Chess great Kasparov doesn't regret leaving game

NEW YORK — Russian chess luminary Garry Kasparov said Monday that he doesn't regret trading the game for politics.

"I just did what I believe is right for my country," the former world champion told The Associated Press at a fundraiser for his former opponent Anatoly Karpov, a fellow Russian who is running for president of the World Chess Federation.

The two men waged one of the sporting world's greatest rivalries between 1984 and 1990 when they met five times for the world championship. One title match lasted five months and eventually was halted on grounds that both were exhausted.

Kasparov said he hopes to help Karpov put chess back on the front pages of newspapers around the country and that he believes the game can help restore political order to Russia.

Karpov won Russia's nomination over current federation president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. The election will take place in September in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.

"It's fighting the corrupt international body," Kasparov said. "Creating new rules for engagement for chess, it will be helpful as well for bringing democracy to my country."

Kasparov is considered by some to have been the best player in chess history. He retired from top-level professional play in 2005 to become a political activist. He is a vocal critic of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the leader of an opposition group called the United Civil Front.

"It's too long for my country," Kasparov said of Putin's tenure in office, first as president and now as prime minister. "But it will not be as long as everyone believes. I know we can bring change to the government."

In March, Kasparov helped publicize an Internet petition calling for Putin's resignation. He said the petition would help turn widespread discontent with Putin's rule into large-scale demonstrations demanding he step down.

So far, that hasn't happened. And public opinion polls suggest Putin remains popular despite a recent wave of anti-government rallies.

Some say Putin's chosen successor, President Dmitry Medvedev, is diverging from Putin, but Kasparov says there is no evidence of that.

"It's just wishful thinking," he said. "We have a joke in Russia ... there are two political parties, the problem is Medvedev doesn't know which party he belongs to."

Still, Kasparov says he remains hopeful he can effect change.

"In chess, you have patience and watch until you see the right move," he said. "It's like that with politics, too."