does not miss the sport that gave him fame, wealth and
    unrivalled achievement.

    "I'm too busy," he said. "In my life I am happy and satisfied when my
    presence makes a difference."
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