Garry Kasparov

It was an absolute pleasure to welcome Garry Kasparov , the founder of Renew Democracy Initiative and author of The Next Move here on Substack, to The Mayday Network podcast. For the past several decades, Garry has been valiantly fighting for democracy in Europe and around the world. He has stood up to Vladimir Putin with extraordinary courage and has been a staunch advocate of Ukraine. We discussed the future of America’s role in the world, NATO’s role going forward, and what an outcome of the Ukraine war might look lie. I hope you take the time to listen and let me know what you think in the comments. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit saltypolitics.substack.com/subscribe

Few public intellectuals have anticipated the shape of the present moment with such prescience as Garry Kasparov. In a major live conversation, Kasparov joins Bret Stephens to discuss his bracing new book, The World of Fake Values: Ukraine Under Fire, A.I. Amok, and the Putinization of America Under Donald Trump . A former world chess champion who gave up the game at the height of his power to confront Vladimir Putin's authoritarian rise, Kasparov has spent decades thinking about how democracies fail – and how they might be saved. Drawing on fresh reporting, recent essays, and conversations with thinkers ranging from A.I. researchers to Ukrainian dissidents, he argues that today's political chaos follows a grim internal logic: the hollowing out of democratic values, the weaponization of technology, and the normalization of authoritarian tactics in plain sight. In conversation with New York Times opinion columnist Bret Stephens, Kasparov examines why Ukraine matters to Americans, what artificial intelligence reveals about human judgment, and whether a democratic majority can still reclaim moral and political ground. Urgent, clear-eyed, and deeply informed, this is a conversation about power, values, and what comes next.

What separates the elite from the exceptional? Is greatness just talent — or something deeper, more deliberate? In this episode of Performers , we explore the mind of Garry Kasparov — chess grandmaster, world champion, and one of the most formidable strategic thinkers of all time. His book How Life Imitates Chess is more than a treatise on the game; it's a playbook for decision-making under pressure, self-awareness, and long-term performance. Join Dr. Duncan Simpson and Dr. Greg Young as they decode Kasparov’s lessons — from growing up in the Soviet Union to battling IBM’s Deep Blue — and uncover what it truly means to lead, think, and perform at the highest level. ♟️ Why talent is nothing without environment 🧠 The true meaning of self-awareness in decision-making 🔥 How to build intuition through reps, reflection, and risk ⚔️ Why aggression, done right, creates psychological pressure 💡 What separates tactical thinkers from long-term strategists 🚧 How success breeds complacency — and how to avoid it 🎯 How to use failure, not fear it, as a pathway to mastery Whether you're an athlete, entrepreneur, coach, or someone chasing high performance, this episode is your invitation to sharpen your strategy, master your mind, and play to win — in every arena. Support the show by paying what you can here: DONATE Listen on Spotify: ⁠ ⁠Spotify⁠⁠ Listen on Apple: ⁠ ⁠Apple⁠⁠ Watch & Listen on YouTube: ⁠ ⁠YouTube⁠⁠ Buy the book: How life imitates Chess Socials: ⁠⁠Instagram⁠ - @Performerspod ⁠ ⁠https://www.instagram.com/performerspod/⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Linkedin - Duncan⁠ Simpson⁠ ⁠ ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/duncan-simpson-ph-d-cmpc-76244b1a/⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Linkedin - Greg Young⁠ ⁠ ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-young-ph-d-cmpc-64765a35/⁠⁠ Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@performers.pod?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc Chapters 00:00 The Foundation of Success: Talent vs. Hard Work 05:51 The Role of Environment in Performance 10:47 Discipline and Imagination in Strategy 14:58 The Importance of Self-Awareness 17:42 Adapting to Change: The Key to Success 21:21 The Power of Asking 'Why?' in Strategy 24:56 Tactics vs. Strategy: Understanding the Difference 29:07 Navigating Pressure: The Importance of Planning 31:07 The Power of Innovation 32:54 Embracing Failure for Success 34:15 The Importance of Decision-Making 36:25 The Role of Intuition in Performance 41:13 Aggression and Psychological Pressure 44:30 Complacency: The Silent Enemy 49:41 The Impact of Catastrophic Losses 54:40 Human Intuition vs. Machine Calculation 56:51 Lessons from Performance Reviews

Garry Kasparov is a chess grandmaster and Chairman of the Renew Democracy Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to defending liberal democracies worldwide. He joins Preet to discuss: Trump’s plans to consolidate power within the Executive Branch The need for change within the Democratic Party What normalcy might look like in four years How Trump may impact Russia’s war in Ukraine Strategies for surviving political exhaustion Plus, will Matt Gaetz be the new Attorney General? Will the Department of Education be dismantled? And, can Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg convince judge Merchan not to dismiss Trump’s Manhattan criminal conviction? After the election, our work making sense of legal news continues. For the month of November, visit cafe.com/november to get 40% off your membership for the first year. For show notes and a transcript of the episode head to: https://cafe.com/stay-tuned/trump-democracy-garry-kasparov-musk-gaetz/ Have a question for Preet? Ask @PreetBharara on Threads, or Twitter with the hashtag #AskPreet. Email us at staytuned@cafe.com, or call 669-247-7338 to leave a voicemail. Stay Tuned with Preet is brought to you by CAFE and the Vox Media Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

World Outlook senior editor Sri Sathvik Rayala '24 and associate editors Madeleine Shaw '25, Quinn Hall '26, and Anika Mukker '26 discuss propaganda tools of illiberal governments, democratic movements, challenges proponents of liberal democracy face, motivations that drive proponents of democracy to challenge the status quo, the utility of social media for democratic activists in the Global South, the war against truth by illiberal regimes, and more with Garry Kasparov and Evan Mawarire. Kasparov is a world-renowned Chess Champion, founder of the Renew Democracy Initiative, author, and democracy and human rights advocate from Russia. Mawarire is the creator of the #ThisFlag movement, advocate, speaker, and trainer on nonviolent citizen-driven change, democracy development and human rights from Zimbabwe.

In a special live show at New York City’s Town Hall theater on March 31st, Preet was joined on stage by Ben Stiller, Garry Kasparov, and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (Ret.) for a discussion about the war in Ukraine, what Putin is thinking, and the importance of humor, especially in dark times. This recording is the interview portion of the event, which also featured a monologue by Preet and an audience Q&A session. For show notes and a transcript of the episode, head to: https://cafe.com/stay-tuned/stay-tuned-live-ft-ben-stiller-garry-kasparov-alexander-vindman/ Tweet your questions to @PreetBharara with hashtag #askpreet, email us at staytuned@cafe.com, or call 669-247-7338 to leave a voicemail. Stay Tuned with Preet is brought to you by CAFE and the Vox Media Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, Stan and Chris speak to chess grandmaster, Garry Kasparov, about risk: in the game of chess, and more broadly, in society. Garry is well-known as a World Chess Champion who famously dueled against IBM’s supercomputer, Deep Blue. In recent years, Garry has been translating and expanding his focus to the Renew Democracy Initiative, which aims to promote and protect democracy worldwide. Garry first came onto No Turning Back this past January, and Stan and Chris were intrigued by all Garry had to say about risk. This week, they take a fascinating deeper dive into how Garry thinks about risk and opportunity against an opponent, and the risks that Garry faced when he decided to play chess against a machine. Garry speaks to broader topics on how society now has a new relationship to risk post-COVID-19, and also speaks to disinformation – the risks it presents to our society on a national and global scale. Risk: A User’s Guide , will publish one week from today. You can learn more about Risk: A User's Guide, here: https://www.mcchrystalgroup.com/library/risk-a-users-guide/ .

In many circles, Chess is viewed as the ultimate display of intellectual might. If you think about it, chess is a fighting game that is purely intellectual and excludes all chance. In this episode of Follow Your Different , we talk to one of Chess’ ultimate combatants, Garry Kasparov. At age 22, Garry Kasparov became the world’s youngest chess champion, and from 1984 to his retirement in 2005, he was ranked the number one Chess player on the planet for a record 255 months of his career. He is also known as the man who competed against an IBM supercomputer in 1997. Today, Garry Kasparov is a political activist and an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin. He is also the chairman of the Human Rights Foundation, and the author of the best-seller called Deep Thinking, Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins . In addition to all of this, he’s also working with a few advanced technology companies, in which I had the pleasure of meeting him. He has started working with a good friend of mine, Steve Pratt of Noodle.AI. So listen in as the three of us talk about Covid-19, the relationship between humans and machines, and how Garry jokes about being the first knowledge worker to have his job taken by a computer. Garry Kasparov and Steve Pratt on COVID-19 When asked how they were doing nowadays, Steve comments that it felt strange now that everything is slowly opening up. Nowadays, it seems weird when you see people not wearing masks when you go out, as compared to only a few months ago of masks and lockdowns. Garry shared that while it is slowly opening up in America and Europe, the rest of the world is going through a very different experience. He laments the current situation in Russia particularly, where his family and friends reside. “We know from history that the innovative power of undemocratic states is cannot be compared to the power of the free mind. It’s not an accident that the virus came from China, but the response came from the United States.” – Garry Kasparov Garry also points out the disparity on how people trust the vaccines compared to the Russian-made Sputnik vaccine. He attributes this mostly to having the proper data to prove its efficacy, which the Sputnik vaccine is sorely lacking at the moment. While there are vaccines that have lower efficacy rates compared to those made by Pfizer and Moderna, they’re still widely preferred due to the fact that they have data and tests to back those numbers up. Working Together and Freeing the Mind When asked if the low vaccination rates can be attributed to the vaccine or implementation, Garry answered that it was both happening at the same time. While the vaccine hesitancy was expected due

In this episode I had the great pleasure to talk to the GOAT of chess (Greatest Of All Times). We talked about success and how does it feel to make a dent in the universe. We talked about his voice, and how his stays strong regardless of the pressures. We talked about values, attitude and much more. It is my pleasure to give you this discussion with Garry Kasparov. "It's very important to be consistent. I was consistent with my voice. If you have the message, you have to stay with that message and you can't make compromises on principles" - #GarryKasparov in #SportEDTalks. This podcast is powered by: Mastercard Banca Transilvania

What can decision-making on the chessboard teach us about decision-making in the game of life? World Chess Champion and human rights activist Garry Kasparov , joins your host, Executive Director of the Alliance for Decision Education, Dr. Joe Sweeney, to discuss Garry’s hunger for chess and analyzing his games, his experience facing fierce competition, the importance of making your decisions in the right environment, and why today’s youth should recover the spirit of exploration, despite potential risks. You’ll also hear about the motto hung above Garry's bed as a teenager: “If not you, who else?" and why “working like a machine” may no longer be a compliment in today’s age of technology.