Garry Kasparov, who has achieved many successes, is not only named with his game and strategies; He managed to announce it to the whole world with his contributions to chess.
Garry Kasparov is the player with the highest known rating in chess and the longest standing No. 1 player. At the same time, Garry Kasparov, who passed the 2800 threshold in January 1990; He participated in eight Olympics, four times for the USSR and four times for Russia, winning gold medals in all of them. He is the only player to win the Chess Oscar 14 times. He managed to set another record by being the first or the first with equal points in all the tournaments he played between 1981-1990. So what is the story behind all this? Who is Garry Kasparov actually? Let’s find answers to these questions together. . .
Let’s get down to his childhood, dear Garry. . .
His first name, Garik Kimovich Weinstein, was born in 1963 in the city of Baku, which was then part of the USSR. He looked at life from a different perspective since his childhood. When Garry lost his father when he was only 7 years old, he started using Kasparov, the Russian version of his mother’s surname. Although Garry Kasparov was half Armenian and half Jewish, he considered himself Russian because of the land of his birth and his mother tongue being Russian. If he had said this in our country, “Where are your fathers from, where are your 7 generations from?” they would ask, of course.
Garry was introduced to chess when we were still playing on the streets. At the age of 8, he entered Mikhail Botvinnik’s chess school and had the opportunity to work with the famous trainer Vladimir Makagonov. This was perhaps the first of his life-changing steps, but it would not be the last. He started winning at the age of 13 at the Soviet Junior Championships in Tbilisi, scoring 7 out of 9 points. The next year, he continued his success in the same tournament with 8.5 points out of 9 points.
One of the tournaments that impressed him the most was the 1978 Sokolski Memorial. Years later, he would say in one of his articles, “I will remember the Sokolski Memorial as long as I live.” Beneath his cold and harsh-looking temperament, he actually knew the value of every moment he lived. The reason why Sokolski Memorial is so important to him may be that he entered the tournament as an uninvited guest and came out first. Being first in the tournament made him believe that he could continue chess as a profession.
Of course, their success would not be limited to this tournament. Kasparov managed to participate in the Grandmasters Tournament in Luke, although it was not enough, thanks to the carelessness of the Russian Chess Federation. Thus, the federation’s momentary inattention turned out to be one of Kasparov’s greatest chances. He quickly climbed through the FIDE rankings, scoring 2595 points from this tournament. He was now considered successful and ranked on the same level as top players, but he always had his eye on the top.
You can’t be first without beating the first
It is worth mentioning a few matches that made Garry Kasparov so well-known. He won the World Junior Championships in Dortmund in 1980. But he knew that to be the best, he had to beat the best. He made up his mind to play with Anatoli Karpov, the world champion at the time. He got this chance at the World Championships in 1984.
This match, which will be won by those who reach 6 victories, would undoubtedly be one of the most controversial matches in chess history. Things escalated after Karpov made the score 4-0, Kasparov did his best to keep his opponent from gaining points. Unable to give up, Kasparov seemed to have sworn not to lose the score. After a draw for exactly 17 games, Kasparov lost another score. He was still on the chessboard with his whole being and maybe having the game of his life. The draw continued until the 32nd game, and Kasparov finally managed to score.
Karpov was exhausted in this long struggle, as he was 11 years older than Kasparov. Returning to Ali Rıza Bey, Karpov was hospitalized several times during the match, lost 10 kilos and said that he wanted to complete the match despite all the warnings of the doctors. Ali Rıza Bey intended to spoil our taste… Kasparov took advantage of his opponent’s weakness and made the score 5-3. Both players were quite stubborn and had no intention of giving up. However, FIDE President Florencio Campomanes must have been upset with the plight of the players, and decided to cancel the match on the grounds that the match was taking too long and harming the health of the players. Thus, for the first time in history, a world championship match was finished without results. Karpov later became the de facto Champion as the match could not be replayed.
The duo we know is on the stage again
Karpov and Kasparov, who faced each other for the second time in 1985 at the World Championship, this time went on a 24-game streak. Everyone’s eyes were on the stones in front of the Kasparov and Karpov duo. Karpov, who was the last champion, would maintain his title if the scores remained 12-12. As in the previous match, this match was also very competitive. Kasparov was the first to score. After another draw, the score was 12-11 in favor of Kasparov. All Karpov had to do was score and defend his title.
Perhaps wanting to hear that now the game was over and he was defending his title, Karpov made an offensive move. Kasparov remained calm and sacrificed two pawns on the way to victory. The game had become complicated and Karpov lost an important piece with one wrong move. A few moves later, he left the game and left the title to Kasparov. In this way, the match was completed when no one got sick and both players were healthy. Thus, Garry Kasparov became the youngest world champion in history and retained this title in FIDE until 1993.
He added a lot to the chess world. . .
Now looking for a new purpose for himself, Kasparov wanted to popularize professional chess after he became world champion. For this, he founded the Grandmasters Association (GMA) and started to fight against FIDE. This organization, which was established to professionalize chess and to defend the rights of grandmasters, left its place to the Professional Chess Association in 1993. Continuing his matches in this organization, Kasparov easily won the match he made with his rival Nigel Short. The match played in London made a great impression. It contributed to the spread of chess in England and was broadcast live on television. With this match, Kasparov became the PCA World Champion. Karpov was the FIDE World Champion at the time.
Kasparov continued to maintain this title in 1995, but after the PCA’s sponsor withdrew his support, the institution came to an end. Kasparov organized a new world championship, this time under the name of the World Chess Association (WCA). In the match between Shirov and Kramnik, where Kasparov’s opponent will be determined, Shirov won. Kasparov did not smile and WCA disbanded after this win. Afterwards, he managed to arrange a match with Kramnik instead of Shirov, with Braingames organizing. Kramnik, who almost narrowed the chessboard to Kasparov, became the world champion without losing the party. By 2000, Kasparov was not the first world champion.
It came with computers, etc.
Kasparov’s chess achievements caught the attention of computer manufacturers as well as everyone else. The game Kasparov Against the World was created. Some computer manufacturers, wanting to see Kasparov defeated, developed a computer. Kasparov, who played a 6-set match with the computer they named Deep Blue in 1996, managed to beat Deep Blue 4-2. In the following years, Deep Blue was developed and could now predict 60 billion moves in 3 minutes. Even if most of us were ‘Garry Kasparov’ after hearing these numbers, we could have taken a step back. However, Kasparov again accepted a challenge, but the result was not what he wanted. Deep Blue managed to beat Kasparov with a score of 3.5 against 2.5.
Kasparov said that the computer made a move that normally could not be done with human intervention and wanted to play the match again. This request was denied. The Deep Blue project achieved its goal, defeating a world champion, and was later terminated. Continuing to struggle with computers, Kasparov played against a computer named Deeper Junior in a match organized by FIDE in 2003. Deeper Junior could calculate 3 million positions per second. It was estimated that around 200-300 million people watched the match, which was broadcast live by ESPN2. Kasparov left this match in a draw.
He set an unprecedented record by winning the famous Linares Tournament for the ninth time. After this success, he held a press conference and announced that he was leaving professional chess on March 10, 2005. He had now achieved all the achievements he could get. He had the comfort of climbing all the heights he could climb. He announced that he would enter politics and focus on his book “My Great Predecessors”, in which he told the history of the world championship, and the relationship between chess and life. In chess, he said he had no purpose after winning the Russian Championship in 2004.
His last game after quitting chess was in a blitz tournament in Lausanne. Here he shared the first place with Karpov, where he played perhaps the first important game of his career.
Didn’t stop after retirement
While it was possible to buy a summer house and watch the sea in a quiet place, Kasparov got involved in politics this time. “What does it matter if he quit chess and entered politics?” you can say. In fact, while Kasparov was interested in chess, he was also very interested in politics. He resigned from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1990 and joined the Russian Democratic Party. In 1991, he received the “Keeper of Fire” award for his support of Russia’s promotion of democracy.
Of course, chess was still following him, but this time in a different way; He was attacked with a chessboard in 2005. He was also one of the most active opponents of President Vladimir Putin. He organized many rallies. He was arrested at one of these rallies in 2007 and was released a short time later. In 2012, he participated in a demonstration against the members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot being sentenced to 2 years in prison and was asked to be detained in this demonstration. Kasparov resisted arrest and bit a policeman’s arm and was sentenced to 5 years in prison. In the following process, he denied this accusation and continued to support the group. The lawsuit against him was dropped.
Kasparov established foundations in many countries for the spread of chess. In our country, he met with TSF President Ali Nihat Yazıcı in 2004. He supported the project of showing chess as a lesson in schools. In 2006, his book was translated into Turkish as “My Masters”. After the publication of his book, Kasparov gave a speech at the TÜYAP Book Fair to promote it and praised the development of chess in Turkey. Of course we were proud too. . .
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