Garry Kasparov has long been accustomed to hovering easily above his human opponents at a board game that he felt perhaps, was designed for him. Hardly did he play an egregiously bad move in the hundreds of chess games which he contested. Having conquered all, and lifted the holy grail of chess ‒ the world championship title ‒ and defended it a number of times, Kasparov retired from the ancient game in 2005. But he did not retire into obscurity. Kasparov set himself surmountable tasks and aired his views on matters which he believed to be necessary. He created the eminently successful Kasparov Foundation, where he is promoting chess in education; he became one of the more prominent opposition voices in his homeland of Russia, and is the current Chairman of the New York based Human Rights Foundation. The former world chess champion continues to be a man of many parts. For example, I listened as he was being interviewed by the BBC on television a few nights ago, and no questions were asked about his involvement in chess whatsoever! The interviewer sought answers to other current issues which are impacting on Kasparov’s life.
Now Kasparov is immersing himself in a mega-political challenge when he announced his candidacy for the presidency