Garry Kimovich Kasparov (, ; born Garry Kimovich Weinstein, 13 April 1963) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, and political activist, whom many consider the greatest chess player of all time.

Kasparov became the youngest ever undisputed World Chess Champion in 1985 at the age of 22. He held the official FIDE world title until 1993, when a dispute with FIDE led him to set up a rival organization, the Professional Chess Association. He continued to hold the "Classical" World Chess Championship until his defeat by Vladimir Kramnik in 2000. He is also widely known for being the first world chess champion to lose a match to a computer, when he lost to Deep Blue in 1997.

Kasparov's ratings achievements include being rated world #1 according to Elo rating almost continuously from 1986 until his retirement in 2005 and holding the all-time highest rating of 2851. He was the world number-one ranked player for 255 months, by far the most of all-time and nearly three times as long as his closest rival, Anatoly Karpov. He also holds records for consecutive tournament victories and Chess Oscars.

From 1984 to 1990, Kasparov was a member of the Central Committee of Komsomol and a CPSU member.

Kasparov announced his retirement from professional chess on 10 March 2005, to devote his time to politics and writing. He formed the United Civil Front movement, and joined as a member of The Other Russia, a coalition opposing the administration of Vladimir Putin. He was a candidate for the 2008 Russian presidential race, but later withdrew. Widely regarded in the West as a symbol of opposition to Putin, Kasparov's support in Russia is low.

In 2007, he was ranked 25th in The Daily Telegraph's list of 100 greatest living geniuses.

He coached Magnus Carlsen from March 2009 through March 2010.

Quotes more less

"Chess is mental torture.""I have some security that could protect me against provocations but of course there are more terrible actions that could not be stopped by any security.""I have some strategical vision, I could calculate some few moves ahead and I have an intellect that is badly missed in the country which is run by generals and colonels.""I learned that fighting on the chess board could also have an impact on the political climate in the country.""I may play some exhibition games so I don't want to quit the game of chess completely. I just decided and it's a firm decision not to play competitive chess anymore.""I think our chances are not looking great today but the only way to fail for me is just not to try.""I think Russian people are learning that democracy is not an alien thing; it's not a western invention.""I think Russians today have a distorted picture of capitalism, liberal democracy and market economy.""I think that it's a vital moment now for Russian democracy to convince people that it's only our actions, our joined actions and protests that could force Kremlin to reconsider its plans to abolish presidential elections.""I think we have very steady records of President Putin, who inherited the country with democratic values.""I wouldn't overestimate the importance of my popularity in the country and abroad but at the end of the day it's not as important because I believe that my presence here could make some difference and it could encourage people.""I'm still number one and I just recently won a major tournament ahead of my toughest rivals so I think I had a few years ahead of me if I decided to stay.""I've met enough KGB colonels in my life.""If you make a decision to fight for future of your own country you have to consider all the consequences.""It didn't take long to recognise the shortcomings of the Soviet regime and to see the values of the free world.""It was not about losing my mental power; it's about not feeling good about my contribution to the game.""It's quite difficult for me to imagine my life without chess.""More and more people in my country recognise the dangers of having their governors appointed by Putin and having no influence in parliament because Parliament today is also following instructions from Kremlin and no longer represents its people.""Putin can't afford to leave the office because he will be in real danger of being prosecuted for things he and his people did during their stay in power.""Russian Parliament today is a bunch of puppets that just fall in with the instructions from Kremlin.""The only successor to President Putin is President Putin himself and we could of course dream about President Putin stepping down voluntarily and picking out successor which would be probably as bad as him.""The real political life in Russia unfortunately is not in the parliament but on the streets and in the media.""There are many facts showing that Putin's people enriched themselves by using power mechanisms so that's why for them losing power means losing their fortunes.""Ukraine had quite serious impact on the many Russians. They could see that ordinary people in Ukraine which is a bordering state, very close to Russia, the people of this state are, they didn't want to tolerate anymore the power abuse by Ukrainian officials.""We have to stop the propaganda, the shameful propaganda used by Kremlin to rehabilitate these old types.""Women, by their nature, are not exceptional chess players: they are not great fighters."

Early Career more less

Garry Kasparov was born Garry Weinstein (Russian: ????? ?????????) in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union; now Azerbaijan, to an Armenian mother and Jewish father. He first began the serious study of chess after he came across a chess problem set up by his parents and proposed a solution. His father died of leukemia when he was seven years old. At the age of twelve, he adopted his mother's Armenian surname, Gasparyan, modifying it to a more Russified version, Kasparov.

From age 7, Kasparov attended the Young Pioneer Palace in Baku and, at 10 began training at Mikhail Botvinnik's chess school under noted coach Vladimir Makogonov. Makogonov helped develop Kasparov's positional skills and taught him to play the Caro-Kann Defence and the Tartakower System of the Queen's Gambit Declined. Kasparov won the Soviet Junior Championship in Tbilisi in 1976, scoring 7 points of 9, at age 13. He repeated the feat the following year, winning with a score of 8½ of 9. He was being trained by Alexander Shakarov during this time.

In 1978, Kasparov participated in the Sokolsky Memorial tournament in Minsk. He had been invited as an exception but took first place and became a chess master. Kasparov has repeatedly said that this event was a turning point in his life, and that it convinced him to choose chess as his career. "I will remember the Sokolsky Memorial as long as I live," he wrote. He has also said that after the victory, he thought he had a very good shot at the World Championship.

He first qualified for the Soviet Chess Championship at age 15 in 1978, the youngest ever player at that level. He won the 64-player Swiss system tournament at Daugavpils over tiebreak from Igor V. Ivanov, to capture the sole qualifying place.

Kasparov rose quickly through the FIDE (World Chess Federation) rankings. Starting with an oversight by the Russian Chess Federation, he participated in a Grandmaster tournament in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina (then part of Yugoslavia), in 1979 while still unrated (the federation thought it was a junior tournament). He won this high-class tournament, emerging with a provisional rating of 2595, enough to catapult him to the top group of chess players (at the time, number 15 in the World). The next year, 1980, he won the World Junior Chess Championship in Dortmund, West Germany. Later that year, he made his debut as second reserve for the Soviet Union at the Chess Olympiad at La Valletta, Malta, and became a Grandmaster.

Toward the Top more less

As a teenager, Kasparov twice tied for first place in the USSR Chess Championship, in 1980—81 and 1981—82. His first win in a superclass-level international tournament was scored at Bugojno, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1982. He earned a place in the 1982 Moscow Interzonal tournament, which he won, to qualify for the Candidates Tournament. At age 19, he was the youngest Candidate since Bobby Fischer, who was 15 when he qualified in 1958. At this stage, he was already the #2-rated player in the world, trailing only World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov on the January 1983 list.

Kasparov's first (quarter-final) Candidates match was against Alexander Beliavsky, whom he defeated 6—3 (four wins, one loss). Politics threatened Kasparov's semi-final against Viktor Korchnoi, which was scheduled to be played in Pasadena, California. Korchnoi had defected from the Soviet Union in 1976, and was at that time the strongest active non-Soviet player. Various political maneuvers prevented Kasparov from playing Korchnoi, and Kasparov forfeited the match. This was resolved by Korchnoi allowing the match to be replayed in London, along with the previously scheduled match between Vasily Smyslov and Zoltan Ribli. The Kasparov-Korchnoi match was put together on short notice by Raymond Keene. Kasparov lost the first game but won the match 7—4 (four wins, one loss).

In January 1984, Kasparov became the number-one ranked player in the world, with a FIDE rating of 2710. He became the youngest ever world number-one, a record that lasted 12 years until being broken by Vladimir Kramnik in January 1996; the record is currently held by his pupil, Magnus Carlsen.

Later in 1984, he won the Candidates' final 8½—4½ (four wins, no losses) against the resurgent former world champion Vasily Smyslov, at Vilnius, thus qualifying to play Anatoly Karpov for the World Championship. That year he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), as a member of which he was elected to the Central Committee of Komsomol in 1987.

1984 World Championship more less

World Champion more less

The second Karpov-Kasparov match in 1985 was organized in Moscow as the best of 24 games where the first player to win 12½ points would claim the World Champion title. The scores from the terminated match would not carry over. But in the event of a 12—12 draw, the title would remain with Karpov. On 9 November 1985, Kasparov secured the title by a score of 13—11, winning the 24th game with Black, using a Sicilian defence. He was 22 years old at the time, making him the youngest ever World Champion, and breaking the record held by Mikhail Tal for over 20 years. Kasparov's win as Black in the 16th game has been recognized as one of the all-time masterpieces in chess history.

As part of the arrangements following the aborted 1984 match, Karpov had been granted (in the event of his defeat) a right to rematch. Another match took place in 1986, hosted jointly in London and Leningrad, with each city hosting 12 games. At one point in the match, Kasparov opened a three-point lead and looked well on his way to a decisive match victory. But Karpov fought back by winning three consecutive games to level the score late in the match. At this point, Kasparov dismissed one of his seconds, Grandmaster Evgeny Vladimirov, accusing him of selling his opening preparation to the Karpov team (as described in Kasparov's autobiography Unlimited Challenge, chapter Stab in the Back). Kasparov scored one more win and kept his title by a final score of 12½—11½.

A fourth match for the world title took place in 1987 in Seville, as Karpov had qualified through the Candidates' Matches to again become the official challenger. This match was very close, with neither player holding more than a one-point lead at any time during the contest. Kasparov was down one full point at the time of the final game, and needed a win to draw the match and retain his title. A long tense game ensued in which Karpov blundered away a pawn just before the first time control, and Kasparov eventually won a long ending. Kasparov retained his title as the match was drawn by a score of 12—12. (All this meant that Kasparov had played Karpov four times in the period 1984—1987, a statistic unprecedented in chess. Matches organised by FIDE had taken place every three years since 1948, and only Botvinnik had a right to a rematch before Karpov.)

A fifth match between Kasparov and Karpov was held in New York and Lyon in 1990, with each city hosting 12 games. Again, the result was a close one with Kasparov winning by a margin of 12½—11½. In their five world championship matches, Kasparov had 21 wins, 19 losses, and 104 draws in 144 games.

Break with and Ejection From FIDE more less

With the World Champion title in hand, Kasparov began fighting against FIDE ... as Bobby Fischer had done 20 years earlier but this time from within FIDE. Beginning in 1986, he created the Grandmasters Association (GMA), an organization to represent professional chess players and give them more say in FIDE's activities. Kasparov assumed a leadership role. GMA's major achievement was in organizing a series of six World Cup tournaments for the world's top players. A somewhat uneasy relationship developed with FIDE, and a sort of truce was brokered by Bessel Kok, a Dutch businessman.

This stand-off lasted until 1993, by which time a new challenger had qualified through the Candidates cycle for Kasparov's next World Championship defense: Nigel Short, a British Grandmaster who had defeated Karpov in a qualifying match, and then Jan Timman in the finals held in early 1993. After a confusing and compressed bidding process produced lower financial estimates than expected, the world champion and his challenger decided to play outside FIDE's jurisdiction, under another organization created by Kasparov called the Professional Chess Association (PCA). This is where a great fracture in the lineage of World Champions began.

In an interview in 2007, Kasparov would call the break with FIDE the worst mistake of his career, as it hurt the game in the long run.

Kasparov and Short were ejected from FIDE, and played their well-sponsored match in London. Kasparov won convincingly by a score of 12½—7½. The match considerably raised the profile of chess in the UK, with an unprecedented level of coverage on Channel 4. Meanwhile, FIDE organized a World Championship match between Jan Timman (the defeated Candidates finalist) and former World Champion Karpov (a defeated Candidates semifinalist), which Karpov won.

There were now two World Champions: PCA champion Kasparov, and FIDE champion Karpov. The title would remain split for 13 years.

Kasparov defended his title in a 1995 match against Viswanathan Anand at the World Trade Center in New York City. Kasparov won the match by four wins to one, with thirteen draws. It was the last World Championship to be held under the auspices of the PCA, which collapsed when Intel, one of its major backers, withdrew its sponsorship in retaliation for Kasparov's choice to play a 1996 match against Deep Blue, which augmented the profile of IBM, one of Intel's chief rivals.

Kasparov tried to organize another World Championship match, under another organization, the World Chess Association (WCA) with Linares organizer Luis Rentero. Alexei Shirov and Vladimir Kramnik played a candidates match to decide the challenger, which Shirov won in a surprising upset. But when Rentero admitted that the funds required and promised had never materialized, the WCA collapsed.

This left Kasparov stranded, and yet another organization stepped in ... BrainGames.com, headed by Raymond Keene. No match against Shirov was arranged, and talks with Anand collapsed, so a match was instead arranged against Kramnik.

Losing the Title and Aftermath more less

The Kasparov-Kramnik match took place in London during the latter half of 2000. Kramnik had been a student of Kasparov's at the legendary Botvinnik/Kasparov chess school in Russia, and had served on Kasparov's team for the 1995 match against Viswanathan Anand.

The better-prepared Kramnik won Game 2 against Kasparov's Grünfeld Defence and achieved winning positions in Games 4 and 6. Kasparov made a critical error in Game 10 with the Nimzo-Indian Defence, which Kramnik exploited to win in 25 moves. As White, Kasparov could not crack the passive but solid Berlin Defence in the Ruy Lopez, and Kramnik successfully drew all his games as Black. Kramnik won the match 8½—6½, and for the first time in 15 years Kasparov had no world championship title. He became the first player to lose a world championship match without winning a game since Emanuel Lasker lost to Capablanca in 1921.

After losing the title, Kasparov won a series of major tournaments, and remained the top rated player in the world, ahead of both Kramnik and the FIDE World Champions. In 2001 he refused an invitation to the 2002 Dortmund Candidates Tournament for the Classical title, claiming his results had earned him a rematch with Kramnik.

Kasparov and Karpov played a four game match with rapid time controls over two days in December 2002 in New York City. Karpov surprised the experts and emerged victoriously, winning two games and drawing one.

Due to Kasparov's continuing strong results, and status as world #1 in much of the public eye, he was included in the so-called "Prague Agreement", masterminded by Yasser Seirawan and intended to reunite the two World Championships. Kasparov was to play a match against the FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov in September 2003. But this match was called off after Ponomariov refused to sign his contract for it without reservation. In its place, there were plans for a match against Rustam Kasimdzhanov, winner of the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004, to be held in January 2005 in the United Arab Emirates. These also fell through due to lack of funding. Plans to hold the match in Turkey instead came too late. Kasparov announced in January 2005 that he was tired of waiting for FIDE to organize a match and so had decided to stop all efforts to regain the World Championship title.

↑ Hide "Losing the Title and Aftermath" Section ↑

Retirement From Chess more less

After winning the prestigious Linares tournament for the ninth time, Kasparov announced on 10 March 2005, that he would retire from serious competitive chess. He cited as the reason a lack of personal goals in the chess world (he commented when winning the Russian championship in 2004 that it had been the last major title he had never won outright) and expressed frustration at the failure to reunify the world championship.

Kasparov said he may play in some rapid chess events for fun, but intends to spend more time on his books, including both the My Great Predecessors series (see below) and a work on the links between decision-making in chess and in other areas of life, and will continue to involve himself in Russian politics, which he views as "headed down the wrong path."

Kasparov has been married three times: to Masha, with whom he had a daughter before divorcing; to Yulia, with whom he had a son before their 2005 divorce; and to Daria, with whom he also has a child.

Post-retirement chess

On 22 August 2006, in his first public chess games since his retirement, Kasparov played in the Lichthof Chess Champions Tournament, a blitz event played at the time control of 5 minutes per side and 3 second increments per move. Kasparov tied for first with Anatoly Karpov, scoring 4½/6.

Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov played a 12-game match from 21—24 September 2009, in Valencia, Spain. It consisted of four rapid (or semi rapid) games, in which Kasparov won 3—1 and eight blitz games, in which Kasparov also won 6—2, winning the match with total result 9—3. The event took place exactly 25 years after the two players' legendary encounter at World Chess Championship 1984.

Kasparov has been coaching Magnus Carlsen since March 2009, in secret until September 2009. Under Kasparov's tutelage, Carlsen in October 2009 became the youngest ever to achieve a FIDE rating higher than 2800, and has risen from world number four to world number one; their arrangement will have Kasparov remain as coach at least through 2010.

In March 2010 it was announced that Carlsen had split from Kasparov and would no longer be using him as a trainer, although this was put into different context by Carlsen himself in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel stating that they would remain in contact and that he would continue to attend training sessions with Kasparov.

In May 2010 it was revealed that Kasparov had aided Viswanathan Anand in preparation for the World Chess Championship 2010 against challenger Veselin Topalov. Anand won the match 6½—5½ to retain the title.

Also in May 2010 he played 30 games simultaneously, winning each one, against players at Tel-Aviv University in Israel.

Politics more less

Chess Ratings Achievements more less

Olympiads and Other Major Team Events more less

Kasparov played in a total of eight Chess Olympiads. He represented the Soviet Union four times and Russia four times, following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. In his 1980 Olympiad debut, he became, at age 17, the youngest player to represent the Soviet Union or Russia at that level, a record which was broken by Vladimir Kramnik in 1992. In 82 games, he has scored (+50 =29 -3), for 78.7% and won a total of 19 medals, including team gold medals all eight times he competed. For the 1994 Moscow Olympiad, he had a significant organizational role, in helping to put together the event on short notice, after Thessaloniki canceled its offer to host, a few weeks before the scheduled dates. Kasparov's detailed Olympiad record, from, follows.

Valletta 1980, USSR 2nd reserve, 9½/12 (+8 =3 -1), team gold, board bronze;
Lucerne 1982, USSR 2nd board, 8½/11 (+6 =5 -0), team gold, board bronze;
Dubai 1986, USSR 1st board, 8v/11 (+7 =3 -1), team gold, board gold, performance gold;
Thessaloniki 1988, USSR 1st board, 8½/10 (+7 =3 -0), team gold, board gold, performance gold;
Manila 1992, Russia board 1, 8½/10 (+7 =3 -0), team gold, board gold, performance silver;
Moscow 1994, Russia board 1, 6½/10 (+4 =5 -1), team gold;
Yerevan 1996, Russia board 1, 7/9 (+5 =4 -0), team gold, board gold, performance silver;
Bled 2002, Russia board 1, 7½/9 (+6 =3 -0), team gold, board gold.

Kasparov made his international teams debut for the USSR at age 16 in the 1980 European Team Championship and played for Russia in the 1992 edition of that championship. He won a total of five medals. His detailed Euroteams record, from, follows.

Skara 1980, USSR 2nd reserve, 5½/6 (+5 =1 -0), team gold, board gold;
Debrecen 1992, Russia board 1, 6/8 (+4 =4 -0), team gold, board gold, performance silver.

Kasparov also represented the USSR once in Youth Olympiad competition, but the detailed data is incomplete at http://www.olimpbase.org/1981k/1981in.html; the site http://www.chessmetrics.com, the Garry Kasparov player file, has his individual score from that event.

Graz 1981, USSR board 1, 9/10 (+8 =2 -0), team gold.

Other Records more less

Books and Other Writings more less

Chess Against Computers more less

Deep Thought, 1989

Kasparov defeated the chess computer Deep Thought in both games of a two-game match in 1989 .

Deep Blue, 1996

In February 1996, IBM's chess computer Deep Blue defeated Kasparov in one game using normal time controls, in Deep Blue - Kasparov, 1996, Game 1. But Kasparov recovered well, gaining three wins and two draws and easily winning the match.

Deep Blue, 1997

In May 1997, an updated version of Deep Blue defeated Kasparov 3½—2½ in a highly publicised six-game match. The match was even after five games but Kasparov was crushed in Game 6. This was the first time a computer had ever defeated a world champion in match play. A documentary film was made about this famous match-up entitled Kasparov and the Machine.

Kasparov claimed that several factors weighed against him in this match. In particular, he was denied access to Deep Blue's recent games, in contrast to the computer's team that could study hundreds of Kasparov's.

After the loss Kasparov said that he sometimes saw deep intelligence and creativity in the machine's moves, suggesting that during the second game, human chess players, in contravention of the rules, intervened. IBM denied that it cheated, saying the only human intervention occurred between games. The rules provided for the developers to modify the program between games, an opportunity they said they used to shore up weaknesses in the computer's play revealed during the course of the match. Kasparov requested printouts of the machine's log files but IBM refused, although the company later published the logs on the Internet. Kasparov demanded a rematch, but IBM declined and retired Deep Blue, which has been viewed by Kasparov as covering up evidence of tampering during the game.

Kasparov's loss to Deep Blue inspired the creation of a new game called Arimaa.

Deep Junior, 2003

In January 2003, he engaged in a six game classical time control match with a $1 million prize fund which was billed as the FIDE "Man vs. Machine" World Championship, against Deep Junior. The engine evaluated three million positions per second. After one win each and three draws, it was all up to the final game. After reaching a decent position Kasparov offered a draw, which was soon accepted by the Deep Junior team. Asked why he offered the draw, Kasparov said he feared making a blunder. Originally planned as an annual event, the match was not repeated.

X3D Fritz, 2003

In November 2003, he engaged in a four-game match against the computer program X3D Fritz, using a virtual board, 3D glasses and a speech recognition system. After two draws and one win apiece, the X3D Man-Machine match ended in a draw. Kasparov received $175,000 for the result and took home the golden trophy. Kasparov continued to criticize the blunder in the second game that cost him a crucial point. He felt that he had outplayed the machine overall and played well. "I only made one mistake but unfortunately that one mistake lost the game."

Search - List of Books by Garry Kasparov

Quotes more less

Early Career more less

Toward the Top more less

1984 World Championship more less

World Champion more less

Break with and Ejection From FIDE more less

Losing the Title and Aftermath more less

Retirement From Chess more less

Post-retirement chess

Politics more less

Chess Ratings Achievements more less

Olympiads and Other Major Team Events more less

Other Records more less

Books and Other Writings more less

Early writings

My Great Predecessors series

Modern Chess series

Other post-retirement writing

Chess Against Computers more less

Deep Thought, 1989

Deep Blue, 1996

Deep Blue, 1997

Deep Junior, 2003

X3D Fritz, 2003

Notable Chess Games more less

Other more less

Books more less

Further Reading more less

Search - List of Books by Garry Kasparov

Quotes more less

Early Career more less

Toward the Top more less

1984 World Championship more less

World Champion more less

Break with and Ejection From FIDE more less

Losing the Title and Aftermath more less

Retirement From Chess more less

Post-retirement chess

Politics more less

Chess Ratings Achievements more less

Olympiads and Other Major Team Events more less

Other Records more less

Books and Other Writings more less

Early writings

My Great Predecessors series

Modern Chess series

Other post-retirement writing

Chess Against Computers more less

Deep Thought, 1989

Deep Blue, 1996

Deep Blue, 1997

Deep Junior, 2003

X3D Fritz, 2003

Notable Chess Games more less

Other more less

Books more less

Further Reading more less

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