Garry Kasparov

Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, in the USSR in 1963, Garry Kasparov became the youngest world chess champion in history in 1985. Speaking out against the Soviet Communist regime accustomed him at an early age to being in political hot water. In 2005, still ranked #1, he retired to form the Russian pro-democracy opposition against the rising dictatorship of Vladimir Putin. Facing imminent arrest during Putin’s crackdown, Kasparov moved from Moscow to New York City in 2013.

In 2016, he launched the Free Russia Forum to unite fellow exiles to plan and demand change, and in 2022, the Russian Anti-War Committee. In 2017, he founded the Renew Democracy Initiative in New York, dedicated to promoting the principles of the free world at home and fighting authoritarianism abroad. Kasparov later co-founded the World Liberty Congress, which unites dissidents to fight against authoritarian regimes. The Kasparov Chess Foundation sponsors chess education and many of the world’s top young talents.