National

Garry Kasparov, Carefully Planning His Next Moves

Published October 29, 2007 at 8:07 AM PDT

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

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Charismatic former chess champion Garry Kasparov has emerged as a leading opposition figure in Vladimir Putin's Russia. "Every election since Yeltsin's in 1996 has been rigged," he told a British newspaper earlier this year.

Always politically minded, chess master Garry Kasparov is now running for president of Russia. He's the leader of an opposition coalition known as The Other Russia. He's also published a new book, called How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom.

In the mid-1980s, Kasparov became the youngest ever world chess champion. He was the highest rated chess player in the world from 1985 to his retirement in 2005.

In that same year, Kasparov formed the United Civil Front party, with the mission of working to preserve electoral democracy in Russia.

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He has written several books on chess and contributes to The Wall Street Journal, Time magazine and Forbes.