Chess champion and vocal opponent of Putin's Russia talks to 'Post'

The world of chess, the sport of the mind, may be enigmatic to mortals who might not have more than a rudimentary knowledge of the game.

Those more proficient in it will be able to marvel at the feats and abilities of the best exponents of the Game of Kings, although most of the pursuit’s personalities are largely anonymous to the vast majority of the public.

An exception to this rule over the past 35 years has been Garry Kasparov, the Russian grand master who swept the boards when he was at his best in the period 1985-2000 when he was unbeatable. 

But for the general public, he was probably most famous in defeat, when he was beaten by an artificial opponent, the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue, in 1997. It was the first time that a machine had managed to pose a challenge too daunting for the best player in the world.

Kasparov was involved in developing the innovation that led to his memorable undoing. But it was an inevitable advancement of technology that has since progressed in quantum leaps, putting computers on a chess-playing level that no human can match.

Kasparov visited Israel earlier this month to receive an honorary degree from the Weizmann Institute of Science and talked about his past experiences as a chess player, his help in promoting artificial intelligence (AI), and, most of all, his forceful opinions about his native Russia led by Vladimir Putin, and its brutal onslaught in Ukraine.

“I do presentations based on my experience and my qualified experience as the first knowledge worker whose job was threatened by AI,” Kasparov said in an extensive interview with The Jerusalem Post.

During his visit, Kasparov also met with colleagues at IMPROVATE, a platform based in Herzliya and London that connects Israeli innovation companies to firms that specialize in cyber, AI, homeland security, and defense around the world. Kasparov is an IMPROVATE board member, and he avails himself to consult with the firm’s clients. 

He expressed his support for Israeli firms keeping business going during wartime.

Technology in the wrong hands

Kasparov warned of the dangers that some technologies, AI notwithstanding, can have on the world, although the problem is not the machines, it’s the people who control them.

“We should not escape the fact that AI is a technology that can be damaging. Lord Byron was [one of] the first to warn of the dangers that machines can have on society, in a speech in the House of Lords in 1812, fearing that they might threaten jobs and ruin lives. He eloquently described the horrors and evils that machines might bring.”

The bad actors who usurp the technology that has been developed for the benefit of society are the ones who must be confronted, but they are nevertheless at a disadvantage. Fantastical, fictional scenarios of gloom and doom should not strike too much fear into people, Kasparov said reassuringly.

“Technology in the hands of those who prefer to destroy rather than to build is a dangerous weapon. The free world no longer has a luxury of being separated from the unfree world by a Berlin Wall. Real or imaginary, there is no Iron Curtain anymore,” he said.

“AI is not just a machine that makes us stronger or faster. It is something that somehow challenges our sacred domain of cognitive functions, but it’s still only a technology. The danger doesn’t come from machines and we should not take heed of dystopian Hollywood movies and be skeptical of the doomsayers. It’s an easy sell to tell the public that the end is just around the corner.”

Nevertheless, all is not good in computerland, and bad people will always unscrupulously plot and seek to gain an advantage over the unsuspecting innocents.

“The great danger comes from the bad actors who can control the technology. Humans still have a monopoly over evil, and the real challenge is that modern technology that spreads around the world at light speed can [cause havoc].

“Parts of the human race live in countries that are not democratic and some are even totalitarian. The spread of evil does not stop at their borders anymore and is easily transferred to [free-thinking] countries; that’s a problem.

“The dramatic shift is from the days when states could decide the fate of the human race to now, when it can be done by millions of people who can interfere, and quasi-state actors or small groups who can [influence lives].”

Rooting out and putting obstacles in the way of those who wish to manipulate modern technology is a key task for modern innovators. On the positive side, Kasparov mitigates his warning by saying that the free world has the upper hand.

“All the tools invented in the free world are available everywhere. Suddenly you have a situation where people who come from societies based on social structures from the 15th and 16th centuries have tools from the 20th and 21st centuries that they can manipulate to control their countries. 

Access to this technology makes them much more dangerous.

“This is the price of globalization. If we want to raise living standards, we cannot stop the flow of goods and technology. The good news is that the free world is still way ahead. The other side cannot invent these tools.”

The free world is approaching a watershed moment where it will have to return to the old ways of resolving crises, fight and win the good fight, or be condemned to a far less friendly, free and accommodating existence.

“Undemocratic systems cannot make contributions to the development of humanity in the same way that democracies can. That’s the good news, but the bad news is that we still have to live on the same planet [as the bad guys].

“Because of the raising of our living standards, we have become soft. I come from a country where we learned to be tough. We don’t have to be told about the brutalities of communism or fascism, but the majority of people who have been born into the free world, in the USA and in Europe, are no longer willing to fight. They think that you can negotiate your way out of a crisis. They don’t understand that we are in the midst of a war, and it has to be won, or lost.”

Promotion to ‘terrorist’

Kasparov, who had to leave Russia and moved to New York with his family, has recently been “upgraded” as an enemy of Russia.

“I am a terrorist in Russia; I have graduated from ‘foreign agent’ to ‘extremist,’ and now I am a ‘terrorist.’

“Many of my colleagues are ‘terrorists.’ I have been arrested in absentia. I suspect there is a warrant for my arrest. Some of my colleagues have been convicted in absentia. We believe that the [Putin] regime has to be overthrown because it hurts our country, as well as the world.”

Kasparov guards his safety, and his traveling options are now restricted to a much smaller group of countries, compared to a previous reach spanning about 100 countries.

“I try to take elementary precautions, and when I attend public events, I have bodyguards. In New York I look after myself. I traveled around the world, but now it has been limited to about a dozen because of the safety issues.”

Kasparov visited Poland and Romania before arriving in Israel.As a strong advocate for arming Ukraine with American weapons, Kasparov cited the many stockpiles of old weapons “collecting dust in the deserts of California and Arizona” that were built in order to fight the Russians, collecting dust and waiting for their decommissioning to make way for new weapons that will replace them in storage.

He said those old weapons that the Americans will probably never use could easily be sent to Ukraine to help them fight Russian invaders.

Kasparov thinks that Americans have been wary of providing weapons to the Ukrainians, fearing that they could fall into the hands of the Russians. 

Before the war began, they abandoned billions of dollars’ worth of military hardware in Afghanistan that is now in the hands of the same bad actors. 

They will reverse-engineer them to create devices with even more destructive power than they might otherwise develop since they don’t have access to the latest Western technology.

The way Kasparov sees it, the Russia-Ukraine war could be a fight to the death, although if Putin runs out of money, the fighting might grind to a halt within a couple of years.

“For Putin, there is no way back. War is the only justification for [him] staying in power, and this is the rule that spreads to his cronies.”

He also warned that Putin should be taken at his word. Dictators always lie about what they have done, but they are truthful about what they are going to do.

“This war can end with only two results: either Ukraine ceases to exist, or Putin’s regime collapses. That’s it. In Putin’s own words, this is a war of extermination. He, of course, is referring to Ukraine, but as long as Ukraine is fighting, you can also expect the opposite result, which is not inconceivable.”

Kasparov then commented on Russia’s economic situation.

“Of course, Russia has the resources to continue fighting, but I would not give the war more than two years. On the surface, Russia’s economy looks good, but it’s because of military funding that keeps GDP afloat. They can still overcome limitations, as the West was not willing to impose sanctions that would really hurt Russia’s cash flow, and oil exports are still creating revenue.”

For the West, there was the same stark message: a softly-softly approach will not cut it with the bad guys.

“Dreaming that you can negotiate your way out of this war is utter stupidity, and it shows that the people in charge of the free world today have no understanding of what they are dealing with.

“The leaders of the free world today find it much more beneficial to do business with bad guys, but at some point there is a price to pay. You could let Ukraine die, but the following day, Putin will be [directly] challenging NATO countries.”

Weak candidates

Kasparov holds the current candidates for the US presidency (Joe Biden and Donald Trump) in low esteem and remembers a different age when there was a much clearer distinction between the West and the Eastern blocs.

“Americans are going to have to choose between two candidates for the leadership of the free world who are probably the most inappropriate in living memory. Neither of them deserves to be there.

“In the Soviet Union, where I grew up, America was always there. Love it or hate it, but it always projected strength and integrity. These two candidates project weakness and corruption. They [Biden and Trump] are not an encouraging combination, and that’s why we can see the dramatic rise of the bad actors because there is never a vacuum in world politics. If America walks away, if the free world is in retreat, it won’t stay empty. We know who will take its place.”

Kasparov also draws parallels between the Russia-Ukraine war and Israel’s battle with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in the North.

“You are dealing with entities that cannot function without attacking Israel. As long as Iran is ruled by the ayatollahs, the Middle East will not have peace. Without a change of regime in Moscow and Tehran, there will not be peace.

“You have to finish the job. This US administration wants to find a middle ground, but to me this is disastrous.

“I’m not a big fan of Benjamin Netanyahu, and that’s an understatement, but he’s the democratically elected leader of the only democracy in the region, while on the other side, you have bandits and terrorists who must be pushed back.”

Diverting attention

Although he did not provide any firm evidence, Kasparov said there was no way Hamas could have built the Gaza tunnel network without the help of experts, the likes of whom are found in Russia but hardly anywhere else.

He also surmised that the timing of the October 7 attack by Hamas terrorists against Israel was conveniently timed by Putin to divert attention from the war in Ukraine. It [the Oct. 7 attack] fit in perfectly with his perception of Putin as “calculating and manipulative.”

“Hamas’s tunnels are not simple; the [terrorists] are living in safety. There is only one country that can plan hundreds of miles of tunnels, and you need professionals for that, you need proper engineers to build a subway city.

“Putin diverted attention from the war in Ukraine; he is the main beneficiary of the October 7 attack,” Kasparov said.

“The way that the attack was carried out forced Israel into a response, and as such, it took the spotlight off the Ukraine war.”

Again, Kasparov provided no evidence for his suspicions.

Chess and the future

As a proponent in the use of technology to further learning through chess, Kasparov believes that education is lagging behind in its adoption of modern teaching methods.

“The fundamental challenge for modern education is that while a teacher was once the center of authority and knowledge in the classroom, this is no longer the case. Now, with the touch of a finger, children can get more knowledge in a minute [from their phones or computers] than a teacher can give them in a year.

“It’s about application, and our system is slow to adapt, so I am advocating for chess as a vehicle to tease the minds of young players and adapt to unexpected situations [as a vehicle to deal with real-life situations].

“At the elite level, the progression of chess over the decades is not the same as the progression of athletic records,” Kasparov explains.

“The chessboard is the same today as it has been for centuries, while athletes train with better equipment, shoes, running tracks, and better nutrition that give them the ability to further human physical achievement.“It’s about the ability of top chess players to be able to retain information and knowledge built up by past great players.

“Comparing [current world chess No. 1] Magnus Carlson of 2019 to Garry Kasparov of 1989 is not a fair comparison. Magnus is better equipped with modern computers and theory at his disposal, so he’s the next generation of players.

“[You can’t] compare that to [Cuban world champion José Raúl] Capablanca of 1936, who knew almost nothing compared to modern standards. Although he had the talent, and he knew to put the pieces in the right position, it’s still very challenging.

“I think I could have done very well if you had transported me from 1989 to the modern day and given me some time. But I was a pioneer of my days, and I was completely dominant from 1989 to the turn of the century. I can still manage to do things well to a certain point, but I find that the concentration is not there [in the same way].

“You should compare people to their contribution to chess. Bobby Fischer of 1972 had phenomenal results, but today, even a 10-year-old knows more about chess than Fischer. Computers have changed everything.

“There are so many theories and methods today compared to the past.”Kasparov considered Carlson as possessing a combination of skills (in tennis terms) of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal – incredible innovative talent and unending grit and determination.

“Magnus’s ability is his determination and consistency to [always] find a way to win. Machines are much better than humans, but it’s preferable to watch people play, just like watching the fastest in the world run in an Olympic track race.”