In Vladimir Putin's Russia, chess playing is a very dangerous sport

World chess champion, and political opponent of Vladimir Putin, Gary Kasparov has fled Russia in fear for his life. World chess champion, Russian politician, and public opponent of Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine, Anatoly Karpov, has just woken up from a coma after a serious "fall" near the Russian parliament buildings. In Russia, chess playing is a very dangerous sport indeed. It is a contact sport. It can be deadly. It can kill you. Vladimir Putin is a very reasonable man. If you were a drunk babbling in public right in front of him about your opposition to his regime and the war in Ukraine, he would simply laugh. If you were a high school student debating his policies and his regime in school, he would approve the open development of analytical thinking in Russia's youth. If you led a small public demonstration against the Ukraine war, or his regime, he would have the police break it up, possibly give the participants some short jail terms. If you were a journalist criticizing his regime in the Russian media you might get a few years in prison. If you were a rock star writing songs attacking his regime or its policies, you might be forced out of the country. The important thing to understand here, is that Vladimir Putin does not overreact. He reacts forcefully, but, appropriately, on a sliding scale. So, if you are a billionaire, with the money to fund a private army and directly stage an armed coup against his government, and are openly opposing his regime, you are dead. You may not realize it, but, actually, you are already dead. You are about to fall out of a window from a great height, or have an unexpected heart attack. Guaranteed. Arguably, the billionaire is something of an endangered species in Russia these days. Is that really a bad thing? Chess players are in a special category in Russia. Russia is home of many of the world's greatest chess players, and they are in a special category, something like great football players in the U.S., but, an awful lot more intelligent. Great chess players in Russia are famous, rich and powerful. Putin isn't overly fond of rich, powerful people in his country. So, up to a point anyway, chess players in Russia, if they're really good at it anyway, are almost in the category of Russian billionaires. They are an endangered species.