On The Mark -- "Check," Russia

At first it seemed intriguing. Then I realized playing a game, even a sophisticated game like chess, is not the same thing as real life.

As reported in the LA Times recently, Garry Kasparov, the youngest chess champion in history who was also an undefeated chess champion for 10 years, is entering the game of politics in Russia. Yes, the same Kasparov who dueled to a 1-1 tie with the infamous IBM supercomputer, which has the capability of analyzing 50 billion potential moves in three minutes.

Now he’s identified his next opponent, Russian President Vladimir Putin. So far, Kasparov has only said that he wants to campaign to make sure Putin steps down in 2008 as the current constitution mandates. He fears, like many others, that Putin will re-work the constitution so that he can stay another term, or run the country behind the scenes for four years, then take over again in 2012.

He hasn’t said he actually wants to run for office, but he’s acknowledged that it’s a consideration. On the face of it, it seems that Kasparov would be a worthy opponent. He’s brilliant. Strategic. He’s made his country proud and thus has the general popularity of the people. He also could probably put together a very good campaign, particularly with his ability to be able to think “several moves” in advance.

Yet with the continuing disintegration of democracy in Russia, one has to wonder if Kasparov would actually have the opportunity to make some of those moves. Putin is not the type to wait around to knock over the King in defeat. As the former head of the KGB, he's been known to "think" ahead, too...