“As an outspoken advocate for human rights, Garry Kasparov has shown bravery as a person of tremendous courage who refused to be silent in the face of tyranny,” said Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL CEO and National Director.
“Over his long career as an internationally renowned chess celebrity and human rights activist, Mr. Kasparov has stood forcefully against authoritarianism and he has been willing to take on many sacred cows. His bold voice is needed now more than ever," Greenblatt said.
A former world chess champion, Kasparov is now chairman of the Renew Democracy Initiative and chairman of the Human Rights Foundation.In 2005, following his 20th year as the world’s top-rated player, Kasparov retired from professional chess to join the vanguard of the Russian pro-democracy movement.
He was named chairman of the Human Rights Foundation in 2012, succeeding Vaclav Havel. A year later, in 2013, he faced imminent arrest during Putin's crackdown, causing him to move from Moscow to New York with his family.
In 2017, he founded the Renew Democracy Initiative to promote civic engagement and democratic reforms to counter the rise of extremism.
Kasparov was one of the first prominent Soviets to call for democratic and market reforms and was an early supporter of Boris Yeltsin’s push to break up the Soviet Union. In 1990, he and his family escaped ethnic violence in his native Baku as the USSR collapsed.
ADL's award pays tribute “to those exceptional individuals whose vision, imagination and creativity have left an indelible mark upon the global community.” ADL will present Kasparov with the award at its virtual Never Is Now Summit on Antisemitism and Hate on November 19.
Past recipients of ADL’s International Leadership Award include comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, former Israeli President Shimon Peres and Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt.