MOSCOW  Garry Kasparov, the opposition leader and former chess champion, said Wednesday that he had been forced to withdraw his candidacy for president of Russia because his political movement had been unable to rent a hall in Moscow for a nominating convention, a requirement under Russian law.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Kasparov said the Kremlin had pressed landlords to refuse to rent to his organization, Other Russia, a problem his campaign confronted before when it tried to hold political meetings.

Mr. Kasparov, who retired from professional chess in 2005, accuses the government of President Vladimir V. Putin of undermining the democratic institutions established after the Soviet Union’s collapse.

From early on, his campaign encountered many problems. He was denied access to state news media; one of his political organizers was forcibly committed to an insane asylum; and Mr. Kasparov and dozens of his followers were arrested during street protests during the spring.