Putin foe Kasparov contrasts chess with Russian politics

World chess champion turned Kremlin foe Garry Kasparov on Thursday distilled his current experiences in Russia into an equation of chess and politics.

Kasparov, who was acquitted last week of holding an unsanctioned protest, offered the insight at a one-day leadership summit in Johannesburg also attended by British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

“When people ask me about how my chess experience helps me design strategy to do battle with my colleagues in Russia, I tell them the difference between chess and politics in President Vladimir Putin’s Russia is that in chess we have fixed rules and unpredictable results,” Kasparov said, quoted by the SAPA news agency.

“In Russia it is exactly the opposite,” he added.

Kasparov was detained earlier this month after attending a protest outside a Moscow court that sentenced Russian punk band Pussy Riot to prison for performing a “punk prayer” against Putin.

Though Kasparov was acquitted last week of holding an unsanctioned protest, he still risks jail for allegedly biting a policeman during the Pussy Riot trial.