The greatest chess enigma of the century, Garry Kasparov has ruled the chess world for over 20 years now. He is respected and idolized by all chess players and fans across the world. His journey from being a young prodigy to a chess icon is looked at with awe and admiration. A public speaker, powerful author and popular politician, Kasparov has spent his life adding value to whatever he did, as he says “I wouldn't overestimate the importance of my popularity in the country and abroad but at the end of the day it's not as important because I believe that my presence here could make some difference and it could encourage people”

Garry Kasparov was born as Garry Weinstein on April 13, 1963 to his Jewish father and Armenian mother who were the reason behind growing passion for chess since he was a kid. He was born in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR. His parents infused in him his initial liking for the game, as they understood chess was the only activity that kept him engrossed. It was at the age of 10 that he started his training at Mikhail Botvinnik's chess school under the guidance of famous Vladimir Makogonov. His training started with learning the Caro-Kann Defence and the Tartakower System of the Queen's Gambit Declined.

Kasparov has been married three times and has three kids, one with each of his wives. Called Garry by people close to him, Kasparov is popular with friends and family for his contagious laugh, his kindness and for being a caring and multifarious human being that he is. He was in the forefront of the anti-Communist movement, resulting in real threats to his person. An athlete and humanitarian, he is a cultivated and curious man who closely follows literature, films and politics. He is also a writer and political activist. He is passionate about the Kasparov Chess Foundation, which is headquartered in the US and is promoting chess in the classroom nationwide.

He has authored several books some of which are How Life Imitates Chess, My Great Predecessors (Part I, II, III, IV, V), Checkmate! My First Chess Book, Garry Kasparov on Modern Chess (Part I & II), Chess Challenge, King's Indian, The Queen's Indian Defence and many more.

Kasparov retired from serious competitive chess on March 10, 2005. Kasparov said he may play in some rapid chess events for fun, but intends to spend more time authoring his books. He continued to involve himself in Russian politics.

Early Career:

His first win was at the age of 13, the Soviet Junior Championship in the year 1976 in Tbilisi. He scored 7 points of 9 in the game. With time his skills started getting better as he won the same championship in the following year with a score of 8½ of 9. The second phase of his training started under the guidance of Alexander Sakharov. It was in the year 1978 that Kasparov participated in the Sokolsky Memorial tournament in Minsk, where he won the title of ‘Chess Master’ with a noticeable victory. The interesting part was, he was taken in as an extra in the tournament, which opened the door for him to choose, his career in chess. "I will remember the Sokolsky Memorial as long as I live," he wrote as it became one of the most important days in his life.

Kasparov never had to look back after this as he quickly rose to fame winning almost all the tournaments that came his way. At the age of 15 he qualified for the Soviet Chess Championship where he was titled as the youngest ever player at that level. He won the 64-player Swiss system tournament at Daugavpils over tiebreak from Igor V. Ivanov, to capture the sole qualifying place.

The World Chess Federation (FIDE) rankings were taken by him one after the other starting with Russian Chess Federation in the year 1979. He won this tournament with a rating of 2595 thus, placing himself amongst the top chess players of the time. Year 1980 came with his win in the World Junior Chess Championship in Dortmund, West Germany. Later that year he participated in the Chess Olympiad at La Valletta, Malta for Soviet Union and won himself the title of a Grandmaster.

Kasparov was rated world no.1 as per the rating done by Elo from 1986 to the year 2005, when he retired. He has the highest rating of 2851 as of now.

World Chess Championship:

The World Chess Championship in the year1985 created history. Kasparov challenged the reigning World Champion, Anatoly Karpov for the title. The match was a hard fought battle and lasted 6 months, the longest in the history of chess. Florencio Campomanes, president of FIDE, finally stopped it to order a rematch. 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 organization, FIDE, Kasparov set up the rival organization, 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.

Kasparov and Karpov played again in 1986, 1987 and in 1990. Some call it the golden years of the World Championship matches and the media hugely covered the match in Sevilla in 1987.

Then followed title defenses against Nigel Short in London in 1993, against Vishy Anand in New York City in 1995 where they played on the 106th Floor of the World Trade Center and Mayor Rudolf Giuliani made the first move on of all days, "September eleventh". In 2000 after 15 years, Kasparov's reign as World Champion came to end with a loss to Kramnik in London.

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.

Kasparov Vs Machine:

Deep Junior

In Jan of 2003 FIDE's President, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov decided to hold a world championship challenge match between the world's #1 ranked player vs. the reigning world computer chess champion, an Israeli program called Deep Junior. The highly publicized and tightly contested event played in New York City saw Garry Kasparov battle the computer to a 3 - 3 draw.

X3D Fritz

Later on in 2003, Kasparov made world headlines when he played X3D's Fritz computer program to a draw in four games. What was unusual about this contest was Kasparov's use of darkly tinted 3-D glasses with the added handicap of speaking his moves without ever touching the board.