Garry Kasparov

Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born Garik Kimovich Weinstein on 13 April 1963) is a Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion (1985–2000), political activist and writer.

His peak FIDE chess rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by Magnus Carlsen in 2013.

Kasparov won the Soviet Junior Championship in Tbilisi in 1976, scoring 7/9 points, at age thirteen.

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.

In 1978, Kasparov participated in the Sokolsky Memorial tournament in Minsk.

He had received a special invitation to enter the tournament but took first place and became a chess master.

Kasparov has stressed 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.

From 1984 until his retirement from regular competitive chess in 2005, Kasparov was ranked world no. 1 for a record 255 months overall.

Kasparov also holds records for the most consecutive professional tournament victories (15) and Chess Oscars (11).

Kasparov became the youngest-ever undisputed world champion in 1985 at age 22 by defeating then-champion Anatoly Karpov.

He defended the title against Karpov three times, in 1986, 1987 and 1990.

Kasparov and his family had to flee anti-Armenian pogroms in Baku in January 1990 that were coordinated by local leaders with Soviet acquiescence.

According to Kasparov himself, he was named after United States President Harry 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 began the serious study of chess after he came across a problem set up by his parents and proposed a solution.

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, which was done to avoid possible anti-Semitic tensions common in the USSR at the time.

From age seven, Kasparov attended the Young Pioneer Palace in Baku and, at ten, began training at Mikhail Botvinnik's chess school under 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.

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.

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.

Kasparov coached Carlsen in 2009–10, 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.

In the wake of 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 is chairman of the Human Rights Foundation and chairs its International Council.

In 2017, he founded the Renew Democracy Initiative (RDI), an American political organisation promoting and defending liberal democracy in the U.S. and abroad.

He serves as chairman of the group.

Kasparov is also a security ambassador for the software company Avast.

Kasparov was born Garik Kimovich Weinstein (Гарик Кимович Вайнштейн) in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR (now Azerbaijan), 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 Nagorno-Karabakh.

Kasparov has described himself as a "self-appointed Christian", although "very indifferent" and identifying as Russian: "[A]lthough I'm half-Armenian, half-Jewish, I consider myself Russian because Russian is my native tongue, and I grew up with Russian culture."