Saw this today and wondered what people here think?
I've pasted the article rather than a link as the link is likely to have changed by tomorrow.

Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov has been earmarked as the man to topple the reign of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Mr Kasparov has been at the forefront of the Other Russia opposition coalition and received a resounding endorsement at a Moscow national congress last night, receiving 379 out of 498 votes.

The chess great, 44, founded the coalition in 2005 and has been charged with several public order offences since its inception, as well as being accused of forging his own airline ticket in May this year – the incident later found to be a plot designed to prevent Mr Kasparov from travelling to an EU summit.

After his selection last night, he said: "I will do everything possible for the ideas of Other Russia to win. This will work only if we stay united."

The Russian presidential elections are to be held in March 2008 – with Mr Putin constitutionally prevented from standing – yet Other Russia is unlikely to receive the correct registration to participate.

"I know that the road will be difficult," Mr Kasparov admitted at the party meeting.

A recent study by independent polling agency Levada revealed that just three per cent of Russians plan to vote for Other Russia in next year's election.