Garry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, political activist and writer, who was the World Chess Champion from 1985 to 2000. His peak FIDE chess rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by Magnus Carlsen in 2013. From 1984 until his retirement from regular competitive chess in 2005, Kasparov was ranked the world's No. 1 player for a record 255 months overall. Kasparov also [|holds records] for the most consecutive professional tournament victories and Chess Oscars.
Kasparov became the youngest undisputed world champion in 1985 at age 22 by defeating then-champion Anatoly Karpov, a record he held until 2024. He defended the title against Karpov three times, in 1986, 1987 and 1990. Kasparov held the official FIDE world title until 1993, when a dispute with FIDE led him to set up a rival organisation, the Professional Chess Association. In 1997, he became the first world champion to lose a match to a computer under standard time controls when he was defeated by the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue in a highly publicised match. He continued to hold the "Classical" world title until his defeat by Vladimir Kramnik in 2000. Despite losing the PCA title, he continued winning tournaments and was the world's highest-rated player at the time of his official retirement. Kasparov coached Carlsen in 2009–2010, during which time Carlsen rose to world No. 1. Kasparov stood unsuccessfully for FIDE president in 2013–2014.
Since retiring from chess, Kasparov has devoted his time to writing and politics. His book series My Great Predecessors, first published in 2003, details the history and games of the world champion chess players who preceded him. He formed the United Civil Front movement and was a member of The Other Russia, a coalition opposing the administration and policies of Vladimir Putin. In 2008, he announced an intention to run as a candidate in that year's Russian presidential race, but after encountering logistical problems in his campaign, for which he blamed "official obstruction", he withdrew. Following the Russian mass protests that began in 2011, he announced in June 2013 that he had left Russia for the immediate future out of fear of persecution. Following his flight from Russia, he lived in New York City with his family. In 2014, he obtained Croatian citizenship and has maintained a residence in Podstrana near Split.
Kasparov was chairman of the Human Rights Foundation from 2011 to 2024. In 2017, he founded the Renew Democracy Initiative, an American political organisation promoting and defending liberal democracy in the U.S. and abroad. He serves as chairman of the group.
Early life
Kasparov was born Garik Kimovich Weinstein in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union. His father, Kim Moiseyevich Weinstein, was Jewish and his mother, Klara Shagenovna Kasparova, was Armenian. Both of his mother's parents were Armenians from Karabakh. According to Kasparov himself, he was named after United States President Harry S. Truman, "whom my father admired for taking a strong stand against communism. It was a rare name in Russia, until Harry Potter came along." Kasparov has described himself as a "self-appointed Christian", although "very indifferent" and identifying as Russian: "lthough I'm half-Armenian, half-Jewish, I consider myself Russian because Russian is my native tongue, and I grew up with Russian culture."When he was seven years old, his father died of leukaemia. At the age of twelve, Kasparov, upon the request of his mother Klara and with the consent of the family, adopted Klara's surname Kasparov. Kasparov and his family had to flee anti-Armenian pogroms in Baku in January 1990.
Introduction to chess
Kasparov began the serious study of chess after he came across a problem set up by his parents and proposed a solution. From age seven, he attended the Young Pioneer Palace in Baku and, at ten, began training at Mikhail Botvinnik's chess school under coach Vladimir Makogonov. When Kasparov was 11, Botvinnik wrote, "The future of chess lies in the hands of this young man." 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 7/9 points, at age 13. He repeated the feat the following year, winning with a score of 8.5/9. He was being coached by Alexander Shakarov during this time.Chess career
Rising up the ranks
In early 1978, Kasparov participated in the Sokolsky Memorial tournament in Minsk. Normally only established masters and local players were invited, but he received a special invitation, and took first place. Kasparov said that after the victory, he thought he had a "very good shot" at the world championship. He first qualified for the USSR Chess Championship at age 15 in 1978, the youngest-ever player at that level, by winning a 64-player Swiss system tournament at Daugavpils. He scored 8.5/17 in that Soviet championship.Kasparov's first international tournament was in Banja Luka, Yugoslavia, in April 1979 while he was still unrated. Kasparov won this high-class tournament by 2 points, emerging with a provisional rating of 2545, enough to rank him equal 40th 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 the second reserve for the Soviet Union at the Chess Olympiad at Valletta, Malta, and became a Grandmaster. He quickly rose up the world rankings: equal 15th in January 1980, sixth in January 1981, equal fourth in July 1981, fourth in January 1982 and second behind Karpov in July 1982.
As a teenager, Kasparov shared the USSR Chess Championship in 1981 with Lev Psakhis, although Psakhis won their game. His first win in a superclass-level international tournament was scored at Bugojno, Yugoslavia, 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.
Kasparov's first Candidates match was against Alexander Beliavsky, whom he defeated 6–3. Politics threatened Kasparov's semi-final against Victor Korchnoi, which was scheduled to be played in Pasadena, California. The Soviet authorities would not allow Kasparov to travel to the United States, meaning that Korchnoi could have had a walkover. This decision was met with disapproval by the chess world, and Korchnoi agreed to the match to being played in London instead, along with the previously scheduled match between Vasily Smyslov and Zoltán 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.
In January 1984, Kasparov became the No. 1 ranked player in the world, with a FIDE rating of 2710. He became the youngest-ever world No. 1, a record that lasted 12 years until being broken by Kramnik in January 1996. That same year, he won the Candidates' final 8½–4½ against former world champion Smyslov at Vilnius, thus qualifying to play Karpov for the world championship.
1984–1985 world championship
The World Chess Championship 1984–1985 match between Kasparov and Karpov had many ups and downs and a controversial finish. Karpov started in very good form, and after nine games Kasparov was down 4–0 in a "first to six wins" match. In an unexpected turn of events, there followed a series of 17 successive draws, some relatively short, others drawn in unsettled positions. Kasparov lost game 27, then fought back with another series of draws until game 32, earning his first-ever win against the world champion and bringing the score to 5–1. Another 14 successive draws followed, through game 46; the previous record length for a world title match had been 34 games.Kasparov won games 47 and 48 to bring the score to 5–3 in Karpov's favour. Then the match was ended without result by FIDE President Florencio Campomanes, and a new match was announced to start a few months later. The termination was controversial, as both players stated that they preferred the match to continue. Announcing his decision, Campomanes cited the health of the players, which had been strained by the length of the match. According to grandmasters Boris Gulko and Korchnoi, and historians Vladimir Popow and Yuri Felshtinsky in their The KGB Plays Chess book, Campomanes had been a KGB agent and was tasked with preventing Karpov's defeat at all costs; and the match was terminated while Karpov was still ahead to avoid the impression that the decision had been made for his benefit. US Grandmaster Andy Soltis said it was "absurd" to suggest that Campomones was a KGB agent, but thought that his decisions in the match favoured Karpov.
The match became the first, and so far only, world championship match to be abandoned without a result. Kasparov's relations with Campomanes and FIDE became strained, and matters came to a head in 1993 with Kasparov's complete break-away from FIDE.
World champion
The second Karpov–Kasparov match in 1985 was organised in Moscow as the best of 24 games, where the first player to win 12½ points would claim the title. The scores from the terminated match would not carry over; however, in the event of a 12–12 draw, the title would remain with Karpov. On 9 November 1985, Kasparov secured the world crown by a score of 13–11. Karpov, with White, needed to win the 24th game to retain the title but Kasparov won it with the Sicilian Defence. He was 22 years old at the time, making him the youngest-ever world champion, a record held by Mikhail Tal for over 20 years. Kasparov's win with Black in the 16th game has been recognised as one of the all-time chess masterpieces, including being voted the best game played during the first 64 issues of the magazine Chess Informant.At the time, the champion still had the right to a rematch after losing the title. This rematch 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 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. Kasparov scored one more win and kept his title by a 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 become the official challenger once again. This match was also very close, with neither player holding more than a one-point lead at any time. With one game left, Kasparov was down a point 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. Kasparov then won a long ending to retain the title on a 12–12 scoreline.
Kasparov and Karpov met for a fifth time, on this occasion in New York City 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.