Russian matryoshka dolls featuring Barack Obama, Dmitry Medvedev, and Vladimir Putin Denis Sinyakov / ReutersFive years after Vladimir Putin became president of Russia for the first time and began to rebuild the Soviet police state, I experienced a rebirth of my own. In 2005, I retired from 20 years on top of the professional chess world to join the fledgling Russian pro-democracy movement. I had become world champion in 1985, at the age of 22, and had achieved everything I could want to achieve at the chessboard. I wanted my children to be able to grow up in a free …read more
Source: The Atlantic
