Garry Kasparov
| Garry Kasparov | |
|---|---|
Kasparov in 2007
| |
| Full name | Garry Kimovich Kasparov |
| Country | Soviet Union Russia (since 1992) Croatia (since 2014)[1] |
| Born | 13 April 1963 Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union (now Azerbaijan) |
| Title | Grandmaster (1980) |
| World Champion | 1985–93 (undisputed) 1993–2000 (classical) |
| FIDE rating | 2812 (February 2018) [inactive] |
| Peak rating | 2851 (July 1999, January 2000) |
| Peak ranking | No. 1 (January 1984) |
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Kasparov became the youngest ever undisputed World Chess Champion in 1985 at age 22 by defeating then-champion Anatoly Karpov.[5] 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.[6] In 1997 he became the first world champion to lose a match to a computer under standard time controls, when he lost to the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue in a highly publicized match. He continued to hold the "Classical" World Chess Championship until his defeat by Vladimir Kramnik in 2000. In spite of losing the title, he continued winning tournaments and was the world's highest-rated player when he retired from professional chess in 2005.
After Kasparov retired, he devoted 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 and policies of Vladimir Putin. In 2008, he announced an intention to run as a candidate in that year's Russian presidential race, but failure to find a sufficiently large rental space to assemble the number of supporters that is legally required to endorse such a candidacy led him to withdraw. Kasparov blamed "official obstruction" for the lack of available space.[7] Although he is widely regarded in the West as a symbol of opposition to Putin,[8] he was barred from the presidential ballot,[7] as the political climate in Russia makes it difficult for opposition candidates to organize.[9][10]
He is currently chairman for the Human Rights Foundation and chairs its International Council. Kasparov is a frequent critic of American professor emeritus of Russian studies Stephen F. Cohen, whom he describes as a Soviet and Russian apologist. Kasparov and Cohen participated in a Munk Debate in 2015 over the issue of reengaging or isolating Russia, with 52% of the audience siding with Kasparov's argument of isolating Russia, compared to 42% before the debate.[11][12] In 2014, he obtained Croatian citizenship.[1] He lives in New York City and travels often.[13]
Contents
[hide]- 1 Early career
- 2 Towards the top
- 3 1984 World Championship
- 4 World Champion
- 5 Break with and ejection from FIDE
- 6 Losing the title and aftermath
- 7 Retirement from chess
- 8 Politics
- 8.1 Central committee member of Komsomol
- 8.2 Keeper of the Flame award
- 8.3 Democratic Party of Russia and Choice of Russia bloc
- 8.4 United Civil Front
- 8.5 The Other Russia
- 8.6 Saint Petersburg Dissenters' March
- 8.7 Arrest in Moscow and questioning by FSB
- 8.8 KGB general says Kasparov's life in danger
- 8.9 2007 presidential bid
- 8.10 "Putin must go"
- 8.11 Human Rights Foundation
- 8.12 Arrest and beating at Pussy Riot trial
- 8.13 Miscellaneous
- 8.14 Allegation of FSB non-disclosure of Boston marathon bombing suspects
- 8.15 On the Navalny trial
- 8.16 On the Syrian Civil War
- 8.17 Croatia connections
- 8.18 Sochi Olympics
- 8.19 Annexation of Crimea
- 8.20 Access to website blocked
- 8.21 Winter Is Coming
- 8.22 2016 United States presidential election
- 8.23 2017 Independence referendum in Catalonia
- 9 Playing style
- 10 Olympiads and other major team events
- 11 Records and achievements
- 12 Books and other writings
- 13 Chess against computers
- 14 See also
- 15 Notes
- 16 Further reading
- 17 External links
Early career[edit]
Kasparov was born Garik Kimovich Weinstein (Russian: Гарик Вайнштейн) in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR (now Azerbaijan), Soviet Union. His father, Kim Moiseyevich Weinstein, was Russian Jewish, and his mother, Klara Shagenovna Gasparian, was Armenian.[14][15][16][17] Kasparov has described himself as a "self-appointed Christian", although "very indifferent".[18]
Kasparov first began the serious study of chess after he came across a chess problem set up by his parents and proposed a solution.[19] His father died of leukemia when Garry was seven years old.[20] At the age of twelve, Garry adopted his mother's Armenian surname, Gasparian, russified as Kasparov.[21]
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.[22] 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.[23]
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 on tiebreak over Igor V. Ivanov to capture the sole qualifying place.
Kasparov rose quickly through the 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 (he was a replacement for the Soviet defector Viktor Korchnoi, who was originally invited but withdrew due to the threat of a boycott from the Soviets). Kasparov 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)[24]). 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 Valletta, Malta, and became a Grandmaster.
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