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Garry Kimovich Kasparov has been the top rated chess player in the world since around 1982, and is regarded by many as one of the strongest players ever. He was FIDE world champion from 1985 to 1993, and has won unofficial championship matches against Nigel Short in 1993 and Viswanathan Anand in 1995. Garry was born April 13, 1963, in Baku, the capital of what was then Soviet Azerbaijan. Garry's last name was originally Wainshtain, but his father died when he was six, and at age 12, he changed to a version of his mother's maiden name Kasparian. Already by the age of ten, his play had begun to attract attention, and he was invited to join Botvinnik's school where he studied mainly by correspondence for five years. By the age of 15, he had made it to the Top League of the Soviet championship, which was also a Zonal for the next world championship. He finished in the middle of the pack, but he managed to beat Lev Polugaevsky, who was at the time one of the world's top ten players. He entered the top ten himself after a victory at Banja Luka in Apr.-May 1979 ahead of Ulf Andersson and former world champion Tigran Petrosian. He went on to take the World Junior Championship in 1980, a point and a half ahead of Britain's Nigel Short. He had his first serious run-in with world champion Anatoly Karpov on first board at the Four Teams Event, Moscow 1981, where they drew both their games but Kasparov finished with a higher score thanks to two wins over another former world champion, Vassily Smyslov. He met Karpov once again at Moscow International 1981, but had to settle for a share of second place with Polugaevsky and Smyslov behind Karpov. He faltered at Tilburg 1981 coming only =6th, but quickly recovered, sharing first with Psakhis in the USSR championship in Frunze 1981, and winning outright at Bugojno 1982 ahead of Polugaevsky. By then, one of the highest rated players in the world, he was seeded directly into Moscow Interzonal without needing to play in the Soviet Zonal. He came 1st ahead of Alexander Belyavsky and former world champion Mikhail Tal to secure a place in the following candidates matcges. He easily disposed of Belyavsky +4=4-1 in the quarterfinal in Moscow in Feb. and Mar. 1983, but when the FIDE chose the U.S. as the site for his Candidates semi-final match with Korchnoi, the Soviet chess federation forbade him to go. Kasparov later charged that Karpov and his supporters were trying to block his road to the world championship. Fortunately, Kasparov met with Korchnoi at Niksic (where Kasparov won a tournament ahead of Larsen), and Korchnoi agreed to a new match to be held in London in Nov.-Dec. Korchnoi won the first game then four draws ensued, but then Kasparov broke through finishing the match with four wins and two draws (+4 -1 =6). Kasparov served as board 2 behind Karpov at the second USSR vs. the rest of the World match in London 1984, easily beating Jan Timman of the Netherlands. Kasparov has found his toughest challenge in the five matches with Karpov for the world championship which he contested from 1984 through 1990. The first match with Karpov was held at Moscow 1984-5. The winner was to be the first player to win six games. It looked like Karpov had it sewed up after nine games with the score at +0=5-4, but a long series of draws ensued and Kasparov rallied (+3=40-5). At this point, Karpov apparently called FIDE president Florencio Campomanes who declared the match aborted with no result. In the rematch at Moscow 1985, Kasparov beat Karpov to become champion (+5=16-3). Here is the 16th game from that match: [Event "World ch."] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nb5 d6 6.c4 Nf6 7.N1c3 a6 8.Na3 d5!? ({Kasparov introduced this sacrifice in the 12th game of this match. He sacrifices his d-pawn in order to let his f8 bishop out. Before this match, the usual continuation was} 8...Be7 9.Be2 0-0 10.0-0 b6 11.Be3 Bb7 12.Rc1 {= as in Karpov-Taimanov, Soviet Championship, Moscow 1973}) 9.cxd5 ({When faced with an innovation, especially from Kasparov, Karpov tends to play quietly and then study up before playing the sharpest continuations. For this reason, in the 12th game, he played} 9.exd5 exd5 10.cxd5 Nb4 11.Bc4 Bg4 12.Be2 Bxe2 {and settled for a draw after only 18 moves.}) 9...Nb4 10.Be2 ({To prevent Bg4}) 10...exd5 11.exd5 Bc5!? ({In gambit style}) 12.0-0 ({Around this time Karpov slowed down and began to think}) 12...0-0 13.Bf3 ({Karpov is bent on preserving the pawn.} 13.Nc4 {may have been better but} 13...Nbxd5 14.Nxd5 Nxd5 {leads to a drawish position}) 13...Bf5 14.Bg5 Re8 15.Qd2 b5 16.Rad1 Nd3! ({Threatening to fork the knights with ...Nb4}) 17.Nab1 ({To avoid the fork. Kasparov recommended} 17. d6 {where there might follow} 17...Qxd6 18.Bxa8 Rxa8 19.Bxf6 Qxf6 {but even here Karpov would still have had to play} 20.Nab1) 17...h6 18.Bh4 b4 19.Na4 Bd6 20.Bg3 Rc8 21.b3 ({Preparing Nb2 to drive away Kasparov's knight at d3}) 21...g5! ({Looks loosening but Karpov's pieces cannot move to take advantage of this. This pawn will protect the knight or bishop if they move to f4}) 22.Bxd6 ({Karpov does not want a black piece on f4 so he prepares g3. Alternatives were} 22.h3 {to prevent ...g4 or} 22.h4 {to mix it up}) 22...Qxd6 23.g3 Nd7! ({Freeing this square for the queen, and preparing Nc5 or e5 to bolster the knight at d3}) 24.Bg2 Qf6! ({Preventing Nb2}) 25.a3 ({Trying to free up the knights}) 25...a5 ({but Kasparov keeps the clamp on}) 26.axb4 axb4 27.Qa2 ({Hoping to get in Nd2. Perhaps better was} 27.h3 {to prevent ...g4}) 27...Bg6 28.d6?! ({The immediate} 28. Nd2 {fails to} 28...Re2 {so Karpov tries a bit of deviousness. If} 28...Qxd6 {, then} 29. Nd2 Re2 30.Nc4 {and the knight goes free. Maybe better was} 28.h3) 28...g4 {Kasparov doesn't fall for it} 29.Qd2 Kg7 30.f3? ({Karpov cracks under the pressure opening up lines to his king. He could have tried} 30.Kh1 {hoping for} 30...Qxd6 31.Nb2{=}) 30...Qxd6 ({Just the chance Kasparov had been waiting for}) 31.fxg4 Qd4+ 32.Kh1 Nf6 ({Now Kasparov can moves his knights to the f2 square and threaten mate. Resistance is hopeless}) 33.Rf4 Ne4 34.Qxd3 Nf2+ 35.Rxf2 Bxd3 36.Rfd2 Qe3 37.Rxd3 Rc1 38.Nb2 Qf2 39.Nd2 Rxd1+ 40.Nxd1 Re1+ and Karpov resigned. {If 41.Nf1 then 41...Rxf1 42. Bxf1 Qxf1 mate. With this game, Kasparov regained the lead in the match and went on to win} Karpov exercised his right to a rematch at London/Leningrad 1986 but narrowly lost (+5 -4 =15). Here is a win from that match: [Event "World ch."] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 ({The closed Ruy Lopez, a common choice for these two}) 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Bb7 ({The Flohr-Zaitsev variation, Karpov's usual choice. Igor Zaitsev had long been one of Karpov's seconds. In their 1990 match, Karpov tried the Keres variation with} 9...Nd7 {drawing three games and losing the last}) 10.d4 Re8 ({Ehlvest tried for an easy draw against Karpov with} 11.Ng5 Rf8 12.Nf3 Re8 13.Ng5 Rf8 14.Nf3 {, but Karpov varied with} 14...Nd7 15.Nbd2 ed 16.cd Nb4 {in the Soviet Championship, Moscow 1988. Kasparov of course has no interest in settling for a draw with white}) 11.Nbd2 ({The main line. In game 44 of their first match, Kasparov played} 11.a4 h6 12.Nbd2 ed 13.cd Nb4 14.Qe2 Bf8 {, developed an attack, but had to settle for a draw}) 11...Bf8 12.a4 h6 ({In game 46 of that match, Karpov tried} 12...Qd7 13.ab! ab 14.Rxa8 Bxa8 15.d5 Nd8?! 16.Nf1 {, but had to suffer another vicious attack before eaking out a draw. Karpov improved on this in the 5th game of their second match with} 15...Na5! 16.Ba2 {Moscow 1985 where Kasparov lost}) 13.Bc2 exd4 ({In game 9 of their second match, Karpov tried} 13...Nb8 14.Bd3 c6 15.Nf1 Nbd7 16. Ng3 Qc7 17.Bd2 {and drew after a sharp struggle}) 14.cxd4 Nb4 15.Bb1 c5 ({In the second game of their fifth match in 1990, Karpov tried} 15...ba 16.Rxa4 a5 17.Ra3 Ra6 18.Nh2 g6 19. f3 {but lost}) 16.d5 Nd7 17.Ra3 c4 ({In 1990, Karpov tried} 17...f5 {in the 4th and 20th games drawing the first and losing the second}) 18.Nd4 ({Two games before this one, Kasparov had won with} 18.axb5 axb5 19.Nd4 Rxa3 20.bxa3 Nd3 21.Bxd3 cxd3 {, but he decides to vary}) 18...Qf6 ({This move is Karpov's theoretical novelty. He commits himself to the sacrifice of his b-pawn, but hopes to get counterplay by playing a knight to d3 and putting pressure on f2}) 19.N2f3 Nc5 ({More recently Kamsky tried the immediate} 19...Nd3 {in his 1995 Candidates final (PCA) with Anand. The game continued} 20.Bxd3 b4 21.Bxc4 bxa3 22.b3 Nc5 23.Qc2 {and ended in a draw}) 20.axb5 ({Sokolov later tried} 20.Ree3 {in the same position against Karpov. The game continued} 20...bxa4 21.Rac3 Nbd3 22.Rxc4 Nxc1 23.Qxc1 Rac8 {Bugojno 1989 and ended in a draw}) 20...axb5 21.Nxb5 ({Kasparov decides to take the proferred pawn}) 21...Rxa3 22.Nxa3 Ba6 23.Re3 Rb8 24.e5 dxe5 25.Nxe5 ({Kasparov keeps his pawn lead and even black's pawn at c4 looks vulnerable}) 25...Nbd3 26.Ng4 {Even stronger would have been 26.Qc2 Rb4 27.Nc6 Rb7 28.Re8 intending Be3, Bxc5 as suggested by Khalifman, but even with the text Kasparov still has an edge} 26...Qb6 {This may hold as well, but knowing Kasparov it might have been more circumspect to keep the queen for kingside defence with 26...Qf5 27.Re5 Qd7} 27.Rg3 g6 28.Bxh6 {Typical Kasparov. Now his knight at a3 is a goner, but he bets on his kingside attack striking home} 28...Qxb2 29.Qf3 Nd7?! {Karpov correctly senses that he must go over to the defence but this move releases the grip on d3. A perhaps more promising alternative was 29...Rb6 intending ...Rd6} 30.Bxf8 Kxf8 31.Kh2 ({Kasparov intends to go all out on the attack, but does not want any back rank checks getting in the way}) 31...Rb3 32.Bxd3 cxd3 ({Keene suggested} 32...Rxa3 {, but this seems hopeless after} 33.Nh6! Nf6 34.d6! Bb7 35.Qe3 Be4 36.d7}) 33.Qf4 Qxa3? ({Karpov should have tried} 33...Rxa3 34.Nh6 Qf6! {where he has staved off mate and can try to push his d-pawn}) 34.Nh6 Qe7 35.Rxg6 Qe5 36.Rg8+ Ke7 37.d6+ Ke6 38.Re8+ Kd5 39.Rxe5+ Nxe5 40.d7 Rb8 41.Nxf7 1-0 ({If} 41...Nc6 42.Qxb8! {and Karpov's material deficit has become too great}) Kasparov and Karpov drew their next match at Seville 1987 (+4 -4 =16), but Kasparov retained the title. Unhappy with the way FIDE organized events, Kasparov helped found the Grand Master's Association (GMA) with Karpov, Timman and other leading players. The GMA secured the sponsorship of Bessel Kok, CEO of SWIFT Corp in Belgium, and arranged a series of World Cup tournaments in 1988 and 1989. Gary came 1st or equal 1st in four of these: at Reykjavik World Cup 1988 ahead of Beliavsky, at Belfort World Cup 1988 ahead of Karpov, tying with Karpov for 1st at Skellfetea World Cup 1989, and tying with Ljubojevic for 1st at Barcelona World Cup 1989. Scored 12/14 to take first at Tilburg 1989 ahead of Korchnoi, one of the best tournament performances ever (see my records page). Since 1980, Spanish entrepreneur Luis Rentero has been organizing strong tournaments each winter in Linares, and this became a major venue for Gary to display his skills. He took 1st at Linares 1990 ahead of Gelfand, before going on to beat Karpov to retain the championship yet again at Lyon/New York 1990 (+5 -3 =16). Around this time, Kasparov resigned his post as president of the GMA, and his results seemed to suffer: =2nd with Gelfand after Anand at Reggio Emilia 1990-1, 2nd at Linares 1991 after Ivanchuk, 3rd after Short and Salov at Euwe Memorial 1991. Yet soon enough he was back on the winning road with 1sts at Tilburg 1991 ahead of Short, Anand and Karpov, Linares 1992 ahead of Ivanchuk and Timman, an equal 1st with Ivanchuk at Dortmund 1992, and a 1st ahead of Karpov and Anand at Linares 1993.Here is his win over Karpov from that event: [Event "Linares"] 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.Be3 e5 7.Nge2 c6 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.Rd1 a6 10.dxe5 Nxe5!? 11.b3 b5!? 12.cxb5 axb5 13.Qxd6 Nfd7 (13...Qxd6) 14.f4 ({Kasparov suggests} 14.Bg1) 14...b4 15.Nb1?! ({If Karpov has a weakness, it is an overreadiness to retreat. Kasparov called this the decisive mistake, but I wouldn't go that far. Still he is correct in saying that} 15.fxe5 {is better. e.g.} 15...bxc3 16.e6 fxe6 17.Qxe6+ Rf7 18.Qxc6 Rxa2 19.Nxc3) 15...Ng4 16.Bd4 Bxd4 17.Qxd4 (17.Rxd4 Rxa2 18.Qxc6 Ne3 19.Kf2 Nxf1 20.Kxf1 Qe7) 17...Rxa2 18.h3 c5 19.Qg1?! ({Karpov has got to be kidding with this move. He has got to keep the knight on g4 out of the centre, and a better shot at this is} 19.Qd3 Ngf6 20.e5 Ba6 21.Qf3 Nh5 22.g3 Qa8=) 19...Ngf6 20.e5 Ne4 21.h4 c4 22.Nc1 (22.Qd4 c3 23.Qxe4 c2 24.Rc1 Nc5 25.Rxc2 Nxe4 26.Rxa2 Qd3-+; 22.bxc4 b3 23.Qe3 Qa5+ 24.Nec3 Ndc5 25.h5 Bg4-+) 22...c3!! 23.Nxa2 c2 24.Qd4 (24.Rc1 Nxe5 25.Qe3 (25.Rxc2 Bg4 26.Rd2 Nxd2 27.fxe5 Nxf1-+) 25...cxb1Q 26.Rxb1 Ng4 27.Qxe4 Re8 28.Qxe8+ Qxe8+-+) 24...cxd1Q+ 25.Kxd1 Ndc5 26.Qxd8 Rxd8+ 27.Kc2 Nf2 0-1 When challenger Nigel Short and Kasparov became unhappy with the way that the FIDE was handling the arrangements for their world championship match in 1993, the two broke with the FIDE, got the London Times to sponsor the match and eventually set up the Professional Chess Association (PCA), which began to run its own world championship cycle in competition with the FIDE's. Meanwhile, Karpov had regained the FIDE championship and managed to push Kasparov into 2nd place on the Elo list with a spectacular performance at Linares 1994. The Professional Chess Association (PCA) with backing from Intel organized a tournament at Novgorod 1994 where Kasparov came =1st with Ivanchuk. He followed this with a 1st at the Euwe Memorial 1994 in Amsterdam, but faltered again tying for 4th with Ehlvest after Kramnik, Ivanchuk and Short at Credit Suisse Masters 1995 at Horgen. He only came 2nd after Lautier at the four man Amsterdam VSB 1995. Kasparov defeated Anand convincingly at the PCA world championship in New York 1995 (+4 -1 =12), but his tournament results continued to fluctuate. He tied for 3rd with Anand after Topalov and Kramnik at Dos Hermanas 1996. 1st at Las Palmas 1996 ahead of Anand. Tied for 1st with Topalov at Amsterdam VSB 1996. 1st ahead of Kramnik at Linares 1997. 1st ahead of Kramnik at Novgorod 1997. Kasparov lost a short match with IBM's Deep Blue program (+1 -2 =3) in New York 1997 apparently leading Intel to withdraw its support from the PCA. Kasparov withdrew from the PCA and gave up trying to run a championship cycle. 3rd behind Anand and Shirov at Linares 1998. He drew a short match with Topalov (+2 -2 =2) at Leon/Spanien 1998. 3rd behind Kramnik and Anand at the rapidplay Chess Classic Giants 1998 in Frankfurt. Plans for a championship match with Shirov (who had defeated Kramnik in the World Chess Council's "candidates" match) fell through when political changes in the Spanish government left them without sponsors. 1st at Linares 1999 ahead of Anand. 1st at Sarajevo 1999 ahead of Bareev and Shirov. 1st at Siemans Giants 1999 in Frankfurt ahead of Anand and Kramnik. 1st at Corus Wijk Aan Zee 2000 ahead of Kramnik. Tied for 1st with Kramnik at Linares 2000. 1st at Sarajevo 2000 ahead of Adams and Shirov. He lost his title to Kramnik in a 16 game match in London in 2000 organized by the Braingames Network. 1st at Wijk aan Zee 2001 ahead of Anand, Kramnik and Ivanchuk. 1st at Linares ahead of Shirov, Polgar and Karpov. 1st at Astana 2001 ahead of Kramnik and Gelfand. 1st ahead of Ponomariov, Ivanchuk and Anand at Linares 2002. Knocked out of the Eurotel Trophy tournie in Prague 2002 by Ivanchuk in the quarterfinals. Tournament and match record You can download a collection of Kasparov's games at Mark Weeks' World Chess Championship site. Books: Garry Kasparov and Dmitry Plisetsky. 2003. Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors, Part 1. Everyman Chess. (on Steinitz, Tarrasch, Chigorin, Lasker, Rubinstein, Capablanca and Alekhine) Garry Kasparov and Dmitry Plisetsky. 2004. Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors, Part 2. Everyman Chess. (on Euwe, Botvinnik, Keres, Smyslov, Bronstein, Geller and Tal) Garry Kasparov and Dmitry Plisetsky. 2004. Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors, Part 3. Everyman Chess. (on Petrosian, Spassky, Stein, Polugaevsky and Portisch) Garry Kasparov and Dmitry Plisetsky. 2005. Garry Kasparov on Fischer: Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors, Part 4. Everyman Chess. (on Reshevsky, Fine, Najdorf, Larsen and Fischer) Garry Kasparov and Raymond Keene. 1989. Batsford Chess Openings 2. Collier. Garry Kasparov, Jon Speelman and Robert Wade. 1995. Fighting Chess, 4th edition. Batsford. Garry Kasparov. 1986. The Test of Time. Cadogan Books. (Early collection of his best games). Gary Kasparov (translated by Ken Neat). 1987. London-Leningrad Championship Games: Rematch Championship Games With Annotations by the World Champion. MacMillan. Garry Kasparov and Alexander Nikitin. 1992. The Sicilian Scheveningen: Sicilian : ...e6 and ...d6 Systems. Batsford. Garry Kasparov and Alexander Shakarov. 1984. Caro-Kann: Classical 4...Bf5. Collier. Garry Kasparov and Raymond Keene. 1994. Kasparov on the King's Indian. Henry Holt. Garry Kasparov and Donald Trelford. 1990. Unlimited Challenge. Grove Press. (His life story. No games. Revised version of Child of Change). Garry Kasparov and Daniel King. 2000. Kasparov Against the World. KasparovChess Online. Garry Kasparov. 2004. Garry Kasparov Teaches Chess 1: Opening Strategies, The Queen's Gambit DVD. Viva Media. Garry Kasparov. 2005. Kasparov: How to play the Najdorf Vol. 1 DVD. Chessbase. Garry Kasparov. 2006. Kasparov: How to play the Najdorf Vol. 2 DVD. Chessbase. Garry Kasparov. 2005. Kasparov: How to play the Queen's Gambit. Chessbase. Garry Kasparov and Jim Plaskett. 2000. Garry Kasparov My Story (5 videos). Grandmaster Video. |