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He did it again: the former world champion and leader of the Russian opposition has appeared on yet another prime time American TV show. After Colbert and Maher, this time Kasparov argues with CNN's Wolf Blitzer about Russian politics under the regime of the president Vladimir Putin. Late Edition can be seen all over the world – in case you missed it here are transcripts and a podcast. Kasparov vs Wolf Blitzer on CNN's Late Edition It is the third time in a week that the former world chess champion and current opposition leader in Russia has appeared on a...

Kasparov on Maher – checkmate in two 20.10.2007 – Bill Maher is a colorful, eloquent and witty talkshow host, a comedian who has very high ratings and a dedicated following. Maher also tends to dominated his guests with his superior intellect and verbal skills. But his encounter with Garry Kasparov ended in a double checkmate for the former world chess champion. It was an impressive display in a tough talk show. Good stuff, must watch.  

Kasparov Wins Opposition Primaries In Russia 27.09.2007 – The Moscow branch of the Other Russia opposition party Monday chose former world chess champion Garry Kasparov as candidate for the 2008 presidential elections. Kasparov garnered 66 of a possible 113 votes at the all-important Moscow primary, defeating ex-premier Mikhail Kasyanov. In addition to many international reports there is a remarkable 12-page (!) story in the New Yorker [Letter From Moscow: "THE TSAR’S OPPONENT — Garry Kasparov Takes Aim at the Power of Vladimir Putin" by David Remnick].

MURMANSK, Russia - Heavy sedatives keep Larisa Arap languishing in a woozy haze at a mental asylum, the victim not of a troubled mind, her family says, but of a Soviet-era practice that continues to muzzle and punish dissent in today's Russia. Earlier this summer, Arap, an activist with former chess champion Garry Kasparov's opposition movement, co-wrote an article that alleged abusive practices at local psychiatric clinics. When Arap appeared at a Murmansk clinic to pick up a routine medical certificate July 5, a doctor called police and had her taken to a local asylum. The doctors handling Arap's case...

Kremlin blocks chess master from attending EU summit Last updated at 12:43pm on 18th May 2007 Moscow airport police stopped Russian anti-Kremlin activist and chess champion Garry Kasparov and other opposition leaders boarding a flight to Samara near an EU summit where they had hoped to lead a protest today. Russia and the European Union clashed over a string of issues at the summit today, showing moves towards closer ties have stumbled. The EU firmly took the side of its members Poland, Lithuania and Estonia in their separate rows with Moscow, which once dominated them, over trade and a war...

Excerpt - MOSCOW. May 17 (Interfax) - Former chairman of the Russian Central Bank Viktor Gerashchenko is ready to work with the Other Russia as a possible opposition candidate in the upcoming presidential elections, United Civil Front leader Garri Kasparov told a Moscow press conference in Moscow. "We certainly welcome the readiness of such an important person, who has such a serious biography, to become the opposition candidate in the Russian presidential elections. As far as I understand, he discussed the issue with representatives of various political forces, including me. I was not surprised by his statement," he said. ~...

MOSCOW, April 17 (RIA Novosti) - Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, now head of a socioeconomic and political think tank, said opposition marches in Russia only undermined stability in the country. Opposition protests, March of Dissent, were held in Russia's two largest cities over the weekend. Rights groups, oppositionists and journalists have accused Russian police of abusing their power in dispersing the unsanctioned opposition demonstrations. A total of 250 and 170 people were detained respectively. "Somebody wants to complicate the situation in the country and push for instability," Gorbachev told a RIA Novosti news conference. "We must learn our lesson, and...

MOSCOW, April 14 — Garry Kasparov, the former chess champion turned opposition politician in Russia, was arrested with nearly 200 other protesters during a rally in Moscow on Saturday that ended in clashes with riot troops. The rally, the third so-called Dissenters’ March held by a loose antigovernment coalition known as Other Russia, was noteworthy because authorities aggressively pursued the organizers, including President Vladimir V. Putin’s former prime minister, Mikhail M. Kasyanov, whom the police jostled but did not arrest. The rally was principally supported by Mr. Kasyanov and Mr. Kasparov, who leads a group here called the United Civil...

Police have arrested Russian opposition leader Garry Kasparov at a banned anti-Kremlin rally in central Moscow. He was detained during a huge security operation to prevent opponents of President Putin gathering at Pushkin Square. The former chess champion leads the United Civil Front group, part of the opposition coalition Other Russia. It accuses President Putin's regime of trampling on democracy. The Kremlin says Other Russia destabilises Russia. Mr Kasparov was seen inside a police van waving and smiling at gathered media after his arrest, the Associated Press said. Reports say dozens of other opposition activists were arrested, as well...

GARRY KASPAROV, the former world chess champion, took a pen and notebook and diagramed the protesters’ march through St. Petersburg on March 3. Like a general reliving a battle or a player analyzing a winning combination, he sketched Uprising Square and showed where the police had gathered in strength, blocking the street leading to the governor’s office. A tactical mistake! “This is typical for this government,” he explained. “They protect themselves.” As a result, only a few police officers guarded St. Petersburg’s main commercial street, Nevsky Prospekt. And that was where Mr. Kasparov and thousands of others — as many...

The Other Russia, a coalition of opposition groups, vowed Thursday that it would defy the authorities and press on with its March of Dissenters on Saturday. Moscow officials this month banned the march, which is meant to protest what opposition leaders describe as Russia's slide into the authoritarian abyss. United Civil Front leader Garry Kasparov blasted the city for trying to shut down the demonstration, citing federal law No. 54. "This is an absolute violation of our constitutional rights," Kasparov said. Kasparov, a former chess champion, spoke with other members of The Other Russia at a news conference at the...

<p>MOSCOW -- Law enforcement officers searched an opposition group's office in Moscow, an activist said.</p> <p>About 20 people who identified themselves as security and criminal police officers raided the office of the United Civil Front headed by former world chess champion turned fierce Kremlin critic Garry Kasparov, his aide, Marina Litvinovich, told The Associated Press.</p>

Report: Kasparov slams Russian authorities Tuesday, August 23, 2005 (Moscow): Former world chess champion and Kremlin foe Garry Kasparov was delayed while entering Russia over the weekend due to a technical problem in passport control. Kasparov, who has turned to politics and become an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, said he was held up for about a half-hour at Moscow's Domodedovo airport. He had suggested on Monday that authorities may have wanted to keep him out of Russia. "A failure in the technical control system caused a delay," Interfax quoted the news service of the Federal Security Service as...

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Peter Lavelle.) Garry Kasparov claims to have retired from chess, or simply quit, to take an active role in opposition politics. If Kasparov intends to lead or organize Russia’s liberals against the Kremlin in 2008, Russian liberalism – weak as it already is – may find itself facing extinction for a generation. Kasparov is the Kremlin’s greatest hope to sustain the current political status quo for years to come. It is hard to know whether to cry or laugh when thinking about Kasparov’s reawakened interest in politics. His comment that he will "do everything possible...

Garry Kasparov had nothing left to conquer. For two decades he reigned over international chess with the swagger of a Cossack and a memory that took on supercomputers. His peers vanquished and his patience worn thin by the politics of his game, the fiery, unpredictable chess legend yearned for a new arena. This year he found one. Announcing his retirement from professional chess in March, Kasparov threw himself headlong into Russian politics, undaunted by its tripwires or its steely overseer, President Vladimir Putin. In fact, Kasparov has made clear he sees Putin as his new archrival. Kasparov is virtually alone...

MOSCOW - Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion who quit to focus on political activities, on Monday accused Russian officials of interfering in his four-day trip to the troubled Caucasus region. Kasparov, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, told a news conference that officials conspired to prevent him from meeting with local residents and organized hooligans to throw eggs and tomatoes at him and his entourage. In one city, authorities denied permission for his chartered plane to land, he said. He lamented the continuing violence and endemic corruption that has plagued the region where war-torn Chechnya is located,...

Former world chess champion and chairman of the Committee 2008 Free Choice Garry Kasparov, speaking at a public meeting on Wednesday in Novosibirsk, announced the formation of the United Civil Front, which will be able to “dismantle the Putin regime.” According to Kasparov, the main task of the Front will be to “establish a free political arena in which normal elections can be held in 2008.” Marina Litvinovich told Kommersant that “in six months or a year, it will be clear whether that is a united democratic party.” As soon as he arrived in Novosibirsk, Kasparov held a press conference...

A noisy rally by supporters of Mikhail Khodorkovsky outside the court ended in a brawl Monday, with police detaining 28 people, including Yabloko deputy head Sergei Mitrokhin, and beating former chess champion Garry Kasparov with batons. About 300 people -- a mix of children, students, middle-aged adults and pensioners -- rallied outside the Meshchansky District Court at noon as judges inside started reading the verdict in the 11-month trial of Yukos founders Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev. Some boarded buses and trams and rode down the street outside the courthouse, waving flags from the windows and drawing loud cheers from the...

MOSCOW (AP) - Garry Kasparov, the world's former No. 1 chess player who quit the professional game last month to focus on politics, said Saturday he had been hit over the head with a chessboard in a politically motivated attack. Kasparov, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, was not injured Friday when he was hit with the chessboard after signing it for a young man at an event in Moscow. A spokeswoman for Kasparov, Marina Litvinovich, said the assailant told the chess champion: "I admired you as a chess player, but you gave that up for politics." She said...

Opposition plans to check Kremlin's master By Simon Tisdall LONDON: The decision by Garry Kasparov, the world's top chess player, to retire from the game and devote his talents to opposing Vladimir Putin will hardly induce the Kremlin's grandmaster to resign his position. But Mr Kasparov's move reflects broader, increasingly vocal discontent over the president's perceived descent into authoritarianism. The Putin paradox is that the more he tries to exert control, the more uncontrollable a changing Russia may ultimately prove to be. Mr Kasparov's assertion that the country "is heading down the wrong path" echoed the words of a more...