Garry Kasparov Biography and Photos

Garry Kimovich Kasparov was born Gary Weinstein in Baku, Azerbaijan, USSR in 1963. Kasparov learned to play chess from his father who later died in a road accident when he was 7 years old. He subsequently changed his name to Kasparov, a Russified version of his mother's maiden name, Kasparyan. Kasparov's chess talent was apparent at an early age. In 1973 he attended the Botvinnik Chess School and Kasparov continued to make rapid progress. In 1975 at the age of 12 he became the youngest ever player to win the USSR Junior Championship. At 16 he won the World Junior Championship. He achieved the title of Grandmaster on his 17th birthday

In 1984 he challenged the current reigning World Champion, Anatoly Karpov for the title. This match was a hard fought battle and lasted 6 months, the longest in the history of chess. It was finally stopped by Florencio Campomanes, president of FIDE and a rematch ordered. In November 1985 Kasparov won the rematch against Karpov and became the youngest World Champion at the age of 22 years.

After long term friction with the international chess organisation, FIDE, Kasparov set up the rival organisation, the Professional Chess Association (PCA) and arranged a World Championship match in 1993 in which he beat British Grandmaster, Nigel Short. At the same time FIDE held their official Championship match between former World Champion, Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman which Karpov won. Both Kasparov and Karpov claim the title of World Champion.

In 1996 Kasparov competed in a six game match against an IBM computer called Deep Blue. Kasparov won with a score of 4 games to 2 games. The following year, he competed against an improved version called Deeper Blue and was defeated 3.5 games to 2.5 games. It was the first time a Grandmaster had lost a series of games to a computer. He is currently the highest rated player there has ever been in the history of chess.