Putin critic and chess champion Garry Kasparov wiped from Russian record book

A section about Garry Kasparov has been removed from a book commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Russian sports society Spartak. Evgeny Gik, the author of the section on Kasparov, said that the book’s editor couldn't say who exactly made this decision.

After news of the deletion was reported, Kasparov tweeted: “I suppose if Putin’s lackeys want to remove my name from every Soviet/Russian record book it will at least keep them busy for a long time!”

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the president of the World Chess Federation (FIDE), told radio station Govorit Moskva that the decision to remove information about Kasparov from the book is unjust. “If he was in the book, and then he was removed, this is unjust. If [this happened] for political reasons, that’s wrong,” said Ilyumzhinov. 

“‘He was deleted at the very last moment,’ the editor told me in an apologetic tone. ‘But it’s unclear who did this. I didn’t expect it. Someone at the very top made the effort.’”

Garry Kasparov is a renowned Russian chess Grandmaster and former World Chess Champion. He retired from chess in 2005. He is also a political activist and prominent Putin critic. He has organized numerous anti-Putin protests in Russia, and now lives abroad, mostly in New York.