London. Retiring Russian chess champion Garry Kasparov said he was turning his talent for strategy away from the gameboard and toward Russian politics, to challenge the "dictatorship" of President Vladimir Putin.

"What needs to happen is the creation of a nationwide organization, a political party that will challenge Putin's dictatorship in every aspect of our life", Kasparov -- the former world chess champion and outspoken liberal -- told BBC radio on Monday.

"I believe that my energy, my political vision, my authority, will help millions of Russians dissatisfied with Putin's rising dictatorship to get united to resist the pressure and bring Russia Russia back to the democratic route," said Kasparov.

Kasparov, 41, still considered the world's best chess player, made the surprise announcement Thursday that he was retiring from the professional game, after winning the Linares chess tournament in Spain Spain.

A vocal critic of Putin, he heads the "2008: Free Elections" committee focused on blocking the Russian president from seeking a third term.

"Our demands are simple," he added. "It's about putting pressure on Putin's regime to restore democratic institutions."

Under Putin, a former top official in the Soviet-era KGB, Russia Russia had seen a backslide away from democracy, Kasparov said.

"Putin inherited a country where democracy had flaws but it was a democracy...

"Now we have no free press, public parliament is controlled by Putin and his men from Kremlin," he said, speculating that the Russian leader's next move would be to eliminate free presidential elections.

Kasparov has previously said that Russia's campaign in Chechnya was responsible for the deteriorating human rights situation across the whole country.