Russian Mayor Walks Into Chess Master’s Trap

The New York Times
April 27, 2009

By ELLEN BARRY

SOCHI, Russia – For all the intrigue that had surrounded the mayoral
elections in Sochi, Acting Mayor Anatoly N. Pakhomov managed to avoid
confronting his critics – or even acknowledging their existence ‘
until Friday, when he was outfoxed by a grandmaster.

Mr. Pakhomov, who has the support of the Kremlin, appeared to sail to
victory in Sunday’s election and would lead the city during the 2014
Winter Olympics here. With little time left in the campaign, he
attended a ceremony on Friday in a village near Sochi commemorating
the Armenian genocide during World War I, a crucial gesture to the
city’s large Armenian population. He delivered a short address that
was respectful, if a bit wooden, and then stepped back to polite
clapping, making room for a row of schoolgirls to recite verses that
they had memorized.

But an animated gray-haired man had edged his way alongside the
podium, and then he stepped onto it, sending whispers through the
crowd. It was Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion, who was
in Sochi promoting the campaign of Mr. Pakhomov’s archrival, Boris
Y. Nemtsov.

Mr. Kasparov, born to an Armenian mother, had been sitting quietly,
signing autographs, for nearly two hours. He was mobbed by admirers,
men in their 40s and 50s who had loved him since childhood. When an
organizer for Mr. Pakhomov’s United Russia Party tried to get
Mr. Kasparov removed from the premises, saying his presence amounted
to political campaigning, the head of the village’s administration
glowered and snapped, `He is my idol!’

Mr. Kasparov’s remarks began innocently enough. He made an offhand
mention of Mr. Nemtsov, so subtle that it was easy to miss. Then he
began to sling arrows at Moscow, saying Soviet Russia had supported
Turkey at the time of the massacres.

Mr. Pakhomov, standing behind him on the podium, looked as if he had
eaten a lemon.

Two minutes and 33 seconds into Mr. Kasparov’s speech, a local
official stepped forward and said his time was up. Mr. Kasparov turned
to the crowd with an incredulous look.

`What’s happening?’ he said loudly. `I cannot speak? Maybe it’s better
to be silent?’

They shouted `No!’ and erupted into applause. He went on, at leisure,
to criticize the rise of racist violence in Russia, saying that
`genocide doesn’t just appear out of nowhere, and to put it mildly the
government is doing very little to stop this debauch of nationalism.’
He said Moscow had prevented generations of Armenians from connecting
with their roots, and then he went further.

`The authorities are the source of problems,’ he said. `The K.G.B. was
behind the Armenian pogroms in Baku. The K.G.B. set nations against
each other. We should never give in to these provocations.’ He
finished up – `I love you, and we are one family’ – and the crowd
applauded long and hard.

In the audience, Vartyan S. Mardirosyan, a lawyer, was chuckling
delightedly at the spectacle. He said the authorities in Sochi had
cracked down so hard on dissent that it reminded him of Soviet times,
when people were too afraid to express their political opinions
outside their own kitchens. The ceremony had been an `undeclared
competition,’ said Mr. Mardirosyan, 68, with Mr. Kasparov both the
underdog and the undisputed winner.

He began walking home, a broad smile plastered on his face.

`He didn’t just play chess,’ Mr. Mardirosyan said. `That was a
checkmate.’

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