Garry Kasparov

Garry Kimovich Kasparov ({{lang|ru|?????? ???????? ?????????}}, pronounced with stress falling on the second syllable: kas-PA-rov) (born April 13, 1963) is a chess grandmaster and one of the strongest chess players in history. His 2851 ELO rating in the July 1999 FIDE rating list is the highest rating ever achieved. As of July 2005, Kasparov's 2812 ELO rating places him highest on the FIDE listing http://www.fide.com/ratings/top.phtml. Ranked first in the world for nearly all of the 20 years from 1985 to 2005, Kasparov was the last undisputed World Chess Champion from 1985 until 1993; and continued to be "classical" World Chess Champion (of the PCA and WCA) until his defeat by Vladimir Kramnik in 2000. He also won the Chess Oscar four times, in 1995, 1996, 2001 and 2002.

Chess against computers

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. However, Kasparov retorted with 3 wins and 2 draws, soundly winning the match.

Related Topics:
February - 1996 - IBM - Deep Blue - Deep Blue - Kasparov, 1996, Game 1

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In May 1997, an updated version of Deep Blue defeated Kasparov in a highly publicised six-game match. This was the first time a computer had ever defeated a world champion in match play. An award-winning documentary film was made about this famous matchup entitled . Also, IBM keeps a web site of the event at http://www.research.ibm.com/deepblue/. It should be noted that several factors weighed against Kasparov in this match. He was denied access to Deep Blue's recent games, in contrast to the computer's team that could study hundreds of Kasparov's. The relatively fast time control, lack of rest days and other match rules also favored the machine.

Related Topics:
May - 1997 - Deep Blue - Documentary film - IBM

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After the loss, Kasparov said that he sometimes saw deep intelligence and creativity in the machine's moves. Yet he also suggested that humans may have helped the machine during the match. In part, Kasparov's allegations were correct. The rules provided for the developers to modify the program between games, an opportunity they used to shore up weaknesses in the computer's play revealed during the course of the match. Kasparov demanded a rematch, but IBM declined and retired Deep Blue.

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Kasparov has been credited with the invention of Advanced Chess in 1998, a new form of chess in which a human and a computer play together.

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In November 2003, he engaged in a four game match against chess playing computer program X3D Fritz (which was said to have an estimated rating of 2807), using a virtual board, 3D glasses and a speech recognition system. After two draws and two wins respectively, the X3D Man-Machine match ended in 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."

Related Topics:
November - 2003 - X3D Fritz - 3D glasses - Speech recognition

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