Former chess champion Garry Kasparov is a wanted man in Russia

Some of the greatest figures in politics have been chess players. However, it’s not a usual move to have a globally-renown chess player getting involved in politics. But, in these times, everything is political. Just ask Garry Kasparov.

Russian state news agency TASS reports that a city court in the northwestern region of Komi has arrested in absentia former world chess champion and political dissident Garry Kasparov.

According to Russian media, Kasparov and three other politicians have been accused of setting up a terrorist organization, funding terrorism, and publicly justifying terrorist activities.

Along with Kasparov, the Russian court also names opposition politician and former lawmaker Gennady Gudkov, co-founder of the Free Russia Forum Ivan Tyutrin, and environmental activist Yevgenia Chirikova.

Pictured: Gennady Gudkov during a political rally in 2011

The website Chess explains that Kasparov and Gudkov founded the Free Russia Forum in 2016 as a conference for Russian opposition leaders set in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Back in March 2024, the former Russian chess champion was added to the Kremlin list of “terrorists and extremists”, which Kasparov called at the time an honor that said more about “Russia’s fascist regime”.

Kasparov, who lives in New York City, poked fun at the Russian court’s ruling on his X (formerly Twtter) account: “In absentia is definitely the best way I've ever been arrested! Good company, as well”.

“I'm sure we're all equally honored that Putin's terror state is spending time on this that would otherwise go persecuting and murdering”, the former chess champion added.

Kasparov was the world chess champion from 1985 to 2000. Among his most memorable moments is the time he played against the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue in 1996 and again in 1997.

However, since leaving chess in 2005, Kasparov has become well-known for being an outspoken critic of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

The former chess champion fled Russia in 2013 after mass protests shook the government of Vladimir Putin, and since has adopted Croatian citizenship.

Kasparov now serves as chairman of the Human Rights Foundation and is a major promoter of liberal democracy around the globe.

The former chess champion gave in 2021 an interview to The Guardian where he explained that leaving Russia didn’t mean that his fight against Putin was over. Far from it.

“Putin is not just a Russian imperialist. He has a much bigger agenda. He is an existential threat to the free world”, stated Kasparov in the 2021 interview with The Guardian.

“People need to recognise that Russia is a fascist dictatorship, which has no restrictions when it comes to destroying political opponents – in and outside – of Russia,” the former world chess champion told The Guardian.

However, in the checkerboard of world politics, nobody has managed to checkmate the white king of the Kremlin. Though, the war in Ukraine could be a potential draw.

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