Kasparov’s career;
Kasparov was born in 1963 in the USSR city of Baku (now Azerbaijan), under the name Garik Kimovich Weinstein (Russian: Гарик Вайнштейн). His father, Kim Moiseyevich Weinstein, was Jewish and his mother, Klara Shagenovna Kasparova, was an Armenian. Kasparov called himself “self-evident-Christian” and described himself as follows: “Although I am half Armenian, half Jewish, I consider myself Russian because my native language is Russian, I studied in Russian lands and grew up with Russian culture.
Kasparov studied chess at Mikhail Botvinnik’s chess school. At the age of 13, he got 7 points out of 9 and won the Soviet Junior Championships held in Tbilisi in 1976. The next year, he repeated this success and scored 8.5 out of 9.
He participated in the Sokolski Memorial Tournament in Minsk in 1978. He participated in the tournament without being invited, but received the title of “master” as the tournament winner. Kasparov considered this success as the turning point of his life and stated that this success encouraged him to choose chess as his profession. “I will remember Sokolski Memorial as long as I live,” he said in one of his articles.
Kasparov rose rapidly in the FIDE rankings. With the carelessness of the Russian Chess Federation, Garri Kasparov participated in the “grandmasters” tournament in Banya Luka, although it was not enough. He managed to score 2595 points in this top-tier tournament. This was enough for Kasparov to rise into the top players.
The following year, in 1980, West Germany won the World Junior Championships in Dortmund.
Meanwhile, Kasparov was looking for a chance to play games with world champion Anatoli Karpov. But first he had to pass the candidates tournament.
1984 World Championship;
The world championship game played between Anatoli Karpov and Garri Kasparov in 1984 was one of the most controversial matches in chess history. Karpov started very well in the game, in which the side with 6 wins will be the champion, and scored 4-0 by scoring 4 wins in the first 6 matches. Karpov had only 2 more games to win, but Kasparov did his best not to allow it. 17 consecutive matches ended in a draw, and in the end Karpov got another win and made the score 5-0. He had only 1 victory left to reach the championship. He then drew again until the 32nd game and Kasparov finally got his first win.
Karpov, who was 11 years older than Kasparov from this point on, was almost physically exhausted. He lost a total of 10 kg during the match. After a few games, Kasparov got 2 more victories in a row, bringing the score to 5-3. Karpov, who was hospitalized several times during the match, was in poor condition. Although Karpov said he was fine and wanted to continue the game, the doctors were saying that he was not in good condition and that he could not continue. Kasparov, on the other hand, thought that he was the favorite of the match with the morale of winning the last 2 games despite being 5-3 behind and wanted to continue the game. But FIDE President Florencio Campomanes announced that although both players wanted to continue the match, the match was canceled on the grounds that the health of both players was strained due to the length of the match and the new match will be held in a few months. Thus, for the first time, a world championship match was finished without a result.
1985 World Championship;
The second Kasparov-Karpov match was organized in 1985 over 24 matches. The first player to reach 12.5 points would have reached the championship. In the event of a 12-12 draw, Karpov, the last champion, would keep his title.
Kasparov started the game well and won the first game, making it 1-0. After two draws, Karpov recovered and won 2 consecutive wins to score 2-3. In the following games, Kasparov won 2, and Karpov 1, until the last game was reached. Thus the score was 12-11 in favor of Kasparov. Karpov had to make a 12-12 draw by taking this game to keep his title. Karpov followed an aggressive strategy to win the game, but Kasparov complicated the game by sacrificing 2 pawns on moves 26 and 31, and Karpov made a big mistake on move 36, losing a piece and abandoned after a few moves.
Thus, Kasparov, who won the match 13-11, ended Karpov’s 10-year World Championship. Kasparov became World Champion at the age of 22, the youngest World Champion in history. (The youngest previous champion was Mikhail Tal, who defeated Botvinnik in 1960 at the age of 23.)
In 1986 he won the rematch match against Karpov in London and Leningrad, 12.5-11.5. They played a new match in Spain in 1987. The score of this game, which was more contentious than the other games, was 12-11 in favor of Karpov at the end of the 23rd game. In the last game Kasparov needed an absolute win. This was a very difficult task, considering that he only won 3 games in 23 games so far. However, Kasparov, who started the game with an unexpectedly calm “Reti opening”, won the last game and kept his title despite the score being equal. In the match held in 1990, this time Kasparov retained his title more comfortably. Kasparov defended his title against Nigel Short in 1993, and Viswanathan Anand in 1995 as a result of the match that took place on the top floor of the New York World Trade Center.
Garri Kasparov Computer vs chess;
Kasparov became the center of attention of computer manufacturers, thanks to his worldwide reputation. Kasparov Versus the World game was created. Some companies wanted to develop a computer that could beat it to show how much the technology has improved. IBM arranged a match with Kasparov by building a computer called Deep Blue. In 1996, after the 6-set matches, Kasparov beat Deep Blue 4-2.
IBM developed Deep Blue (also known as Deeper Blue, but officially Deep Blue) until the next year. Kasparov played a match again in 1997 with this computer, which could review 60 billion moves in 3 minutes. As a result of this match, which also consisted of 6 sets, Deep Blue managed to beat Kasparov with 3.5 points against 2.5. Thus, for the first time in human history, a computer defeated the world chess champion. Kasparov claimed that Deep Blue was helped by human intervention in 37.Be4 of game 2. Because in such a situation a computer was expected to have a tendency to win a pawn by making 37.Qb6, and this expectation has been confirmed by many chess authorities. However, IBM rejected this claim and Kasparov’s proposal for a new match and ended the Deep Blue project.
Kaparov against deep blue (source) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViIBd2pT9QE
Kasparov participated in a demonstration on August 17, 2012 against the 2-year prison sentence of members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot. In this demonstration, the police wanted to be detained with at least 60 people. Kasparov refused to be detained and bit the arm of a police officer. Currently, he is being asked to be sentenced to 5 years in prison for the offense of physical assault.
Kasparov denied this crime in the coming months, but stated that he would continue to support the group. The case filed against him was dropped.
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