Pictures of the Moscow assault

by ChessBase
4/22/2005 – A week ago Garry Kasparov was attacked in Moscow, by a young man posing as a chess fan who wanted his chess board signed. Now it turns out that the incident was captured, by two cameras from different angles. Apparently some people may have known it was coming. Here are the pictures and Kasparov's commentary.

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The Russian news agency Federal Post has published pictures of the physical assault suffered by Garry Kasparov in Moscow on April 15. Kasparov himself comments on the attack on his web site Chesschamps.com.


The young man who had asked Kasparov to sign his chessboard says: "I loved you as a chess player, but you are wrong in your politics". While saying this he strikes Kasparov with the chessboard on the head.


Kasparov flinches after being hit by the chessboard


... and wrestles with his attacker. The chessboard is a brand new set with the pieces inside, making it a heavy and dangerous weapon.


The attack is captured by a second camera


The assailant is subdued and led out of the room

In his Chesschamps diary Kasparov says that the incident was clearly intended as a provocation, prepared in advance. He sites the fact that there were pictures taken from two vantage points. "People were ready to take these pictures. They knew the attack was coming. Nobody could catch the moment like that just by luck, not from two angles."

Kasparov does not know who planned and initiated the attack, but he is sure that such things do not happen by accident. "The Russian liberal press has no doubt it was a deliberate attack. It is an insult that it should happen in a country I have represented for so many years. It shows how bad the situation is in the country. I am not at all confident that the attacker will be seriously questioned or investigated properly."

About his first moves in the political arena Kasparov says wryly: "I think they were quite successful if I am already getting such attention from the Kremlin."


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