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– Meilleurs joueurs de l’histoire
– Champions du monde
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– Best players of history
– World champions
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Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov en 2007
Naissance	13 avril 1963 (48 ans) Bakou, URSS
Nationalité	Russe
Profession(s)	Joueur d’échecs Homme politique
Distinctions	Champion du monde d’échecs (1985–2000)

Garry Kimovitch Kasparov, né le 13 avril 1963 à Bakou ( RSS d’Azerbaïdjan, URSS), est avant tout un joueur d’échecs. Champion du monde d’échecs de 1985 à 2000 et vainqueur de nombreux tournois, il est considéré comme l’un des meilleurs joueurs de l’histoire, avec Bobby Fischer, Emmanuel Lasker, José Raul Capablanca, Alexandre Alekhine et Anatoli Karpov. Il est le premier joueur à avoir dépassé les 2800 points Elo, et a obtenu le classement Elo le plus élevé jamais enregistré, avec 2 851 points.

Kasparov a depuis 2005 renoncé à reconquérir son titre de champion du monde perdu en 2000 et à s’imposer face aux nouvelles générations de joueurs de plus en plus jeunes, pour s’engager de toutes ses forces en politique dans l’opposition à Vladimir Poutine et se consacrer à la rédaction de ses deux séries de livres sur les échecs : My Great Predecessors et Garry Kasparov on Modern Chess.

Sommaire 1 Biographie et carrière Famille Formation aux échecs Premiers succès internationaux Matchs de championnat du monde contre Karpov (1984-1990) Dissensions dans le monde des échecs (1986-1995) Perte du titre mondial (2000) Matchs contre les ordinateurs (1989 – 2003) Retraite des échecs (2005) 2 Engagement politique En Union soviétique Depuis 2007 3 Palmarès 1983 – 1990 : la conquête du championnat du monde 1991 – 1997 : champion du monde PCA 1998 – 2005 : numéro un mondial Tournois de Linares (1990 – 2005) Olympiades d’échecs Compétitions blitz et rapides (1983-2009) 4 Exemples de parties Kasparov-Karpov, 1985 Kasparov-Anand, 1995 Kasparov-Topalov, 1999 5 Incidents de jeu 6 Publications

Biographie et carrière

Famille

Garik Kimovitch Weinstein est né en avril 1963 d’un père juif, Kim Moiseyevitch Weinstein, décédé en 1970, et d’une mère d’origine arménienne, Klara Chagenovna Kasparian. Il reprend ensuite le nom de sa mère en le russifiant, devenant Garry Kasparov.

En 1990, il fut victime des pogroms anti-arméniens de Bakou (du 13 au 16 janvier), et contraint de fuir la capitale azérie, comme des milliers d’autres personnes d’origines arméniennes, en direction de l’Arménie.

Il a trois enfants : Polina (née en 1993 de sa première épouse, Macha), Vadim (né en 1997, de sa deuxième épouse Julia) et Aida (née en 2006, de sa troisième épouse Daria).

Formation aux échecs

En 1973, recommandé par Alexandre Nikitine, il entre à l’école Botvinnik, la meilleure école de formation aux échecs d’URSS. Il suit les cours de Mikhaïl Botvinnik, ancien champion du monde, de Nikitine, et de Mark Dvoretsky, un spécialiste des fins de parties. D’autres maîtres ont contribué à sa formation comme Alexandre Ivanovitch Chakarov, entre autres, dans le domaine des ouvertures. Au fil des années, lors de ses passes d’armes pour le championnat du monde, il est aidé d’une équipe de secondants comme Iossif Dorfman, Zurab Azmaiparashvili, Sergey Dolmatov, Evgueni Vladimirov et Iouri Dokoyan.

Premiers succès internationaux

En 1979, à l’âge de 16 ans et encore inconnu en Occident, Kasparov remporte son premier tournoi international de grands maîtres à Banja Luka en Yougoslavie, terminant invaincu avec 11,5 points sur 15 devant de grands noms de l’époque comme l’ancien champion du monde Tigran Petrossian, András Adorján, Jan Smejkal et Ulf Andersson. En juillet, il obtient son premier classement Elo international, 2545, ce qui le place au 38^e rang mondial.

En 1980, il remporte le championnat du monde junior et obtient le titre de grand maître international ; l’année suivante, en décembre 1981, il remporte le championnat d’URSS ex æquo avec Lev Psakhis. En 1982, il sort vainqueur du tournoi international de Bugojno et de l’interzonal de Moscou et entre ainsi dans le cycle des candidats au championnat du monde. Dans ce cycle, en 1983, il élimine Aleksandr Beliavski (+4 -1 =4) en quart de finale. En 1983, la demi-finale des candidats contre Viktor Kortchnoï aurait dû se dérouler initialement à Pasadena en Californie, sous les auspices de la FIDE. Cependant, les autorités soviétiques refusèrent de laisser Kasparov se rendre aux États-Unis, et la FIDE le déclara perdant par forfait. Le président de la FIDE, Florencio Campomanes, parvint cependant à organiser le match à Londres, avec l’accord de Kortchnoï, qui obtint la fin du boycott organisé par la fédération soviétique dont il faisait l’objet depuis sa défection en 1976. À Londres, Kasparov élimina Kortchnoï (+4 –1 =6), puis à Vilnius, dans la finale disputée en 1984, l’ancien champion du monde de 1957, Vassily Smyslov (+4 –0 =9).

Les matchs de championnat du monde contre Karpov (1984-1990)

Kasparov dispute sa première finale de championnat du monde en 1984 à Moscou contre Anatoli Karpov, le champion du monde en titre depuis 1975. Après 5 mois et 48 parties, aucun des deux joueurs ne parvenant à obtenir les 6 victoires nécessaires, ce match interminable est finalement interrompu par la Fédération internationale des échecs (FIDE) pour « préserver la santé des joueurs ». Cette interruption est critiquée par Kasparov alors qu’il était mené 5-3, après avoir été mené 5-0. Les éditions ultérieures prévirent un maximum de 24 parties.

C’est en 1985, lors du deuxième match contre Karpov, qu’il devint champion du monde à l’âge de 22 ans, sur le score de 13-11 (+5 =16 -3).

Kasparov conservera son titre, toujours contre Karpov, en 1986 à Londres et Léningrad (+5 =15 -4), en 1987 à Séville (+4 =16 -4), et en 1990 à New York et à Lyon (+4 =15 -3).

Dissensions dans le monde des échecs (1986-1995)

En 1986, Kasparov estime que les intérêts des joueurs professionnels ne sont pas assez défendus au sein de la FIDE, et crée alors avec Bessel Kok une association de joueurs professionnels de haut niveau, la GMA ( Grand Master Association); celle-ci organise entre 1988 et 1990 des compétitions prestigieuses comme les 6 tournois de la coupe du monde GMA (1988—1989), remportée par Kasparov. Des dissensions internes au sein de l’association, le retrait du principal sponsor, Bessel Kok, et la création de la PCA eurent raison d’elle au début des années 1990.

En 1993, Kasparov fonde la Professional Chess Association (PCA) avec le vainqueur du tournoi des candidats FIDE, le Britannique Nigel Short. En septembre, la PCA organise à Londres un championnat du monde dit « classique » en se revendiquant de la tradition commencée par Wilhelm Steinitz.

En septembre 1993, Kasparov l’emporte sur Nigel Short par le score de 12,5-7,5 (+6 =13 -1) dans le cadre d’un Championnat du monde organisé par la PCA, organisme non reconnu par la FIDE, ce qui lui vaut d’ailleurs une exclusion provisoire.

La FIDE ne reconnaît pas ce match et considère que les deux joueurs se sont exclus du cycle du championnat du monde ; elle organise un match entre Anatoli Karpov et Jan Timman pour le titre de Champion du Monde FIDE. C’est le début d’un schisme qui dura jusqu’en 2006. Kasparov admit plus tard que cette séparation d’avec la FIDE était une grave erreur. La FIDE exclut brièvement Kasparov et Short du classement Elo à titre de représailles, mais les réintègra avant la fin de l’année 1993.

En 1995, Kasparov conserve son titre de champion du monde PCA en battant l’Indien Viswanathan Anand au World Trade Center à New York (+4 =13 -1).

Perte du titre mondial (2000)

Suite au retrait du sponsor principal de la PCA en 1996 (Intel), l’organisation du championnat du monde est transférée à l’éphémère World Chess Council en 1998 ; les droits furent ensuite revendus à une organisation privée, Brain Games Network en 2000, puis rachetés en 2002 par le Einstein Group, et finalement transférés à Dannemann en 2004.

En 1998, Alexeï Shirov battit Vladimir Kramnik dans un match de 10 parties (+2 –0 =7), mais Kasparov estima qu’il n’était pas possible de trouver de sponsor pour un match contre Shirov (dont le score contre Garry Kasparov est très mauvais) en raison du peu de suspense lié à un tel match.

De juin à octobre 1999, il joue une partie via Internet contre le reste du monde, au rythme de un coup par jour. Face à lui, 50 000 joueurs de 75 pays, conseillés par quatre joueurs professionnels, dont Étienne Bacrot. Il gagnera la partie en 62 coups.

En juillet 1999, Kasparov atteint le plus haut classement Elo de tous les temps avec 2 851 points. Indépendamment du titre de champion du monde, il est resté n^o 1 mondial au classement Elo de la FIDE de 1984 jusqu’à sa retraite en 2005, soit pendant plus de 20 années consécutives, partageant seulement la première place avec Vladimir Kramnik au classement de janvier 1996. Il a été surnommé « l’ogre de Bakou » et « le monstre aux cent yeux qui voient tout ».

Après avoir annoncé un match contre Anand en 1999, c’est finalement contre Kramnik qu’il défend son titre en 2000 à Londres. Kasparov perd ce match (+0 –2 =13).

Matchs contre les ordinateurs (1989 – 2003)

En 1989, Kasparov défait facilement par le score sans appel de 2-0 Deep Thought, un superordinateur spécialisé dans le jeu d’échecs et capable de calculer 720 000 coups par seconde.

En 1994, Fritz 3 (tournant sur un Pentium à 90 Mhz) gagne une partie de blitz dans un tournoi contre Garry Kasparov, duquel ils terminent ex æquo. Kasparov le bat 4 à 1 dans les parties de départage. Kasparov affronte aussi Chess Genius 2.9 (tournant sur un Pentium à 100 Mhz) au grand Prix d’Intel à Londres en semi-rapide (30 min. la partie) et perd 1.5-0.5.

En février 1996, Kasparov affronte Deep Blue, développé par Feng-hsiung Hsu chez IBM, en six parties. Il perd la première partie du match, mais en gagne trois ensuite, et annule les autres.

En mai 1997, il perd le match revanche contre Deeper Blue ; c’est la première fois qu’un ordinateur bat officiellement un champion du monde en match singulier à cadence normale de compétition. Deeper Blue était capable de calculer de 100 millions à 300 millions de coups par seconde, et a défait Kasparov 3,5 à 2,5 dans un match de 6 parties.

En janvier 2003, Kasparov affronte Deep Junior, un programme qui tourne sur un micro-ordinateur multiprocesseur, dans un match de championnat du monde homme-machine sous les auspices de la FIDE, avec une bourse de 1 million de dollars ; le match se solde par un nul 3-3 (+1 -1 =4).

En novembre 2003, Kasparov joue un match de quatre parties contre le programme X3D Fritz, dont le classement est estimé à 2 807 points elo, en utilisant un échiquier virtuel, des lunettes stéréoscopiques et un système de reconnaissance de la parole. Le match se solde à nouveau par un nul (+1 -1 =2) et Kasparov emporte la bourse de 175 000 USD.

Retraite des échecs (2005)

Après sa défaite en 2000, Kasparov multiplie les victoires en tournois, malgré quelques contre-performances passagères en 2003 et 2004. Entre 2000 et 2005, les diverses tentatives pour réunifier le titre mondial (dont la plus sérieuse aura été l’accord de Prague en 2002) ou d’organiser un match-revanche contre Kramnik échouent.

Le 11 mars 2005, après avoir gagné le prestigieux tournoi de Linares pour la neuvième fois de sa carrière, il annonce qu’il se retire du monde des échecs professionnels. Son nom a été rayé du classement Elo en avril 2006 suite à une inactivité de plus d’un an, comme le veut le règlement FIDE.

Kasparov a également écrit une autobiographie Et le fou devint roi (1987) et plusieurs ouvrages échiquéens dont la série de livres My Great Predecessors (Sur mes grands prédécesseurs), en 5 tomes.

En 2008 durant le Corsican Circuit, il affronte cinq joueurs corses en simultanée, et gagne 5-0.

En 2009 et 2010, Kasparov a entraîné Magnus Carlsen et lui a permis de parvenir à la première place du classement mondial en janvier 2010.

Engagement politique

En Union soviétique

En 1987, il est élu au Komsomol, organisation de jeunesse du Parti communiste de l’Union soviétique. Il quitte le parti en 1990, soutient Boris Eltsine au nom du Parti démocratique de Russie, et est décoré du Keeper of the Flame award, décerné par le cercle de réflexion Center for Security Policy, proche des milieux néoconservateurs américains. Il a entretenu des liens avec des cercles de réflexion de la même obédience, comme l’Institut Hudson.

Depuis 2007

En 2005, Kasparov abandonna la compétition échiquéenne après la victoire au tournoi de Linarès. Kasparov poursuit depuis son retrait une carrière politique en Russie. Fondateur du Front civique unifié, il est l’un des chefs du mouvement « L’Autre Russie », une coalition d’opposants à Vladimir Poutine. Il a été notamment brièvement interpellé lors d’une manifestation du mouvement à Moscou le 14 avril 2007. Il a été arrêté une nouvelle fois le 24 novembre 2007 lors d’une manifestation à Moscou contre la tenue le 2 décembre 2007 d’élections législatives russes qu’il juge « injustes », et condamné en comparution immédiate à cinq jours d’emprisonnement pour manifestation non autorisée et refus d’obéir aux ordres de la police. Son avocate, M^e Mikhaïlova, a précisé qu’elle avait déposé plainte contre cette arrestation arbitraire. « Notre but est le démantèlement de ce régime qui couvre le pays de honte et le déteste. […] Nous allons sortir de ce marécage de corruption et de mensonge et nous gagnerons ! », avait lancé à la foule Garry Kasparov peu avant son interpellation.

Depuis son engagement politique en opposition contre le président Poutine, Kasparov se dit inquiet pour sa vie. Il a par exemple en permanence cinq gardes du corps et ne voyage plus avec la compagnie Aeroflot.

Kasparov est également un des défenseurs de la Nouvelle Chronologie, de l’académicien russe Anatoli Fomenko.

Le 30 septembre 2007, il est désigné comme le candidat du mouvement d’opposition L’Autre Russie à l’élection présidentielle de 2008 en Russie. Le 12 décembre 2007, il annonce son retrait de la course à la présidence, s’estimant victime d’ostracisme.

Le 18 janvier 2008, Kasparov publie dans Le Monde un article dans lequel il critique durement la complaisance de Nicolas Sarkozy envers Vladimir Poutine et les dangers que celle-ci présente à ses yeux.

Le 19 août 2008, Kasparov, Boris Nemtsov et d’autres personnalités de l’opposition dénoncent « la décision aventuriste » du président Dmitri Medvedev de lancer une invasion de la Géorgie au-delà de l’Ossétie du Sud. Elle risque selon eux d’isoler la Russie sur la scène internationale.

Le 13 décembre 2008, il annonce la naissance de son nouveau parti politique : Solidarnost. Le parti rassemble des membres de l’union des forces de droite ainsi que des partisans de l’ancien premier ministre Mikhaïl Kassianov.

Palmarès

Dans toute la carrière de Kasparov, les seuls tournois individuels à cadence lente où il ne se classa pas parmi les trois premiers furent le championnat d’URSS junior 1975 (il finit 7^e-10^e), la ligue supérieure du championnat d’URSS 1978 (il finit neuvième) et le tournoi international de Tilburg 1981 (il termina 6^e-8^e).Le tournoi de qualification junior de Léningrad en 1977, les championnats d’URSS 1978 et 1979 et le tournoi international de Tilburg 1981 sont les seuls tournois dans la carrière de Kasparov où il perdit plus de deux parties. Lors des olympiades d’échecs, Kasparov reçut la médaille de bronze individuelle à Malte en 1980 (2^e remplaçant) et à Lucerne en 1982 (2^e échiquier).

1983 – 1990 : la conquête du championnat du monde

De décembre 1981 (championnat d’URSS d’échecs) à décembre 1990 (championnat du monde d’échecs), Kasparov termina premier (seul ou ex æquo) des quinze tournois individuels auxquels il participa et vainqueur de tous ses matchs (la victoire dans la dernière ronde du championnat du monde de Séville en 1987, lui permit d’égaliser et de conserver son titre mondial). Son seul échec fut le premier match contre Karpov, disputé en 1984 – 1985, qui fut interrompu et annulé par la FIDE alors que Kasparov était mené sur le score de trois victoires, cinq défaites et quarante parties nulles; le match fut rejoué en octobre – novembre 1985.

En décembre 1985, au lendemain de la fin de son match contre Timman, Kasparov disputa une simultanée à la pendule contre une équipe de huit joueurs du club de Hambourg. Il gagna deux parties, perdit trois autres et fit trois nulles. Il prit sa revanche en février 1987, remportant six parties et ne concédant que deux nulles.

Dans les compétitions par équipes, Kasparov reçut la médaille d’or au premier échiquier aux olympiades 1986 et 1988 et il réalisa également la meilleure performance Elo de la compétition.

1991 – 1997 : champion du monde PCA

En 1991, lors du tournoi de Linares, Ivantchouk battit Karpov et Kasparov. Au final, il devança le champion du monde d’un demi-point, mettant fin à la série ininterrompue de victoires en tournois de Kasparov qui durait depuis plus de neuf ans. En 1994, il ne termina que 17^e du classement individuel lors de l’olympiade de Moscou. En 1996, il remporta le tournoi de Las Palmas où participaient les meilleurs joueurs du monde, à l’exception de Gata Kamsky — 6^e joueur mondial, remplacé par le 7^e joueur au classement mondial : Topalov.

En 1997, Kasparov remporta les trois tournois auxquels il participa, mais il perdit le match revanche contre Deep Blue.

1998 – 2005 : numéro un mondial

1998 fut une année de faible activité pour Kasparov avec un seul super-tournoi disputé : le tournoi de Linares où il occupa la troisième-quatrième place, tandis que Anand remportait les tournois de Wijk aan Zee (ex æquo avec Kramnik), Linares (devant Chirov et Kasparov), Madrid et Tilburg. En 1997, puis en 1998, pour la première fois depuis 1985, Kasparov ne reçut pas l’Oscar du meilleur joueur d’échecs de l’année, qui fut décerné à Anand. En 1998, Kasparov disputa un match «  Advanced Chess » contre Topalov à Leon (match assisté par ordinateur) : six parties à la cadence de 60 minutes par joueur (+2 -2 =2), suivies d’un départage blitz en trois parties sans ordinateur que Kasparov remporta. Auparavant, Kasparov avait battu Topalov 4-0 dans un match rapide organisé par Eurotel à Prague. En 1998 et 1999, les tentatives pour organiser un match de championnat du monde contre Chirov, puis contre Anand échouèrent.

En 1999, le champion du monde fit son retour en participant pour la première fois au tournoi de Wijk aan Zee. De 1999 à 2002, Kasparov remporta les dix super-tournois à cadence lente auxquels il participa : trois fois consécutivement Wijk aan Zee, quatre fois de suite Linares, deux fois de suite Sarajevo et, en 2001, le tournoi d’Astana devant Kramnik, qu’il battit. Il ne concéda qu’une défaite lors de ces dix tournois (+53 -1 =61), contre Ivan Sokolov à wijk Aan Zee en 1999, partie perdue après une série de sept victoires consécutives. La série de succès en tournoi fut interrompue à Linares en 2003 où Kasparov termina seulement troisième ex æquo et perdit une partie contre Radjabov.
L’année 1999 fut celle de tous les succès et Kasparov atteignit le meilleur classement Elo de l’histoire avec 2851 points; cependant, en 2000, Kasparov partagea la première place du tournoi de Linares avec Kramnik, puis, en novembre 2000, perdit son titre de champion du monde face à Kramnik. À la fin de l’année, l’oscar des échecs pour l’année 2000 fut décerné à Kramnik, pour sa victoire sur Kasparov et ses premières places à Linares (ex æquo avec Kasparov) et au tournoi de Dortmund (ex æquo avec Anand, Kasparov était absent), mais Kasparov conserva sa première place au classement Elo mondial jusqu’à sa retraite (en 2005). Entre la défaite contre Ivan Sokolov à Wijk aan Zee en 2000 et celle lors de la deuxième partie du championnat du monde de 2000, Kasparov fut invaincu pendant soixante trois parties.

En 2003 et 2004, l’oscar des échecs fut décerné à Anand qui avait remporté le tournoi de Wijk aan Zee, puis en 2005 à Topalov.

Tournois de Linares (1990 – 2005)

Kasparov a remporté neuf fois le tournoi de Linares en quatorze participations, dont quatre victoires consécutives de 1999 à 2002.
L’édition de 1995 fut la seule où Kasparov fut absent de 1990 à sa retraite, en 2005. Kasparov ne concéda que sept défaites lors de ses quatorze participations, et seulement deux parties perdues lors des huit dernières participations (de 1998 à 2005).

Olympiades d’échecs

À chaque participation de Kasparov aux olympiades, son équipe remporta la médaille d’or par équipes.

Kasparov-Karpov, 1985

L’ Informateur d’échecs n° 68, paru en 1996, choisit la 16^e partie du match de Championnat du monde de 1985 entre Karpov et Kasparov (avec les Noirs), comme la meilleure partie publiée lors des 30 premières années de la revue (1967–1996). En 2009, Nicolas Giffard a considéré qu’il s’agissait de « la plus belle victoire » de Kasparov contre Karpov :

1. e4 c5 2. Cf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Cxd4 Cc6 5. Cb5 d6 6. c4 Cf6 7. C1c3 a6 8. Ca3 d5!?
(Ce gambit, qui se joue toujours, en concurrence avec 8. b6!? 9. Fe2 Fb7 10. O-O Cb8!, porte maintenant le nom de Kasparov, bien qu’il ait déjà été joué en Hongrie en 1965 dans la partie Karoly Honfi-Peter Dely.)
9. exd5 exd5 10. cxd5 Cb4 11. Fe2
(Karpov rapporte que 11. Fc4 Fg4 12. Dd4! est meilleur.)
11… Fc5!
(Karpov, qui était moins bien préparé que Kasparov sur cette position, n’avait pas prévu ce coup de gambit par lequel les Noirs obtiendront vite une initiative dangereuse grâce à leur avance de développement — le Cavalier blanc en a3 étant mal placé — en échange du pion sacrifié.)
12. O-O O-O 13. Ff3 Ff5 14. Fg5 Te8 15. Dd2 b5 16. Tad1 Cd3 17. Cab1?
(Après ce coup, l’initiative noire croît rapidement ; Karpov suggère 17. d6 à la place.)
17… h6 18. Fh4 b4 19. Ca4 Fd6 20. Fg3 Tc8 21. b3 g5!! (Si 22. Cb2 alors 22…Cxb2 23. Dxb2 g4! 24. Fe2 Tc2)
22. Fxd6 Dxd6 23. g3 Cd7! 24. Fg2 Df6! 25. a3 a5! 26. axb4 axb4 27. Da2 Fg6! 28. d6 g4! 29. Dd2 Rg7 30. f3 Dxd6 31. fxg4 Dd4+ 32. Rh1 Cf6! 33. Tf4 Ce4! 34. Dxd3 Cf2+ 35. Txf2 Fxd3 36. Tfd2
(Voir diagramme.)
36… De3!! 37. Txd3 Tc1!!
(Si 38. Txe3, alors 38…Txd1+ 39. Ff1 Txe3.)
38. Cb2 Df2! 39. Cd2 Txd1+ 40. Cxd1 Te1+ 0-1.

Kasparov-Anand, 1995

Durant sa carrière, Kasparov fut généralement considéré comme le joueur le mieux préparé au monde sur le plan des ouvertures. Sa capacité à produire des nouveautés théoriques qui n’étaient pas seulement de simples améliorations, mais renversaient l’analyse d’une position en faveur de l’autre camp, était remarquable.

Un exemple notable fut donné par sa 10^e partie jouée avec les Blancs lors du championnat du monde d’échecs 1995 contre Viswanathan Anand. Au 15^e coup, Kasparov offrit une tour pour obtenir une attaque gagnante :

1. e4 e5 2. Cf3 Cc6 3. Fb5 a6 4. Fa4 Cf6 5. o-o Cxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Fb3 d5 8. dxe5 Fe6 9. Cbd2 Cc5 10. c3 d4!? (le coup le plus agressif, mais aussi le plus risqué; 10…Fg4 est plus sûr) 11. Cg5!? dxc3? (coup douteux, mais qui était alors considéré comme satisfaisant depuis la 10^e partie entre Anatoli Karpov et Viktor Kortchnoï du Championnat du Monde de 1978) 12. Cxe6 fxe6 13. bxc3 Dd3 14. Fc2!! (un coup extraordinaire basé sur un sacrifice de Tour; l’idée elle-même n’était pas neuve car elle avait déjà été évoquée par l’ancien Champion du monde Mikhaïl Tal dans ses annotations de la partie entre Anatoli Karpov et Viktor Kortchnoï mais c’est Kasparov qui a mis la touche finale à la variante, sonnant ainsi le glas du coup 11…dxc3 à haut niveau) Dxc3 15. Cb3!! Cxb3 16. Fxb3 Cd4 (temps de réflexion d’Anand pour jouer ce coup: près d’une heure) 17. Dg4! Dxa1 18. Fe6 Td8 19. Fh6! Dc3 20. Fxg7 Dd3 21. Fxh8 (temps total de réflexion de Kasparov jusqu’à ce moment: près de six minutes, ce qui dénote un extraordinaire travail de préparation au niveau des ouvertures) Dg6 22. Ff6 Fe7 23. Fxe7 Dxg4 24. Fxg4 Rxe7 25. Tc1 c6 26. f4 a5 27. Rf2 a4 28. Re3 b4 29. Fd1 a3 30. g4 Td5 31. Tc4 c5 32. Re4 Td8 33. Txc5 Ce6 34. Td5 Tc8 35. f5 Tc4+ 36. Re3 Cc5 37. g5 Tc1 38. Td6 1-0.

Kasparov-Topalov, 1999

Quand on demanda à Kasparov quelle était sa meilleure partie, il a cité celle qu’il a jouée avec les Blancs contre Topalov au tournoi de Wijk aan Zee en 1999. Cette dernière montre en effet une de ses meilleures combinaisons. Il semble cependant que le remarquable sacrifice de Tour de Kasparov au 24^e coup lui aurait seulement assuré le partage du point si Topalov avait joué au mieux.

Après les coups suivants: 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Cf6 3.Cc3 g6 4.Fe3 Fg7 5.Dd2 c6 6.f3 b5 7.Cge2 Cbd7 8.Fh6 Fxh6 9.Dxh6 Fb7 10.a3 e5 11.0-0-0 De7 12.Rb1 a6 13.Cc1 0-0-0 14.Cb3 exd4 15.Txd4 c5 16.Td1 Cb6 17.g3 Rb8 18.Ca5 Fa8 19.Fh3 d5 20.Df4+ Ra7 21.The1 d4 22.Cd5 Cbxd5 23.exd5 Dd6 (voir diagramme)

Kasparov joua: 24.Txd4!.

Il suivit: 24…cxd4 25.Te7+! Rb6 (Dxe7? 26.Dxd4+ Rb8 27.Db6+ suivi de mat) 26.Dxd4+ Rxa5 27.b4+ Ra4 28.Dc3 Dxd5 29.Ta7 Fb7 30.Txb7 Dc4 (la menace des Blancs était Ff1 suivi de Fxb5) 31.Dxf6 Rxa3 32.Dxa6+ Rxb4 33.c3+! Rxc3 34.Da1+ Rd2 35.Db2+ Rd1 36.Ff1! Td2 (Dxf1 37.Dc2+ suivi de mat) 37.Td7! Txd7 38.Fxc4 bxc4 39.Dxh8 Td3 40.Da8 c3 41.Da4+ Re1 42.f4 f5 43.Rc1 Td2 44.Da7 1-0

Incidents de jeu

En 1994, au tournoi de Linares, dans une partie qui l’oppose à Judit Polgár, il joue un coup de cavalier 36…Cc5 pour le reprendre aussitôt et jouer 36…Cf8, ce qui est contraire aux règles du jeu. Judit Polgár ne proteste pas, croyant qu’il n’y avait pas de témoins. L’incident avait cependant été filmé.

En 2003, à Linares, il est dans une position désespérée face au jeune Teimour Radjabov, et plutôt que d’abandonner et de serrer la main de son adversaire comme c’est l’usage, il préfère quitter l’aire de jeu et ainsi perdre au temps. Il crée un nouvel incident lors de la cérémonie de clôture, alors que le prix de beauté est décerné à Radjabov.

En 2004, toujours à Linares, il quitte l’aire de jeu sans autorisation pendant une partie pour se rendre dans sa chambre d’hôtel afin, dit-il, de prendre des médicaments.

Publications

Recueils de parties

• L’Épreuve du temps, éd. Grasset/Europe échecs, 1987
  traduit de (en) The test of time 1986, recueil d’articles parus de 1978 à 1984, avec des annotations vérifiées et complétées en 1984
• En collaboration avec Wade et Speelman, Échecs offensifs, éd. Dumerchez-Naoum, 1986
  • (en) Kasparov, Wade et Speelman, Fighting Chess : My Games and Career, Batsford, édition mise à jour, 1995,
• (en) On My Great Predecessors (5 volumes), éd. Everyman Chess, 2002–2006,
• (en) Garry Kasparov on Modern Chess, éd. Everyman Chess, 2007
  Série en cours de parution (quatre volumes parus de 2007 à 2010)

Autobiographies

• Et le fou devint roi, Éditions Albin Michel, 1987
  traduction de (en) Child of change 1987
• La vie est une partie d’échecs, Éditions JC Lattès, Paris, octobre 2007, ISBN / EAN : 9782709627719
  traduction de (en) How Life imitates chess

Théorie des ouvertures

• Avec Aleksandr Nikitine, (en) The Sicilian Scheveningen, Batsford 1983
• Avec A. Sakharov, (en) The Caro-Kann Classical, Batsford 1984
• Avec Raymond Keene, Jonathan Tisdall, Eric Schiller (en) Batsford Chess Openings, deux éditions (Batsford 1982 et 1989)
• Avec Raymond Keene, L’Est-indienne entre les mains de Kasparov, Éditions Bernard Grasset, 1995
  traduction de (en) Kasparov on the King’s Indian, 1993 ; rassemble les annotations de Kasparov parues de 1978 à 1993 dans l’informateur ou dans des revues

DVD édités par Chessbase

• (en) How to play the Najdorf
• (en) How to play the Queen’s Gambit

[/lang_fr]

[lang_en]

Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov
Country	Russia
Born	13 April 1963 (age 48) Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union
Title	Grandmaster
World Champion	1985–1993 (undisputed) 1993–2000 (Classical)
FIDE rating	2812
Peak rating	2851 (July 1999)

Garry Kimovich Kasparov ( born Garry Kimovich Weinstein, 13 April 1963, Baku, Azerbaijan) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, and political activist, and he is one of the greatest chess players of all time.

Kasparov became the youngest ever undisputed World Chess Champion in 1985 at the age of 22. He held the official FIDE world title until 1993, when a dispute with FIDE led him to set up a rival organization, the Professional Chess Association. He continued to hold the « Classical » World Chess Championship until his defeat by Vladimir Kramnik in 2000. He is also widely known for being the first world chess champion to lose a match to a computer under standard time controls, when he lost to Deep Blue in 1997.

Kasparov’s ratings achievements include being rated world #1 according to Elo rating almost continuously from 1986 until his retirement in 2005 and holding the all-time highest rating of 2851. He was the world number-one ranked player for 255 months, by far the most of all-time and nearly three times as long as his closest rival, Anatoly Karpov. He also holds records for consecutive tournament victories and Chess Oscars.

From 1984 to 1990, Kasparov was a member of the Central Committee of Komsomol and a CPSU member.

Kasparov announced his retirement from professional chess on 10 March 2005, to devote his time to politics and writing. He formed the United Civil Front movement, and joined as a member of The Other Russia, a coalition opposing the administration of Vladimir Putin. He was a candidate for the 2008 Russian presidential race, but later withdrew. Widely regarded in the West as a symbol of opposition to Putin, Kasparov’s support in Russia is low.

In 2007, he was ranked 25th in The Daily Telegraph’s list of 100 greatest living geniuses.

He coached Magnus Carlsen from March 2009 through March 2010.

Contents   1 Early career  2 Toward the top  3 1984 World Championship  4 World Champion  5 Break with and ejection from FIDE  6 Losing the title and aftermath  7 Retirement from chess  7.1 Post-retirement chess    8 Politics  9 Chess ratings achievements  10 Olympiads and other major team events  11 Other records  12 Books and other writings  12.1 Early writings  12.2 My Great Predecessors series  12.3 Modern Chess series  12.4 Other post-retirement writing    13 Chess against computers  13.1 Deep Thought, 1989  13.2 Deep Blue, 1996  13.3 Deep Blue, 1997  13.4 Deep Junior, 2003  13.5 X3D Fritz, 2003

Early career

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Garry Kasparov was born Garry Weinstein in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union; now Azerbaijan, to an Armenian mother and Jewish father. He first began the serious study of chess after he came across a chess problem set up by his parents and proposed a solution. His father died of leukemia when he was seven years old. At the age of twelve, he adopted his mother’s Armenian surname, Gasparyan, modifying it to a more Russified version, Kasparov.

From age 7, Kasparov attended the Young Pioneer Palace in Baku and, at 10 began training at Mikhail Botvinnik’s chess school under noted coach Vladimir Makogonov. Makogonov helped develop Kasparov’s positional skills and taught him to play the Caro-Kann Defence and the Tartakower System of the Queen’s Gambit Declined. Kasparov won the Soviet Junior Championship in Tbilisi in 1976, scoring 7 points of 9, at age 13. He repeated the feat the following year, winning with a score of 8½ of 9. He was being trained by Alexander Shakarov during this time.

In 1978, Kasparov participated in the Sokolsky Memorial tournament in Minsk. He had been invited as an exception but took first place and became a chess master. Kasparov has repeatedly said that this event was a turning point in his life, and that it convinced him to choose chess as his career. « I will remember the Sokolsky Memorial as long as I live, » he wrote. He has also said that after the victory, he thought he had a very good shot at the World Championship.

He first qualified for the Soviet Chess Championship at age 15 in 1978, 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.

Kasparov rose quickly through the FIDE (World Chess Federation) rankings. Starting with an oversight by the Russian Chess Federation, he participated in a Grandmaster tournament in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina (then part of Yugoslavia), in 1979 while still unrated (He was a replacement for Viktor Korchnoi whom was originally invited but withdrew due to threat of boycott from the Soviet). He won this high-class tournament, emerging with a provisional rating of 2595, enough to catapult him to the top group of chess players (at the time, number 15 in the World). The next year, 1980, he won the World Junior Chess Championship in Dortmund, West Germany. Later that year, he made his debut as second reserve for the Soviet Union at the Chess Olympiad at La Valletta, Malta, and became a Grandmaster.

Toward the top

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As a teenager, Kasparov twice tied for first place in the USSR Chess Championship, in 1980–81 and 1981–82. His first win in a superclass-level international tournament was scored at Bugojno, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1982. He earned a place in the 1982 Moscow Interzonal tournament, which he won, to qualify for the Candidates Tournament. At age 19, he was the youngest Candidate since Bobby Fischer, who was 15 when he qualified in 1958. At this stage, he was already the #2-rated player in the world, trailing only World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov on the January 1983 list.

Kasparov’s first (quarter-final) Candidates match was against Alexander Beliavsky, whom he defeated 6–3 (four wins, one loss). Politics threatened Kasparov’s semi-final against Viktor Korchnoi, which was scheduled to be played in Pasadena, California. Korchnoi had defected from the Soviet Union in 1976, and was at that time the strongest active non-Soviet player. Various political maneuvers prevented Kasparov from playing Korchnoi, and Kasparov forfeited the match. This was resolved by Korchnoi allowing the match to be replayed in London, along with the previously scheduled match between Vasily Smyslov and Zoltan Ribli. The Kasparov-Korchnoi match was put together on short notice by Raymond Keene. Kasparov lost the first game but won the match 7–4 (four wins, one loss).

In January 1984, Kasparov became the number-one ranked player in the world, with a FIDE rating of 2710. He became the youngest ever world number-one, a record that lasted 12 years until being broken by Vladimir Kramnik in January 1996; the record is currently held by his former pupil, Magnus Carlsen.

Later in 1984, he won the Candidates’ final 8½–4½ (four wins, no losses) against the resurgent former world champion Vasily Smyslov, at Vilnius, thus qualifying to play Anatoly Karpov for the World Championship. That year he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), as a member of which he was elected to the Central Committee of Komsomol in 1987.

1984 World Championship

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The World Chess Championship 1984 match between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov had many ups and downs, and a very controversial finish. Karpov started in very good form, and after nine games Kasparov was down 4–0 in a « first to six wins » match. Fellow players predicted he would be whitewashed 6–0 within 18 games.

In a strange period, there followed a series of 17 successive draws, some relatively short, and others drawn in unsettled positions. He lost game 27, then fought back with another series of draws until game 32, his first-ever win against the World Champion. Another 15 successive draws followed, through game 46; the previous record length for a world title match had been 34 games, the match of Jose Raul Capablanca vs. Alexander Alekhine in 1927.

Kasparov won games 47 and 48 to bring the scores to 5–3 in Karpov’s favour. Then the match was ended without result by Florencio Campomanes, the President of Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), and a new match was announced to start a few months later. The termination was controversial, as both players stated that they preferred the match to continue. Announcing his decision at a press conference, Campomanes cited the health of the players, which had been strained by the length of the match.

The match became the first, and so far only, world championship match to be abandoned without result. Kasparov’s relations with Campomanes and FIDE were greatly strained, and the feud between them eventually came to a head in 1993 with Kasparov’s complete break-away from FIDE.

World Champion

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The second Karpov-Kasparov match in 1985 was organized in Moscow as the best of 24 games where the first player to win 12½ points would claim the World Champion title. The scores from the terminated match would not carry over. But in the event of a 12–12 draw, the title would remain with Karpov. On 9 November 1985, Kasparov secured the title by a score of 13–11, winning the 24th game with Black, using a Sicilian defence. He was 22 years old at the time, making him the youngest ever World Champion, and breaking the record held by Mikhail Tal for over 20 years. Kasparov’s win as Black in the 16th game has been recognized as one of the all-time masterpieces in chess history.

As part of the arrangements following the aborted 1984 match, Karpov had been granted (in the event of his defeat) a right to rematch. Another match took place in 1986, hosted jointly in London and Leningrad, with each city hosting 12 games. At one point in the match, Kasparov opened a three-point lead and looked well on his way to a decisive match victory. But Karpov fought back by winning three consecutive games to level the score late in the match. At this point, Kasparov dismissed one of his seconds, Grandmaster Evgeny Vladimirov, accusing him of selling his opening preparation to the Karpov team (as described in Kasparov’s autobiography Unlimited Challenge, chapter Stab in the Back). Kasparov scored one more win and kept his title by a final score of 12½–11½.

A fourth match for the world title took place in 1987 in Seville, as Karpov had qualified through the Candidates’ Matches to again become the official challenger. This match was very close, with neither player holding more than a one-point lead at any time during the contest. Kasparov was down one full point at the time of the final game, and needed a win to draw the match and retain his title. A long tense game ensued in which Karpov blundered away a pawn just before the first time control, and Kasparov eventually won a long ending. Kasparov retained his title as the match was drawn by a score of 12–12. (All this meant that Kasparov had played Karpov four times in the period 1984–1987, a statistic unprecedented in chess. Matches organised by FIDE had taken place every three years since 1948, and only Botvinnik had a right to a rematch before Karpov.)

A fifth match between Kasparov and Karpov was held in New York and Lyon in 1990, with each city hosting 12 games. Again, the result was a close one with Kasparov winning by a margin of 12½–11½. In their five world championship matches, Kasparov had 21 wins, 19 losses, and 104 draws in 144 games.

Break with and ejection from FIDE

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With the World Champion title in hand, Kasparov began fighting against FIDE—as Bobby Fischer had done 20 years earlier but this time from within FIDE. Beginning in 1986, he created the Grandmasters Association (GMA), an organization to represent professional chess players and give them more say in FIDE’s activities. Kasparov assumed a leadership role. GMA’s major achievement was in organizing a series of six World Cup tournaments for the world’s top players. A somewhat uneasy relationship developed with FIDE, and a sort of truce was brokered by Bessel Kok, a Dutch businessman.

This stand-off lasted until 1993, by which time a new challenger had qualified through the Candidates cycle for Kasparov’s next World Championship defense: Nigel Short, a British Grandmaster who had defeated Anatoly Karpov in a qualifying match, and then Jan Timman in the finals held in early 1993. After a confusing and compressed bidding process produced lower financial estimates than expected, the world champion and his challenger decided to play outside FIDE’s jurisdiction, under another organization created by Kasparov called the Professional Chess Association (PCA). This is where a great fracture in the lineage of World Champions began.

In an interview in 2007, Kasparov would call the break with FIDE the worst mistake of his career, as it hurt the game in the long run.

Kasparov and Short were ejected from FIDE, and played their well-sponsored match in London. Kasparov won convincingly by a score of 12½–7½. The match considerably raised the profile of chess in the UK, with an unprecedented level of coverage on Channel 4. Meanwhile, FIDE organized a World Championship match between Jan Timman (the defeated Candidates finalist) and former World Champion Karpov (a defeated Candidates semifinalist), which Karpov won.

There were now two World Champions: PCA champion Kasparov, and FIDE champion Karpov. The title would remain split for 13 years.

Kasparov defended his title in a 1995 match against Viswanathan Anand at the World Trade Center in New York City. Kasparov won the match by four wins to one, with thirteen draws. It was the last World Championship to be held under the auspices of the PCA, which collapsed when Intel, one of its major backers, withdrew its sponsorship in retaliation for Kasparov’s choice to play a 1996 match against Deep Blue, which augmented the profile of IBM, one of Intel’s chief rivals.

Kasparov tried to organize another World Championship match, under another organization, the World Chess Association (WCA) with Linares organizer Luis Rentero. Alexei Shirov and Vladimir Kramnik played a candidates match to decide the challenger, which Shirov won in a surprising upset. But when Rentero admitted that the funds required and promised had never materialized, the WCA collapsed.

This left Kasparov stranded, and yet another organization stepped in—BrainGames.com, headed by Raymond Keene. No match against Shirov was arranged, and talks with Anand collapsed, so a match was instead arranged against Kramnik.

During this period, Kasparov was approached by Oakham School in the United Kingdom, at the time the only school in the country with a full-time chess coach, and developed an interest in the use of chess in education. In 1997, Kasparov supported a scholarship programme at the school.

Losing the title and aftermath

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The Kasparov-Kramnik match took place in London during the latter half of 2000. Kramnik had been a student of Kasparov’s at the legendary Botvinnik/Kasparov chess school in Russia, and had served on Kasparov’s team for the 1995 match against Viswanathan Anand.

The better-prepared Kramnik won Game 2 against Kasparov’s Grünfeld Defence and achieved winning positions in Games 4 and 6. Kasparov made a critical error in Game 10 with the Nimzo-Indian Defence, which Kramnik exploited to win in 25 moves. As White, Kasparov could not crack the passive but solid Berlin Defence in the Ruy Lopez, and Kramnik successfully drew all his games as Black. Kramnik won the match 8½–6½, and for the first time in 15 years Kasparov had no world championship title. He became the first player to lose a world championship match without winning a game since Emanuel Lasker lost to Capablanca in 1921.

After losing the title, Kasparov won a series of major tournaments, and remained the top rated player in the world, ahead of both Kramnik and the FIDE World Champions. In 2001 he refused an invitation to the 2002 Dortmund Candidates Tournament for the Classical title, claiming his results had earned him a rematch with Kramnik.

Kasparov and Karpov played a four game match with rapid time controls over two days in December 2002 in New York City. Karpov surprised the experts and emerged victoriously, winning two games and drawing one.

Due to Kasparov’s continuing strong results, and status as world #1 in much of the public eye, he was included in the so-called « Prague Agreement », masterminded by Yasser Seirawan and intended to reunite the two World Championships. Kasparov was to play a match against the FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov in September 2003. But this match was called off after Ponomariov refused to sign his contract for it without reservation. In its place, there were plans for a match against Rustam Kasimdzhanov, winner of the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004, to be held in January 2005 in the United Arab Emirates. These also fell through due to lack of funding. Plans to hold the match in Turkey instead came too late. Kasparov announced in January 2005 that he was tired of waiting for FIDE to organize a match and so had decided to stop all efforts to regain the World Championship title.

Retirement from chess

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After winning the prestigious Linares tournament for the ninth time, Kasparov announced on 10 March 2005, that he would retire from serious competitive chess. He cited as the reason a lack of personal goals in the chess world (he commented when winning the Russian championship in 2004 that it had been the last major title he had never won outright) and expressed frustration at the failure to reunify the world championship.

Kasparov said he may play in some rapid chess events for fun, but intends to spend more time on his books, including both the My Great Predecessors series (see below) and a work on the links between decision-making in chess and in other areas of life, and will continue to involve himself in Russian politics, which he views as « headed down the wrong path. »

Kasparov has been married three times: to Masha, with whom he had a daughter before divorcing; to Yulia, with whom he had a son before their 2005 divorce; and to Daria, with whom he also has a child.

Post-retirement chess

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On 22 August 2006, in his first public chess games since his retirement, Kasparov played in the Lichthof Chess Champions Tournament, a blitz event played at the time control of 5 minutes per side and 3 second increments per move. Kasparov tied for first with Anatoly Karpov, scoring 4½/6.

Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov played a 12-game match from 21–24 September 2009, in Valencia, Spain. It consisted of four rapid (or semi rapid) games, in which Kasparov won 3–1 and eight blitz games, in which Kasparov also won 6–2, winning the match with total result 9–3. The event took place exactly 25 years after the two players’ legendary encounter at World Chess Championship 1984.

Kasparov has been coaching Magnus Carlsen since March 2009, in secret until September 2009. Under Kasparov’s tutelage, Carlsen in October 2009 became the youngest ever to achieve a FIDE rating higher than 2800, and has risen from world number four to world number one; their arrangement will have Kasparov remain as coach at least through 2010.

In March 2010 it was announced that Carlsen had split from Kasparov and would no longer be using him as a trainer, although this was put into different context by Carlsen himself in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel stating that they would remain in contact and that he would continue to attend training sessions with Kasparov.

In May 2010 it was revealed that Kasparov had aided Viswanathan Anand in preparation for the World Chess Championship 2010 against challenger Veselin Topalov. Anand won the match 6½–5½ to retain the title.

Also in May 2010 he played 30 games simultaneously, winning each one, against players at Tel-Aviv University in Israel.

Politics

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Kasparov joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in 1984 and in 1987 was elected to the Central Committee of Komsomol. But in 1990 he left the party and in May took part in the creation of the Democratic Party of Russia. In 1991, Kasparov received the Keeper of the Flame award from the Center for Security Policy (a US think tank) for his contributions « to the defence of the United States and American values around the world ». Kasparov was in June 1993 involved with the creation of the « Choice of Russia » bloc of parties and in 1996 took part in the election campaign of Boris Yeltsin. In 2001 he voiced his support for the Russian television channel NTV.

In April 2007, it was asserted that Kasparov was a board member of the National Security Advisory Council of Center for Security Policy, a « non-profit, non-partisan national security organization that specializes in identifying policies, actions, and resource needs that are vital to American security ». Kasparov confirmed this and added that he was removed shortly after he became aware of it. He noted that he did not know about the membership and suggested he was included in the board by an accident because he received the 1991 Keeper of the Flame award from this organization. But Kasparov maintained his association with the leadership by giving speeches at think tanks such as the Hoover Institution.

After his retirement from chess in 2005, Kasparov turned to politics and created the United Civil Front, a social movement whose main goal is to « work to preserve electoral democracy in Russia. » He has vowed to « restore democracy » to Russia by toppling the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, of whom he is an outspoken critic.

Kasparov was instrumental in setting up The Other Russia, a coalition which opposes Putin’s government. The Other Russia has been boycotted by the leaders of Russia’s mainstream opposition parties, Yabloko and Union of Right Forces as they are concerned about its inclusion of radical nationalist and left-wing groups such as the National Bolshevik Party and former members of the Rodina party including Viktor Gerashchenko, a potential presidential candidate. But regional branches of Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces have opted to take part in the coalition. Kasparov says that leaders of these parties are controlled by the Kremlin, despite the fact they are both strongly opposed to the president’s policies.

On 10 April 2005, Kasparov was in Moscow at a promotional event when he was struck over the head with a chessboard he had just signed. The assailant was reported to have said « I admired you as a chess player, but you gave that up for politics » immediately before the attack. Kasparov has been the subject of a number of other episodes since.

Kasparov helped organize the Saint Petersburg Dissenters’ March on 3 March 2007 and The March of the Dissenters on 24 March 2007, both involving several thousand people rallying against Putin and Saint Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko’s policies. ^{[49] [50]} On 14 April, he was briefly arrested by the Moscow police while heading for a demonstration, following warnings by the prosecution office on the eve of the march, stating that anyone participating risked being detained. He was held for some 10 hours and then fined and released.

He was summoned by FSB for questioning, allegedly for violations of Russian anti-extremism laws. This law was previously applied for the conviction of Boris Stomakhin.

Speaking about Kasparov, former KGB general Oleg Kalugin in 2007 remarked: « I do not talk in details—people who knew them are all dead now because they were vocal, they were open. I am quiet. There is only one man who is vocal and he may be in trouble: [former] world chess champion [Garry] Kasparov. He has been very outspoken in his attacks on Putin and I believe that he is probably next on the list. »

On 30 September 2007, Kasparov entered the Russian Presidential race, receiving 379 of 498 votes at a congress held in Moscow by The Other Russia.

In October 2007, Kasparov announced his intention of standing for the Russian presidency as the candidate of the  » Other Russia » coalition and vowed to fight for a « democratic and just Russia ». Later that month he traveled to the United States, where he appeared on several popular television programs, which were hosted by Stephen Colbert, Wolf Blitzer, Bill Maher, and Chris Matthews.

On 24 November 2007, Kasparov and other protesters were detained by police at an Other Russia rally in Moscow. This followed an attempt by about 100 protesters to break through police lines and march on the electoral commission, which had barred Other Russia candidates from parliamentary elections. He was subsequently charged with resisting arrest and organising an unauthorized protest and given a jail sentence of five days. He was released from jail on 29 November. Putin spoke briefly about the incident in an interview with Time Magazine later that year, saying: « Why did Mr. Kasparov, when arrested, speak out in English rather than Russian? When a politician works the crowd of other nations rather than the Russian nation, it tells you something. »

On 12 December 2007, Kasparov announced that he had to withdraw his presidential candidacy due to inability to rent a meeting hall where at least 500 of his supporters could assemble to endorse his candidacy, as is legally required. With the deadline expiring on that date, he explained it was impossible for him to run. Kasparov’s spokeswoman accused the government of using pressure to deter anyone from renting a hall for the gathering and said that the electoral commission had rejected a proposal that separate smaller gatherings be held at the same time instead of one large gathering at a meeting hall.

Kasparov is among the 34 first signatories and a key organiser of the online anti-Putin campaign  » Putin must go », started on 10 March 2010.

Chess ratings achievements

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• Kasparov holds the record for the longest time as the #1 rated player.

 

• Kasparov had the highest Elo rating in the world continuously from 1986 to 2005. However, Vladimir Kramnik did equal him in the January 1996 FIDE ratings list. He was also briefly ejected from the list following his split from FIDE in 1993, but during that time he headed the rating list of the rival PCA. At the time of his retirement, he was still ranked #1 in the world, with a rating of 2812. His rating has fallen inactive since the January 2006 rating list.
   

• In January 1990 Kasparov achieved the (then) highest FIDE rating ever, passing 2800 and breaking Bobby Fischer’s old record of 2785. He has held the record for the highest rating ever achieved, ever since (as of 2010). On the July 1999 and January 2000 FIDE rating lists Kasparov reached a 2851 Elo rating, the highest rating ever achieved.
   

• There was a time in the early 90s when Kasparov was over 2800 and the only person in the 2700s was Anatoly Karpov.

 

• According to the unofficial Chessmetrics calculations, Kasparov was the highest rated player in the world continuously from February 1985 until October 2004. ^[64] He also holds the highest all-time average rating over a 2 (2877) to 20 (2856) year period and is second to only Bobby Fischer’s (2881 vs 2879) over a one-year period.

 

Olympiads and other major team events

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Kasparov played in a total of eight Chess Olympiads. He represented the Soviet Union four times and Russia four times, following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. In his 1980 Olympiad debut, he became, at age 17, the youngest player to represent the Soviet Union or Russia at that level, a record which was broken by Vladimir Kramnik in 1992. In 82 games, he has scored (+50 =29 -3), for 78.7% and won a total of 19 medals, including team gold medals all eight times he competed. For the 1994 Moscow Olympiad, he had a significant organizational role, in helping to put together the event on short notice, after Thessaloniki canceled its offer to host, a few weeks before the scheduled dates. Kasparov’s detailed Olympiad record, from, follows.

• Valletta 1980, USSR 2nd reserve, 9½/12 (+8 =3 -1), team gold, board bronze;

 

• Lucerne 1982, USSR 2nd board, 8½/11 (+6 =5 -0), team gold, board bronze;

 

• Dubai 1986, USSR 1st board, 8½/11 (+7 =3 -1), team gold, board gold, performance gold;

 

• Thessaloniki 1988, USSR 1st board, 8½/10 (+7 =3 -0), team gold, board gold, performance gold;

 

• Manila 1992, Russia board 1, 8½/10 (+7 =3 -0), team gold, board gold, performance silver;

 

• Moscow 1994, Russia board 1, 6½/10 (+4 =5 -1), team gold;

 

• Yerevan 1996, Russia board 1, 7/9 (+5 =4 -0), team gold, board gold, performance silver;

 

• Bled 2002, Russia board 1, 7½/9 (+6 =3 -0), team gold, board gold.

 

Kasparov made his international teams debut for the USSR at age 16 in the 1980 European Team Championship and played for Russia in the 1992 edition of that championship. He won a total of five medals. His detailed Euroteams record, from, ^[66] follows.

• Skara 1980, USSR 2nd reserve, 5½/6 (+5 =1 -0), team gold, board gold;

 

• Debrecen 1992, Russia board 1, 6/8 (+4 =4 -0), team gold, board gold, performance silver.

 

Kasparov also represented the USSR once in Youth Olympiad competition, but the detailed data is incomplete at Graz 1981, USSR board 1, 9/10 (+8 =2 -0), team gold.

 

Other records

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Kasparov holds the record for most consecutive professional tournament victories, placing first or equal first in 15 individual tournaments from 1981 to 1990.^{[ citation needed]} The streak was broken by Vasily Ivanchuk at Linares 1991, where Kasparov placed 2nd, half a point behind him. The details of this record winning streak follow: ^[17]

• Frunze 1981, USSR Championship, 12½/17, tie for 1st;

 

• Bugojno 1982, 9½/13, 1st;

 

• Moscow 1982, Interzonal, 10/13, 1st;

 

• Nikšic 1983, 11/14, 1st;

 

• Brussels OHRA 1986, 7½/10, 1st;

 

• Brussels 1987, 8½/11, tie for 1st;

 

• Amsterdam Optiebeurs 1988, 9/12, 1st;

 

• Belfort (World Cup) 1988, 11½/15, 1st;

 

• Moscow 1988, USSR Championship, 11½/17, tie for 1st;

 

• Reykjavik (World Cup) 1988, 11/17, 1st;

 

• Barcelona (World Cup) 1989, 11/16, tie for 1st;

 

• Skelleftea (World Cup) 1989, 9½/15, tie for 1st;

 

• Tilburg 1989, 12/14, 1st;

 

• Belgrade (Investbank) 1989, 9½/11, 1st;

 

• Linares 1990, 8/11, 1st.

 

Kasparov won the Chess Oscar a record eleven times.

Books and other writings

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Early writings

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Kasparov has written a number of books on chess. He published a somewhat controversial ^[67] autobiography when still in his early 20s, originally titled Child of Change, later retitled Unlimited Challenge. This book was subsequently updated several times after he became World Champion. Its content is mainly literary, with a small chess component of key unannotated games. He published an annotated games collection in 1985: Fighting Chess: My Games and Career ^[68] and this book has also been updated several times in further editions. He also wrote a book annotating the games from his World Chess Championship 1985 victory, World Chess Championship Match: Moscow, 1985.

He has annotated his own games extensively for the Yugoslav Chess Informant series and for other chess publications. In 1982, he co-authored Batsford Chess Openings with British Grandmaster Raymond Keene and this book was an enormous seller. It was updated into a second edition in 1989. He also co-authored two opening books with his trainer Alexander Nikitin in the 1980s for British publisher Batsford—on the Classical Variation of the Caro-Kann Defence and on the Scheveningen Variation of the Sicilian Defence. Kasparov has also contributed extensively to the five-volume openings series Encyclopedia of Chess Openings.

In 2000, Kasparov co-authored Kasparov Against the World: The Story of the Greatest Online Challenge ^[69] with grandmaster Daniel King. The 202-page book analyzes the 1999 Kasparov versus the World game, and holds the record for the longest analysis devoted to a single chess game. ^[70]

My Great Predecessors series

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In 2003, the first volume of his five-volume work Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors was published. This volume, which deals with the world chess champions Wilhelm Steinitz, Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, and some of their strong contemporaries, has received lavish praise from some reviewers (including Nigel Short), while attracting criticism from others for historical inaccuracies and analysis of games directly copied from unattributed sources. Through suggestions on the book’s website, most of these shortcomings were corrected in following editions and translations. Despite this, the first volume won the British Chess Federation’s Book of the Year award in 2003. Volume two, covering Max Euwe, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov and Mikhail Tal appeared later in 2003. Volume three, covering Tigran Petrosian and Boris Spassky appeared in early 2004. In December 2004, Kasparov released volume four, which covers Samuel Reshevsky, Miguel Najdorf, and Bent Larsen (none of these three were World Champions), but focuses primarily on Bobby Fischer. The fifth volume, devoted to the chess careers of World Champion Anatoly Karpov and challenger Viktor Korchnoi, was published in March 2006.

Modern Chess series

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His book Revolution in the 70s (published in March 2007) covers « the openings revolution of the 1970s–1980s » and is the first book in a new series called « Modern Chess Series », which intends to cover his matches with Karpov and selected games. The book « Revolution in the 70s » concerns the revolution in opening theory that was witnessed in that decade. Such systems as the controversial (at the time) « Hedgehog » opening plan of passively developing the pieces no further than the first three ranks are examined in great detail. Kasparov also analyzes some of the most notable games played in that period. In a section at the end of the book, top opening theoreticians provide their own « take » on the progress made in opening theory in the 1980s.

Other post-retirement writing

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In 2007 he wrote How Life Imitates Chess, an examination of the parallels between decision-making in chess and in the business world.

In 2008 Kasparov published a sympathetic obituary for Bobby Fischer, writing « I am often asked if I ever met or played Bobby Fischer. The answer is no, I never had that opportunity. But even though he saw me as a member of the evil chess establishment that he felt had robbed and cheated him, I am sorry I never had a chance to thank him personally for what he did for our sport. » ^[71]

More recently, Kasparov has criticized Fischer in a lengthy book review of a Fischer biography. ^[72]

He is the chief advisor for the book publisher Everyman Chess.

Kasparov works closely with Mig Greengard and his comments can often be found on Greengard’s blog.

Kasparov is currently collaborating with Max Levchin and Peter Thiel on The Blueprint, a book calling for a revival of world innovation, due out in February 2012 from W. W. Norton & Company.

Chess against computers

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Deep Thought, 1989

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Kasparov defeated the chess computer Deep Thought in both games of a two-game match in 1989. ^[73]

Deep Blue, 1996

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In February 1996, IBM’s chess computer Deep Blue defeated Kasparov in one game using normal time controls, in Deep Blue – Kasparov, 1996, Game 1. However, Kasparov was still able to gain three wins and two draws and win the match.

Deep Blue, 1997

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In May 1997, an updated version of Deep Blue defeated Kasparov 3½–2½ in a highly publicised six-game match. The match was even after five games but Kasparov was crushed in Game 6. This was the first time a computer had ever defeated a world champion in match play. A documentary film was made about this famous match-up entitled Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine.

Kasparov claimed that several factors weighed against him in this match. In particular, he was denied access to Deep Blue’s recent games, in contrast to the computer’s team that could study hundreds of Kasparov’s.

After the loss Kasparov said that he sometimes saw deep intelligence and creativity in the machine’s moves, suggesting that during the second game, human chess players, in contravention of the rules, intervened. IBM denied that it cheated, saying the only human intervention occurred between games. The rules provided for the developers to modify the program between games, an opportunity they said they used to shore up weaknesses in the computer’s play revealed during the course of the match. Kasparov requested printouts of the machine’s log files but IBM refused, although the company later published the logs on the Internet. ^[74] Kasparov demanded a rematch, but IBM declined and retired Deep Blue, which has been viewed by Kasparov as covering up evidence of tampering during the game.

Kasparov’s loss to Deep Blue inspired the creation of a new game called Arimaa.

Deep Junior, 2003

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In January 2003, he engaged in a six game classical time control match with a $1 million prize fund which was billed as the FIDE « Man vs. Machine » World Championship, against Deep Junior. ^[75] The engine evaluated three million positions per second. ^[76] After one win each and three draws, it was all up to the final game. After reaching a decent position Kasparov offered a draw, which was soon accepted by the Deep Junior team. Asked why he offered the draw, Kasparov said he feared making a blunder. ^[77] Originally planned as an annual event, the match was not repeated.

X3D Fritz, 2003

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In November 2003, he engaged in a four-game match against the computer program X3D Fritz, using a virtual board, 3D glasses and a speech recognition system. After two draws and one win apiece, the X3D Man-Machine match ended in a draw. Kasparov received $175,000 for the result and took home the golden trophy. Kasparov continued to criticize the blunder in the second game that cost him a crucial point. He felt that he had outplayed the machine overall and played well. « I only made one mistake but unfortunately that one mistake lost the game. »

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