Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparovis a Russian chess Grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, and political activist, considered by many to be the greatest chess player of all time. From 1986 until his retirement in 2005, Kasparov was ranked world No. 1 for 225 out of 228 months. His peak rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by Magnus Carlsen in 2013. Kasparov also holds records for consecutive professional tournament victoriesand Chess Oscars...
ProfessionChess Player
Date of Birth13 April 1963
CityBaku, Azerbaijan
When [Vladimir] Putin, a former lieutenant-colonel in the KGB, became Russia's president on December 31, 1999 - eight years after the failed coup attempt against (then Soviet leader Mikhail) Gorbachev, and eight years after the people had torn down the statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the hated founder of the KGB, in Moscow - it was admittedly a shock. Nevertheless, I decided to give Putin a chance. He seemed dynamic and capable of learning. But I had to bury my hopes after just a few months. He proved to be an autocrat - and, because the West let him do as he pleased, he became a dictator.
Moscow is simply unwilling to recognize the right of self-determination of nations.
There is no doubt that Putin is responsible for this crime, whether or not he gave the order to commit the murder [of Boris Nemtsov] himself. Putin created the conditions and atmosphere that have made this kind of thing possible.
The Kremlin is constantly changing the rules of the game to suit its purposes. We are not playing chess, we're playing roulette.
Things are currently the other way around in [Vladimir] Putin's realm. But it won't stay that way forever.
I'm not saying that George W. Bush did everything right. But even if you take a skeptical view of his Iraq war, [Barack] Obama made the more serious error of withdrawing his troops from Iraq early.
I now have Croatian citizenship, but I only accepted it because Croatia allowed me to keep my Russian passport.
I don't really like discussions about a supposed Russian national character.
Chess was natural for me; I was extremely successful.