Garry Kasparov at the latest Munk debate

10th April 2015 - 3301 days ago

Garry Kasparov, the world’s greatest chess player, has taken part in the most recent Munk debates. These are semi-annual debates, which take place in Toronto, Canada to an audience of 3000 members of the public. The debates were established in 2008 and have been steadily growing in terms of audience and interest since then. The format consists of two panellists ‘for’ an argument and two ‘against’ an argument. There are short opening statements, a panel discussion and then closing statements. The audience votes and the winner is decided by the number of people who were persuaded to move from one side of the argument to the other.

Previous participants make an impressive role call and include Henry Kissinger, Tony Blair, Paul Krugman and Larry Summers.

Garry Kasparov now includes himself in this auspicious line-up, along with his other panellists – Stephen F Cohen, Anne Applebaum and Vladimir Pozner. The topic for debate was ‘The West vs. Russia’, discussing the pros and cons of whether the West should engage not isolate Russia.

Garry and his co ‘con’ panellist Anne Applebaum won the day with an impressive 10% vote gain.

To see the Munk Debate Live click here.