"I have about five or six years, and then--," he said, making downward gesture with his hand. Asked if the inevitability of losing the title was depressing, he looked up to the sky, saying "It happens."

But when it happens Kasparov should be in good shape. Unlike many American athletes who live on their laurels after they leave professional sports, Kasparov may have a career in politics looming ahead.

The Azerbaijan native is already a saavy and outspoken critic of Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, and he sits on the Azerbaijan Central Committee.

He joined the Communist Party in 1984, though not for ideological reasons. "It was necessary to show loyalty to the state to become champion," he says. And he adds, "I was only 21, Since that time I have changed my mind a bit."

Still, the decision to join the Party probably was a smart one for his career, as many experts say he may owe his title to his allegiance.

His success in a widely publicized game against the more conservative Karpov in 1985 at the age of 22, they say, had a political edge.

As Gabriel Schoenfeld--then a graduate fellow at the Russian Research Center--pointed out in The New York Times in 1984, the succession battle imminent at the time would be one between Karpov, a political "today, and the more individualistic Kasparov. And while Schoenfeld predicted that the Soviet government would back Karpov, Kasparov's success and the very openness with which he criticizes Gorbachev today are a political sign in themselves.

Perestroika has not significantly improved life in the Soviet Union, Kasparov says, calling Gorbachev "the man who has now become a dictator." And he gets in a few digs at Karpov, as well, labelling him "a symbol of the Soviet system."

He says that the Soviets would invade Hungary if they could, but they are having internal problems with nationlist groups in Latvia, Armenia, the Ukraine and even his native Azerbaijan that prevent them.

And at the brunch, the chess champion predicted that the one-party system would last "not long, much less than it has been [in existence]." He added, "You can't change anything with a one-party dictatorship."

"I was astounded by how outspoken he was." says Marshall I. Goldman, associate director of the Russian Research Center, of a speech Kasparov gave at the center of Friday. "I wasn't prepared for his charm and candor."

But Goldman warns that Kasparov's criticism of the Soviet regime may not be as candid as they appear.

"Kasparov is a critic of the Soviet Union," he says, "but everyone there is a critic [nowadays], including Gorbachev, Ligachev, Yeltsin, and Shevarnadze."