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Headline:

The master who won't be Putin's pawn

Synopsis:

The chess prodigy honoured by the Soviet Union now combines his Western lecture tours with vociferous opposition to the Kremlin regime.

Garry Kasparov was involved in some epic clashes during his time as the world's leading chess player, but of late, he's picked an opponent that he seems most unlikely to defeat: Vladimir Putin. Revered in Russia as a chess legend, he has become persona non grata by dint of his withering attacks on the country's leader, who he says has perpetrated "the greatest robbery in the history of the human race" by dividing the proceeds of Russia's wealth among his cronies.

Kasparov lives in a quiet and pleasant area of central Moscow. I am escorted up to his apartment by a bodyguard and received by his mother, Klara, who eyes me with some distrust. I wait for Kasparov in the spacious living room of the apartment, which is done out in a style best described as late-Soviet opulence. With glass chandeliers and ornate mahogany cabinets overflowing with crystal and china ornaments, it's how I imagine the apartment of a 1970s politburo bigwig might have looked.

Publish date:

16 November 2008

Author:

Shaun Walker

Source:

Independent on Sunday

Media:

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