KASPAROV, GARY

KASPAROV, GARY (1963– ), Russian chess master. Kasparov, whose father was Jewish and whose mother was an Armenian, was born in Baku. He was taught the basic rules of chess by his father, Kim Vainstein, an engineer who was killed in an accident (1970) when Kasparov was seven years of age. As his career in chess developed, he adopted his mother's maiden name – apparently at the behest of the Soviet authorities. After his exceptionally great talent for chess was discovered he was taught intensively by the former world champion mikhail botvinnik , who clearly understood the great potential which Kasparov had in the field of chess. His career was meteoric: in 1980 he earned the title of grand master and won the World Junior Chess Championship; in 1981 he became chess champion of the Soviet Union. His path to the world championship was paved by his victory in the Moscow inter-district competition. He then won matches against the grand masters Alexander Blaiavsky and Viktor Korchnoi as well as defeating former world champion Vasili Smislov. The height of his achievement came after three dramatic duels against his immediate predecessor as holder of the world title, the Russian Anatoly Karpov. The first duel was called to a halt at the end of 1984 after 48 games because of the physical and mental fatigue of Karpov. Kasparov did not refrain from accusing FIDE (the World Chess Federation) and the Russian chess establishment of trying to aid his opponent. In the second battle, which was limited to 24 games and which ended in November 1985, Kasparov was the victor, the result being 13:11. He thus became the youngest person ever to hold the title of world champion. In the rematch which took place in London and Leningrad in 1986 Kasparov retained the title of world champion by a score of 12.5:11.5. As world champion he also played against – and defeated – some of the greatest players in the West, including among them Olaf Anderson of Sweden, Jan Timmam of the Netherlands, and Anthony Miles of Great Britain. Kasparov's style of playing is deep, original, and devious. He tends to make bold moves and take chances to assume the offensive role. Kasparov puts great weight on the psychological aspects of the game and particularly on the ability to rebound after losses. He applied this in the 1986 match with Karpov after suffering three losses in a row. In 1990 he defeated Karpov again in the final meeting of a 24-game contest. He won 4, lost 3, and drew 17. In 1993 he retained his title, defeating Nigel Short of Britain. Kasparov battled computer chess programs. In February 1966 IBM's Deep Blue defeated Kasparov in one game – the first time a computer had bested a world champion – using normal time controls, but Kasparov won the match by gaining 3 wins and playing to 2 draws. In November 2003 he played against the X3D Fritz computer program using a virtual board, 3D glasses, and a speech recognition system in a four-game match. The first game ended in a draw, XD3 won the second, Kasparov the third, and the final game ended in a draw. Kasparov wrote a number of books which deal with the theory of openings of games and an analysis of a selection of his games. (Yisrael Shrenzel)