The government of Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin, who intends to remain in power for -at least- 36 years and beat the record of tsars and communists, has already eliminated several relevant opponents, including with missions abroad.
Alexei Navalni was the most recent case.
Now he has placed his sights on one of the most successful chess players in history, Garry Kasparov, who is living in exile in the United States.
On the eve of the new Russian “presidential elections” this week, Kasparov was included by the Kremlin on a list of “terrorists and extremists.”
Kasparov called that decision “an honor, which says more about Putin's fascist regime than it does about me.”
Shortly after and through social networks, he added: "Today would be a good day to add Russia, Putin and all their cronies to the list of state sponsors of terrorism."
Born 61 years ago in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, then in the USSR, he starred in a memorable duel in the 1980s with another star of the boards, Anatoly Karpov.
This, today located in another political career: he is a deputy for Putin's party (after a long militancy as a “darling” of the communist regime).
Kasparov was world champion between 1985 and 1993. In 2013 he left Russia and since then he has been denouncing Putin's regime and, recently, the invasion of Ukraine.
A few weeks ago, when Navalni's death in prison spread, Kasparov did not doubt: "Putin is the murderer."
Condemnation of the invasion
Among so many strange issues that happen today in international politics, one of the strangest is because supposed “progressives” endorse Putin's brutal aggression against Ukraine.
Despite the warmongering and xenophobic rhetoric of the Russian leader and his acolytes, and even his atomic threats, the “beautiful souls” do not worry.
Kasparov is clearer, since that night in February 2022 he warned about Putin's expansionist and bloodthirsty project.
The chess player recalled that in his book “Winter is Coming”, in 2015 and shortly after the invasion of Crimea, he anticipated this invasion.
“I listen to Putin, and I know that dictators, while lying about what they have done, very often tell us what they are going to do.
Just as Hitler's My Struggle served as a guide to the terrible crimes he committed, Putin was always very open about his ideas.
He always dreamed of restoring the Soviet Empire.
"It was he who said in 2005 that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the great catastrophe of the 20th century," Kasparov told Forbes.
And he added: “Putin will continue the war as long as he has the resources.
For this reason, he assures that the only way to end it is with the liberation and victory of Ukraine.
This is why we have to forget about negotiations;
to give a little to Ukraine, to leave Crimea controlled by international organizations.
"It annoys me to see that the free world continues to play, delaying the delivery of weapons that Ukraine needs to win the war."
The great rivalry
Kasparov was the son of an engineer, who died very young.
And it was his mother Klara, Armenian and also an engineer, who educated him and prepared him intensely when she noticed Garry's special talent for chess.
On November 9, 1985, at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, his dream was crowned: after a historic match, and after a final game extended for five hours, he defeated Karpov by 13 points to 11 and was crowned as the youngest world champion in history.
The Karpov-Kasparov duels for the world title constitute one of the most exciting chapters in the history of chess (something like a Nadal-Federer in tennis, Clay-Frazier in heavyweights or Poulidor-Anquetil in cycling, to name a few). other typical sports rivalries).
Between 1984 and 1990 they faced each other in five matches for the title, of which Kasparov won three, tied another and one more remained indefinite.
But their advantage was minimal: of the 144 games in which they faced each other - they lived together for 700 hours - Kasparov won 21 and Karpov 19, equaling the other 104.
Recognition
Despite their different political positions, and how those games were the fuel for more passion and confrontation, Kasparov has a reserved positive opinion of Karpov.
In 2005, Kasparov – already retired from competitions – turned to politics, even trying to compete against Putin with a party “The Other Russia” (which would suffer the same fate as any opponent).
Two years later, he was arrested at a dissident march on Pushkin Square and imprisoned for five days:
“They locked me in a cell for three people, measuring 3 x 5 meters.
The only thing I had was a bottle of water and a chocolate bar, nothing more.
But prison helped me meet my friends.
Karpov, with whom I had a hate relationship during our duels, was the only one who visited me, the one who asked me what I needed;
He even left me a chess magazine.
At this stage of my life I feel that I am indebted to him, not only because of his visit but because he created me.
Without Karpov, Kasparov would never have existed.”
Kasparov vs.
machine
Kasparov lives in a Manhattan apartment with Sasha Tarasova, his third wife, an economist who graduated from the University of Saint Petersburg.
The teacher has four children, from three different women, and a tumultuous romantic history.
He visited Argentina four times, for different exhibitions and it was always a chess event.
So were his matches with IBM's Deep Blue computer.
Kasparov won the first in 1996, in Philadelphia, but was unable to do so in the rematch the following year in New York: the algorithm had doubled his calculation capacity and speed.
In “Deep Thought,” one of his books, Kasparov revealed all the details of those games.