Garry Kasparov

I am watching Question Time from Moscow, and it is worth pointing out what a remarkable man Garry Kasparov is. He has a strong claim to be called the strongest chess player ever: certainly, he dominated the game for two decades from the mid 1980s.

Now he has given chess up to enter Russian politics on the side of the angels. This article gives his account of that decision:

Russia is in a moment of crisis and every decent person must stand up and resist the rise of the Putin dictatorship. Russia boasts too many generals and colonels in politics and too few thinkers. (Even Russia's chess players are in decline, a symptom of the larger malady.) I hope my vision and ability to think strategically can be of help to my native land. We must act now to unite and to create real democratic opposition to the Putin regime. I can now offer not only my name and my advice, but my active participation.