Garry Kasparov

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Garry Kasparov : biography

13 April 1963 –

Other records

Kasparov holds the record for most consecutive professional tournament victories, placing first or equal first in 15 individual tournaments from 1981 to 1990. 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:

  • Frunze 1981, USSR Championship, 12½/17, tie for 1st;
  • Bugojno 1982, 9½/13, 1st;
  • Moscow 1982, Interzonal, 10/13, 1st;
  • Nikšić 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;
  • Reykjavík (World Cup) 1988, 11/17, 1st;
  • Barcelona (World Cup) 1989, 11/16, tie for 1st;
  • Skellefteå (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.

Retirement from chess

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.Emma Cowing, "", The Scotsman, 13 July 2006.

Post-retirement chess

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 actively coached Magnus Carlsen for approximately one year beginning in February 2009. The collaboration remained 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. While the pair initially planned to work together throughout 2010,, ChessVibes, 7 September 2009 in March of that year it was announced that Carlsen had split from Kasparov and would no longer be using him as a trainer. According to an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel, Carlsen indicated that he would remain in contact and that he would continue to attend training sessions with Kasparov,"", ChessBase News, 15 March 2010. but in fact no further training sessions were held and the cooperation gradually fizzled over the course of the Spring."NIC’s Cafe: Last Call", New in Chess Magazine, 2011/07, p. 6.

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.