Gary Kasparov on Chess and Politics
Tuesday 3 April 2007 21:45-22:30 (Radio 3)
Garry Kasparov, often described as the greatest chess player of all time, talks to Philip Dodd about the lessons the game offers as a life philosophy. Since retiring from chess, Kasparov has turned his attention to business and politics, and in his homeland of Russia he remains a vigorous promoter of free and open democracy. Philip asks if the intellectual demands of chess are enough to sustain even a figure like Kasparov in the choppy waters of contemporary politics. Plus there's a review of the new film by Italy's answer to Woody Allen, Nanni Moretti.
Playlist
Ian McEwan
For years Chesil Beach in Dorset has been haunted by the spirit of Thomas Hardy - he regularly walked there and it even featured in one of his books.
Now though the eighteen miles of shingle in Dorset has a new literary familiar, the novelist, Ian McEwan.
The beach provides the title of his new book and he's made it the setting for a lyrical examination of the lost emotional landscape of the early Sixties.
Philip Dodd takes him over this terrain and talks to him about the literary ghosts who hover over his short novel.
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan is published by Jonathan Cape.
Nanni Moretti
The Italian film-maker and actor Nanni Moretti has carved a unique furrow in Italian cinema with movies like Dear Diary and The Son's Room.
His latest uproarious satirical movie, The Caiman, is a sideways attack on Silvio Berlusconi - and was released in Italy just before last year's elections.
On the eve of its UK opening, the writer and Italian specialist Joe Farrell joins Philip to explore the work of the man often dubbed 'the Italian Woody Allen'.
Garry Kasparov
Philip talks to World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov about his new book 'How Life Imitates Chess'.
World number one until his retirement in 2005 he tells Philip how his strategy for the game has enabled him to move into the complex world of Russian politics.
How Life Imitates Chess by Garry Kasparov is published by Heinemann on 5 April.
