Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov is a Russian political activist, chess grandmaster, and current chairman of the Human Rights Foundation. He is the author of Winter Is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped and has been a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal and other publications. Kasparov is also the founder of the Renew Democracy Initiative, a political organization promoting and defending liberal democracy in the U.S. and abroad.

Born in Baku, the capital of the Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, Kasparov became the youngest ever World Chess Champion in 1985 at age 22. He later began advocating for democratic reform in Russia, including supporting the Democratic Party of Russia and Boris Yeltsin, founding the United Civil Front, and joining The Other Russia, a coalition opposing the administration of Vladamir Putin. Kasparov left Russia in 2013 out of fear of persecution, moving first to New York and later Croatia, where he now maintains citizenship.

Articles by this Author

We Must Never Surrender, Spring 2022 | Vol. 67, No. 2

For nearly three decades, the author has warned that, if we ignored Putin's ambitions, he would become a global problem.

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