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.

Early career

Kasparov trained at Mikhail Botvinnik's chess school. He won the Soviet Junior Championship at Tbilisi in 1976, scoring 7 points out of 9, at the age of 13. He repeated the feat the following year, winning with a score of 8.5/9.

Related Topics:
Mikhail Botvinnik - Tbilisi - 1976

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In 1978 Kasparov participated in the Sokolsky Memorial tournament at Minsk. He had been invited as an exception but took the first place and became a 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.

Related Topics:
1978 - Minsk - Master

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Kasparov rose quickly through the FIDE rankings. Starting with an oversight by the Russian Chess Federation, Garry Kasparov participated in a Grandmaster tournament in Banja Luka while still unrated (the federation thought it was a junior tournament). He emerged from this top-class encounter with a provisional rating of 2595, enough to catapult him into the top group of chess players.

Related Topics:
Russian Chess Federation - Grandmaster - Banja Luka

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The next year, 1980, he won the World Junior Chess Championship in Dortmund, West Germany.

Related Topics:
1980 - World Junior Chess Championship - Dortmund - West Germany

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Kasparov sought to challenge world champion Anatoly Karpov — a firm favourite of the Russian Chess Federation. But first Kasparov had to pass the test of the Candidates Tournament to qualify.

Related Topics:
Anatoly Karpov - Candidates Tournament

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His first Candidates match was against Alexander Beliavsky, from which Kasparov emerged surprisingly victorious (Beliavsky was an exceptionally tough opponent). Politics threatened Kasparov's next match against Viktor Korchnoi, which was scheduled to be played in Pasadena, California. Korchnoi defected from Russia in the late 1970s, and was at that time the strongest non-Soviet player. Various political manoeuvres prevented Kasparov from playing Korchnoi, and he forfeited the match.

Related Topics:
Alexander Beliavsky - Viktor Korchnoi - 1970s

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This was resolved by Korchnoi's allowing the match to be replayed in London. Kasparov won.

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Kasparov's final Candidates match was against the resurgent Vassily Smyslov (who was randomly selected to advance after a 7-7 tie against Huebner by the spin of a roulette wheel at the quarterfinals, but soundly defeated Hungarian GM Zoltan Ribli at the semifinals). Smyslov was the seventh world champion in 1957, but later years saw his willingness to fight for wins greatly diminished. Kasparov won.

Related Topics:
Vassily Smyslov - Huebner - 1957

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