Garry Kimovich Kasparov was born on April 13 1963 year in Baku Azerbaijan SSR. His father, a Jew by nationality, Kim Moiseevich Weinstein, worked as an energy engineer, and his mother, Karabakh, Armenian Clara Shagenovna Kasparyan (Kasparova), was an engineer, a specialist in automation and telemechanics. Kasparov's grandfather and uncle Moses and Leonid Weinstein were famous composers in Baku, and the latter was married to the sister of Abdurakhman Vezirov (the USSR Ambassador to Pakistan and the second secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of the Republic, who headed the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan under Mikhail Gorbachev). Kasparov's father was his father's cousin. Yulia Gusmana is a professor of medicine who headed the IV Main Directorate of the Republican Ministry of Health, which served the entire Azerbaijani elite.
Kasparov learned to play chess by watching his father and mother play. One day, 5-year-old Kasparov, to the amazement of his parents, who had never taught him chess before, solved a problem from the chess section of the republican newspaper "Vyshka", which was then run by one of the founders of the Transcaucasian chess school, Suren Abrahamyan. After this, Kasparov’s father decided that chess should be preferred to music, although he initially planned to send his son in the footsteps of his composer grandfather.
According to some reports, Kasparov inherited his talent for chess from his mother, who beat adult chess players at the age of six. According to some sources, Kasparov’s father died in 1970 year, in a car accident, according to others, he died of blood cancer (lymphosarcoma). After the death of her husband, Kasparov’s mother devoted herself to raising her son, taking care of his career and health (Kasparov suffered rheumatic heart disease as a child). Until Kasparov had professional coaches, she worked with him herself - she put positions on the board from chess books and offered to find the right move .
IN 1970 year, his mother brought Kasparov to study in the chess section of the Baku Palace of Pioneers and Schoolchildren named after Yuri Gagarin with the honored coach of Azerbaijan Oleg Privorotsky. At first, Kasparov, in those years Weinstein, was recorded as Bronstein - he vaguely introduced himself to the coach, and only two months later Kasparov’s mother personally I corrected a mistake in the standings when I attended my son’s classes.
Thanks to the support of his relatives, Kasparov participated in international youth tournaments, the existence of which even his coach sometimes did not know. So, in 1972 year, nine-year-old Kasparov went to an international youth tournament held in France.
IN 1973 year, Kasparov, as part of the Azerbaijani national team, went to the All-Union Youth Games in Vilnius. It was here that he met the Moscow master Alexander Nikitin, who began to help Kasparov in preparations for the tournaments.
In the same year, Kasparov, on the recommendation of Nikitin, came to Dubna, passed a two-hour exam and ended up in the correspondence children's and youth chess school, ex-world champion Mikhail Botvinnik, the creator of the so-called research direction in chess, in which the art of preparing for chess competitions is brought to to perfection. Twice a year Botvinnik gathered his students for ten-day training camps: the guys reported, showed their games, and received new tasks. Kasparov soon became the teacher's first assistant and received the right to enjoy his unlimited support, and after each tournament he had to submit a creative report to the ex-world champion.
IN 1974 (or 1975 ) the year before the all-Union tournament "Pioneers vs. Grandmasters", when her son was 11 (12) years old, the mother changed not only his last name, but also his nationality - the Jew Harry Weinstein became the Armenian Harry Kasparov. In her opinion, under Soviet anti-Semitism, chess player Weinstein would have been it is more difficult to climb the career ladder. Clara Kasparova stated then that she changed her son’s surname on the advice of all her relatives, although it later turned out that her uncle Leonid Weinstein was categorically against it.
IN 1974 In 2009, Kasparov played for the first time in Moscow - at the Pioneer Palaces tournament: each of the six children's teams was led by a grandmaster, who gave a simultaneous game to the children of other teams. At first 1975 In 2009, Kasparov participated for the first time in the national championship among youths, where most of the competitors were six to seven years older than him. Kasparov was in the lead after eight rounds, but lost at the finish and shared only seventh place. In the middle 1975 year at the Spartak youth championship he took second place.
At the end 1975 In 2009, Kasparov took part in the next tournament of the Pioneer Palaces in Leningrad, in which he met in simultaneous play sessions with two chess luminaries - Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi. In the game with Karpov, Kasparov made a mistake in an equal position and lost, and with Korchnoi he played a draw.
At first 1976 12-year-old schoolboy Kasparov won the USSR championship, which was open to boys under 18 years of age. This was the first unique record set by Kasparov. Kasparov and his coach Nikitin continued to meet at competitions, and then went their separate ways: the student returned to Baku, and the coach to Moscow. In Baku, his coach was Alexander Shakarov, a famous theorist and creator of a unique file of openings. Under his leadership, Kasparov produced his first opening cards, and Shakarov became the main custodian of Kasparov's information bank for many years.
In summer 1976 In 2008, Kasparov went to the World Cadet Championship (under 16 years old) in France, but only managed to share third place. Nikitin had a conflict with Karpov, as a result of which the former was forced to leave the USSR State Sports Committee, publicly promising to overthrow Karpov from the chess throne. Nikitin moved to Spartak and, in essence, became Kasparov’s professional coach. At first 1977 Kasparov won the USSR Youth Championship for the second time in a row with a score of 8.5 points out of 9 possible. In summer 1977 In 2009, he again participated in the World Cadet Championship - he was in the lead three rounds before the end of the tournament, but at the finish line he again found himself third.
IN 1978 In the same year, candidate master of sports Kasparov took first place in the Sokolsky Memorial tournament in Minsk, and already completed the master’s standard five rounds before the end. In the last round, Kasparov played a serious game for the first time in his life against the only grandmaster in the tournament and won a convincing victory. Notable successes in youth competitions gave Kasparov the right to compete in the summer 1978 year in the all-Union qualifying tournament for the next national championship, where he won the only ticket directly to major league. Before the USSR Major League Championship, Kasparov participated in the All-Union Schoolchildren Spartakiad in Tashkent as a training session, defeating the world champion among youths of that year, Sergei Dolmatov.
IN 1978 year in Tbilisi at the 46th USSR Championship, Kasparov took the lead after the 4th round, but then fell behind.
in spring 1979 In 2009, Kasparov first entered an international tournament in the Yugoslav city of Banja Luka thanks to Botvinik, who managed to convince officials of his protégé’s great chess potential. The average rating of the tournament was 2487 Elo coefficient points, and Kasparov as a beginner had only 2200. Kasparov won his first international tournament : he scored 11.5 points out of 15 possible and exceeded the grandmaster norm by one and a half points, although at that time he was only awarded the title of international master. After this speech, Kasparov and his mother were invited to his office by the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, after which he took them under personal guardianship.
IN 1979 year, at his second USSR Championship, Kasparov took a prize, losing to Efim Geller and sharing bronze with Yuri Balashov.
In April 1980 Kasparov won another international tournament in his homeland in Baku, defeating Igor Zaitsev, Karpov’s coach, and became a grandmaster at the age of 17.
In summer 1980 Kasparov graduated from school with a gold medal. At school he was interested in geography and history, and read philosophical treatises. On family council it was decided that since Kasparov's future was connected with chess, then language education would be best suited for him. Medalist Kasparov passed only one exam - having received an “A”, he was enrolled in the Faculty of Foreign Languages at the Azerbaijan Pedagogical Institute.
In the same 1980 In 2006, Kasparov won the World Youth Championship in Dortmund, in which 58 young men from 55 countries took part, and won his first title of chess king. International master Nigel Short took second place, one and a half points behind. After the championship in Dortmund, experts unanimously said that in the next cycle of the world championship, Kasparov has every chance of becoming a rival to the current champion Karpov in the match for the crown. At the end 1980 Kasparov went to the Chess Olympiad as part of the USSR national team. He showed a high result: eight wins and three draws with one defeat.
IN 1981 In the same year, Kasparov’s mother resigned from her position as a senior researcher and scientific secretary at the Azerbaijan Scientific Research Electrotechnical Institute in order to devote herself entirely to her son’s chess career. She was included in her son’s staff as a professional coach, went with him to all competitions, took upon herself the solution of all everyday problems, was her son’s assistant and chief adviser, and replaced him with a whole team of psychologists. According to experts, the mother soon became Kasparov’s main confidant, and coaches turned from assistants and advisers into hired personnel. Kasparov’s mother could quite professionally conduct any negotiations on behalf of her son: it was she who began answering all phone calls and deciding who to connect Kasparov with.
In February 1981 year, Kasparov played in a tournament match of four national teams of the country (first, second, youth and veterans). He won two games against Vasily Smyslov, “exchanged blows” with the leader of the second team Oleg Romanishin, and his two games with Karpov ended in a draw. As a result, Kasparov took first place on the first board ahead of the two chess kings - Smyslov and Karpov.
In the same 1981 year, Kasparov, together with Lev Psakhis, shared 1-2 places at the USSR Championship in Frunze. In summer 1982 Kasparov won the Bugojno tournament in Yugoslavia. Being a prize-winner of the USSR Championship, he received the right to participate in the Moscow interzonal tournament, winning it in September 1982 year and at the age of 18 became a contender for the chess crown. At the next Chess Olympiad in Lucerne in 1982 In the year, Kasparov won six victories and drew five games; In the match between the USSR and Switzerland, Karpov decided to avoid meeting Viktor Korchnoi, and Kasparov, who replaced him, won, according to experts, a “fantastic” victory.
IN 1983 year, Kasparov won the quarter-finals against Alexander Belyavsky with a score of 6:3 and the semi-finals against Korchnoi (7:4) in the World Championship Candidates matches. Moreover, Kasparov was initially not allowed to participate in the semi-final Candidates match in America, according to the official version, because that they could not guarantee his safety, and, in the opinion of Kasparov himself, because of the fears of the party nomenklatura for the sports career of Leonid Brezhnev’s protégé Karpov, who could lose the title of world champion. Kasparov directly turned to Aliyev, who by that time had also become a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee CPSU, which managed to obtain permission to hold the match. Korchnoi, already declared the winner, agreed to play and lost to Kasparov. 1984 In the final this year, Kasparov defeated Vasily Smyslov (8.5:4.5) and became the number one contender.
IN 1984 Kasparov joined the CPSU: according to him, in the USSR, a candidate for the title of world champion had a choice between membership in the party and emigration.
In the same 1984 year, Kasparov met actress Marina Neyolova while visiting a married couple - figure skating coach Tatyana Tarasova and pianist Vladimir Krainev. Kasparov and Neelova, who was 16 years older than him, dated for two years. IN 1987 In the same year, Neelova gave birth to a daughter, Nika, whose father Kasparov did not recognize himself as.
in autumn 1984 In 2009, the duel between Karpov and Kasparov began, which was supposed to go until six victories of one of the chess players (draws were not counted). In the first nine games, Kasparov lost four. After a long series of draws, Karpov won the 27th game again and led with a score of 5:0. In the 32nd meeting, Kasparov won his first victory, and after another series of draws, he won two more games. According to experts, party and sports functionaries, concerned about the progress of the fight, considered various ways to save the current world champion. February, 15 1985 year, with the score 5:3 in favor of Karpov, the match was stopped without declaring a winner due to the deteriorating health of the reigning champion.
A new match between Kasparov and Karpov was scheduled for the fall 1985 of the year. Three months before it began, Kasparov, in an interview with the West German magazine Der Spiegel, accused the Soviet Chess Federation of anti-Semitism. Three weeks before the start of the match, a meeting of the USSR Chess Federation was scheduled, at which Kasparov was going to be disqualified for “anti-state speech.” Kasparov turned to the head of the propaganda department of the CPSU Central Committee, Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev, whose intervention saved the situation. On September 1, a match began in Moscow under new rules: the system of open-ended matches was replaced by a match of 24 games, with a score of 12:12, the champion retained his title. November 9 1985 22-year-old Kasparov defeated Karpov with a score of 13:11 and became the youngest, thirteenth world chess champion.
Later, Kasparov defended his championship title three times in rematches with Karpov: in 1986 year - in London (12.5:11.5), in 1987 year - in Seville (12:12), in 1990 year - in Lyon (12.5:11.5).
At the end 1985 year, Kasparov conducted chess lessons every Sunday at the Baku House of Pioneers free of charge - after each lesson he was given a huge bouquet of flowers as a token of gratitude.
IN 1986 In the same year, Kasparov graduated from the Azerbaijan Pedagogical Institute. In the same year, Kasparov met a graduate of the Romance-Germanic department of the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University, Maria Arapova, who worked as a guide-translator at Intourist and was a translator at the Novosti Press Agency. 1989 year they got married.
IN 1987 Kasparov was awarded the order Red Banner of Labor for achievements in the field of chess. In the same year, the first meeting of the USSR Chess Players' Union, created on Kasparov's initiative as a counterweight to the official federation, took place.
In July 1989 Kasparov beat Robert Fischer’s previous achievement of 2780 Elo rating points, and in January 1990 of the year was the first to exceed the 2800 point mark.
In January 1990 Kasparov left Baku - massacres of Armenians began in the city. Kasparov chartered a plane from Moscow by phone, but it was impossible to get there: all the roads were blocked by militants of the Popular Front of Azerbaijan. According to some reports, the grandmaster was helped by one of the most influential clans of Baku - the so-called “flower mafia”: Kasparov was guaranteed protection, and his car drove to the airfield without stopping.
Kasparov left the CPSU in 1990 year, and took an active part in the creation of the Democratic Party of Russia (DPR) in May 1990 of the year. In the summer of the same year, Kasparov went over to the internal party opposition, creating, together with Arkady Murashov, a free-democratic (“liberal”) faction, which split the party and left the DPR in the spring 1991 of the year. October 5 1991 Kasparov founded the coalition political parties"Liberal Union", which included the Free Labor Party, the Free Democrats Party and some members of the Democratic Party of Russia. December 25 1991 year, on the initiative and with money from Kasparov, one of the first private foundations was formed - “Freedom and Property”, the goals of which were to promote the ideas of liberalism, create an appropriate research institute and provide material support to liberal politicians.
In summer 1993 Kasparov participated in the creation of the election bloc "Russia's Choice" and signed a statement on its creation. November 9 1993 Kasparov announced that he did not intend to run for the new parliament, since, while remaining the world chess champion, he would not be able to work in it on a professional basis.
IN 1993 Kasparov left FIDE on the eve of his next fight for the title of world chess champion - with the Englishman Nigel Short. The rivals, in order not to pay interest due to FIDE, created their own organization - the Professional Chess Association (PSA). Kasparov won the match in London (12.5: 7.5) and became the PCA world champion. FIDE, in turn, also held a match for the world championship title, in which Karpov won against Jan Timman. Since then, the world chess champion title has been divided into two versions - FIDE AND PCA, and some chess players began to play within both organizations (only on October 13 2006 The match for the title of absolute world champion ended in Elista - a title that was recognized for the first time by both organizations. Russian chess player Vladimir Kramnik became the champion, defeating Bulgarian Veselin Topalov. Kasparov played two more matches for the title of world chess champion according to the PCA version: in 1995 year he won in New York against Viswanathan Anand (10.5:7.5), and in 2000 lost to Kramnik.
At first 1990 's, Kasparov's wife left for Finland, where her parents then lived, and in 1993 year, she gave birth to a daughter, Polina. The grandmaster himself remained in Moscow: according to some reports, by that time the relationship between Kasparov’s wife and mother had become tense. After the fight with Short, Kasparov invited his wife to divorce, check out of the Moscow apartment and renounce further claims to his property. The divorce process and division of property lasted a year and a half.
IN 1995 year in Riga at the final banquet after the tournament in memory of Mikhail Tal, Kasparov met Yulia Vovk.In the beginning 1996 They got married that year, and in the fall of the same year their son Vadim was born.
IN 1996 In 2010, Kasparov took part in Boris Yeltsin’s election campaign and became the president’s confidant for campaigning in a number of regional centers of the so-called “red belt”.
IN 1997 In 2009, Kasparov agreed to become a financial advisor to General Alexander Lebed, who initiated the creation of the Third Force alliance and the Russian People's Republican Party. According to Kasparov, he managed to convince Lebed not to participate in the gubernatorial elections in the Tula region, but was unable to dissuade him from running for the post of head Krasnoyarsk Territory, after which their relationship ended.
IN 1996 year in Philadelphia, Kasparov won a match with the IBM Corporation's Deep Blue computer, and in May of the following year he lost to the same machine in New York. Kasparov accused the computer team of not following the rules of the game, and IBM immediately dismantled Deep Blue.
At the end 1996 In 2010, Kasparov began creating a virtual chess “Kasparov Club”. At the end 1998 In 2010, a bilingual (in English and Russian) chess website "Kasparov's Club" (ClubKasparov.ru) was created, which quickly became one of the most popular on the Internet. Kasparov's unique achievement was his victory in a match against the rest of the world, organized by Microsoft in 1999 year. Over the course of four months of intense and exciting struggle, a website specially created for this purpose on the Internet was visited by over 3 million people. According to experts, there has not been such interest in a chess event in the entire previous history.
In June 1999 In 2009, Kasparov signed a contract for the development of the site with investors from the Israeli company Poalim, after which the company KasparovChessOnline Inc. was created in Delaware (due to tax incentives). , and its offices were opened in Tel Aviv, New York and Moscow. Due to the financial crisis in September 2002 year, the board of directors unanimously decided to terminate the company's activities. December 2002 In 2018, the Israeli bank First International Bank of Israel (FIBI) accused Kasparov and part of the board of directors of KasparovChessOnline of failing to repay a loan of $1.6 million and closing the website kasparovchess.com, which served as a guarantee for the return of money. The Delaware State Court rejected FIBI Bank's claim against Kasparov.
IN 2003 year in New York, Kasparov played a draw with the computer programs Deep Junior and Deep Fritz.
In January 2004 Kasparov founded the public "Committee" in opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin. 2008 : free choice."According to Kasparov, until December 2003 years, his participation in politics was of a somewhat detached nature: “closing his eyes,” he voted for the Union of Right Forces, and his mother voted for Yabloko. By August 2005 year declaration of the "Committee- 2008 “signed by 2,322 people. Kasparov himself became the chairman. According to experts, it was initially assumed that the committee would become a “think tank” of Russian liberals and a platform for their consolidation into a single political structure, but things did not go beyond press releases and open letters criticizing the authorities . For 2004 year the activities of the "Committee- 2008 " consisted mainly of public statements on current issues political situation: about elections, about the terrorist attack in Beslan, about the danger of a constitutional coup, about the need to unite democrats.
In November 2004 Kasparov took part in the Russian Chess Championship. Karpov refused to play, but had to personally present the winner with a reward from his foundation - chess made of semi-precious stones. After Kasparov's victory, Karpov did not come to the award ceremony.
12 December 2004 of the year "Committee- 2008 “Kasparov took an active part in holding the All-Russian Civil Congress “For Democracy, Against Dictatorship.” According to experts, due to the weakness of the opposition and reluctance to enter into an open conflict with the authorities, the clause on readiness to conduct mass actions of civil disobedience was rejected in the final declaration. On the other hand, at the request of Garry Kasparov, the phrase about the intention to conduct a dialogue with the authorities was also excluded.To organize further joint work, the forum participants decided to establish a permanent body - the Action Committee of the All-Russian Civil Congress.
In January 2005 Kasparov refused to hold a unification match with the FIDE world champion, Uzbek Rustam Kasimdzhanov, scheduled for the spring 2005 of the year. According to experts, this has led to a growing rift between FIDE and the PCA.
In March 2005 In 2009, Kasparov won another super tournament in Linares in Spain and announced the end of his chess career in order to devote most of his time to social and political activities. At the same time, he stated that he was only retiring from professional chess, but would conduct simultaneous games and play blitz games. According to experts, Kasparov lost the motivation to continue playing chess after the idea of unifying the two world championship systems finally collapsed, and the current world champion Kramnik rejected all attempts by Kasparov to play with him. By that time, Kasparov was an eight-time Olympic champion and two-time European champion as part of the national team, two-time champion of the USSR and champion of Russia, winner of many super tournaments, winner of 13 chess Oscars and a record Elo rating of 2851 points. As of January 1 2006 year, he ranked first in the FIDE rating list with an Elo coefficient of 2812. In April 2006 Kasparov was excluded from the rating list of the best chess players in the world according to FIDE, since he did not play a single game during the year; Topalov took first place in the ranking with 2804 points.
In May 2005 Kasparov founded and headed the United Civil Front (UCF). The UGF has called itself a structure whose main task is to unite the extra-parliamentary opposition on a common anti-Putin platform, regardless of political beliefs. In summer 2005 In 2009, Kasparov carried out a large-scale propaganda trip through the regions of Russia, which in a number of places attracted the close attention of the special services, who several times tried to disrupt Kasparov’s meetings with the population (for example, in the republics of the North Caucasus). Branches of the OCF were created in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Primorsky Territory, Voronezh, Lipetsk, Novosibirsk, Kaluga, Dagestan, Kostroma and Primorsky Territory. By this time, the activity of the "Committee- 2008 " was practically reduced to a minimum, and key leaders took up their own political projects.
In summer 2005 year, it became known that Kasparov divorced his second wife and registered a marriage with a student at the University of Trade Unions of St. Petersburg, Daria Tarasova, whom he met at the end of 2004 year. According to Kasparov, having left sports and taken up politics, he was forced to change “the entire algorithm of his personal life.”
In July 2006 In 2009, Kasparov became one of the organizers of the opposition forum “The Other Russia”, timed to coincide with the G8 summit in St. Petersburg. Russian Presidential Aide Igor Shuvalov said on the eve of the forum that the participation of officials from Western countries in it would be regarded by the Kremlin as an unfriendly gesture. The participants of the conference were former Russian Prime Minister and leader of the People's Democratic Union Mikhail Kasyanov, deputy Sergei Glazyev, National Bolshevik leader Eduard Limonov and leader of the Labor Russia movement Viktor Anpilov, British Ambassador to Russia Tony Brenton and US Deputy Secretary of State Daniel Fried . Representatives of Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces did not take part in the forum, and Mikhail Delyagin was expelled from the Rodina party for his participation in the Other Russia. According to experts, the “Other Russia” conference became a showcase of the forces of the most radical opponents of the authorities and, possibly, the start of their election campaign.
10th of November 2006 In 2009, the political meeting of the “Other Russia” adopted a statement demanding that the Russian authorities bring election legislation into conformity with the Russian Constitution. Members of the political council appealed to President Putin, as well as the speakers of both houses of parliament, Sergei Mironov and Boris Gryzlov, demanding “to restore the in full voting rights of citizens, ensuring the repeal of legislative changes of recent years" (the call remained unanswered). On the same day, a decision was made to hold 2006 year of the “March of Dissent” in Moscow. An application to the Moscow City Hall for its holding was submitted in early December 2006 year, but the capital's government banned the procession. As a result, the march of supporters of the Other Russia was replaced by a rally at the Mayakovsky monument on Triumfalnaya Square. Explaining his reluctance to take people on an unauthorized march, Kasparov said: “We will not endanger those who are here.”
In March 2007 year, Kasyanov spoke to participants in the “March of Dissent” in St. Petersburg. According to Nezavisimaya Gazeta, this action received a mixed assessment from observers, some of whom accused the march participants of extremism. The publication wrote that Kasparov and another leader of the Other Russia, Mikhail Kasyanov, spoke at a rally sanctioned by the authorities. It was noted that they did not take part in the procession, the inadmissibility of which the city governor Valentina Matvienko had previously spoken about.
In April 2007 In 2009, Kasparov became one of the organizers of the new “March of Dissent,” planned by the “Other Russia” in Moscow. According to press reports, the procession was initially planned to be held in the center of the capital - on Pushkinskaya Square and Tverskaya Street. However, shortly before the scheduled day, the capital's authorities announced that they had agreed with the organizing committee of the "March of Dissent" on a change in the route and form of the event - now it was planned to hold not a procession, but a rally on Turgenevskaya Square. Kasparov disputed this statement: according to him, there were no agreements with the Moscow government to hold a rally on Turgenev Square instead of the announced march. “We are gathering on Pushkinskaya and will look for an opportunity to peacefully walk from Pushkinskaya to Turgenevskaya,” he said. 14th of April 2007 Kasparov took part in the “March of Dissent” in Moscow. According to a number of media reports, the action was accompanied by mass arrests and beatings of its participants, as well as journalists covering the march. Kasparov himself was detained shortly after the start of the procession. Later, the police dispersed a spontaneous rally in his defense, which took place near the Presnensky police station, where he was taken. On the same day, Kasparov was released, but the magistrate fined him one thousand rubles “for shouting anti-government slogans.” The politician’s lawyers, calling the court’s decision “illegal and unfounded,” said that they intend to appeal it to a higher authority.
May 18 2007 year, a number of media reported that Kasparov, who were planning to fly to Samara to participate in the next “March of Dissent,” as well as Limonov, human rights activist Lev Ponomarev and a number of other representatives of “The Other Russia” (about 25 people) were detained at Moscow Sheremetyevo airport. Police officers took Kasparov, Limonov and Ponomarev had documents and tickets, explaining that the ticket numbers presented by the passengers were not in the airport database. After the detainees gave explanations about the tickets, the documents were returned to them, but by that time the flight had already departed. According to a representative of the Department of Internal Affairs at Sheremetyevo Airport, the opposition leaders had the opportunity to fly to Samara on the same day on other flights, but refused to do so. In this regard, some publications stated that since the organizers were unable to ensure a “crowded” event in Samara, the Limonovs and Kasparovs “found a reason why they could not go to Samara.”
In July 2007 years, after Kasyanov’s break with “The Other Russia,” Kasparov admitted the existence of “serious disagreements” that have a “deep-seated, difficult-to-overcome character at this stage” within the “Other Russia” political meeting. The reason for their emergence was the question of the procedure for determining a single opposition candidate for the upcoming presidential elections: Kasparov’s UGF insisted on a transparent and democratic procedure for nominating a candidate, Kasyanov’s Russian People’s Democratic Union (RNDS) proposed an option in which the list of candidates was limited to representatives of each of the four organizations participating in “The Other Russia” (one representative from each). Following Kasyanov, “The Other Russia” was also left by its founders - Lyudmila Alekseeva, Georgy Satarov and Alexander Auzan. “The main fissure lies between M. Kasyanov and G. Kasparov... We cannot take part in an event that was conceived as a coalition, but has become separate,” they indicated in their statement.
In September 2007 year, the capital's publishing house Eksmo refused to print Kasparov's book “Chess as a Model of Life,” which was supposed to be presented that same month at a book fair in Moscow. The press service of the publishing house announced the postponement of the book's release date for an indefinite period without explanation. Subsequently, the publishing house, according to Lenta.Ru, explained the refusal by the lack of the necessary agreement with the author. Kasparov himself saw a clear political motive in the incident: according to him, the postponement of the publication of the book was an attempt to “block the channels” of communication between the opposition and the citizens of the country.
September 30th 2007 2019, the congress of the "Other Russia" coalition elected Kasparov as a single candidate in the presidential elections 2008 of the year (he received 379 out of 498 votes). At the same time, at the congress, the coalition approved the list of candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections - despite the fact that opposition representatives had practically no chance of registering it (the law allows only parties registered with the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation to participate in elections). In a conversation with a newspaper representative "Kommersant" Kasparov said: "In the top three we have the former head of the Central Bank Viktor Gerashchenko, the leader of the National Bolsheviks Eduard Limonov and me."
In October 2007 In 2009, the co-chairs of the All-Russian Civil Congress (VGK) Alekseeva, Satarov and Auzan published an open letter in which they appealed to the fourth co-chair - Kasparov - with a call to suspend his activities as co-chair of this structure. “Combining the position of co-chairman of the congress with biased political activity, for example, one’s own presidential nomination, is not very correct, this is a conflict of interest,” Satarov explained the position of human rights activists. In response to this appeal to him, Kasparov stated that he was not yet ready to make a final decision on this matter.
December 2007 Kasparov dropped out of the presidential race without joining it. It was noted that a meeting of the initiative group to nominate his candidacy for the post of President of the Russian Federation was to be held at the Mir cinema on December 13 2007 year, but the cinema administration, citing technical problems, refused to provide the premises at the last moment. According to the executive director of the OCF Denis Bilunov, the cinema employees were threatened with a tax audit and the closure of the premises for a month if the specified meeting was held there. Bilunov turned to the head of the Central Election Commission, Vladimir Churov, and in his message spoke about the situation. However, the response, signed by a technical employee of the Central Election Commission, emphasized that according to the law, a meeting of the initiative group of at least 500 people must be held within the established time frame, and the CEC must be notified of the time and place of the event no later than five days before it , and no other options are provided for self-nominated candidates. Thus, according to Bilunov, the electoral commission de facto removed Kasparov from the start of the presidential race, since December 13 was the last day when it was still possible to hold a meeting on time.
12 December 2007 At the congress of the All-Russian Civil Congress in Moscow, Kasparov said: “My presidential campaign ends tomorrow, because in all of Moscow there is no hall to hold a meeting of my initiative group.” In turn, representatives of the Central Election Commission expressed bewilderment at Kasparov’s statement. In particular, the deputy head of the legal department of the Central Election Commission, Aleksey Kisin, noted: “In Russia in general and in Moscow in particular, there are many premises in which it is possible to gather for a variety of purposes.”
There, at the congress, Kasparov, Alekseeva and Satarov were re-elected co-chairs of the All-Russian Civil Congress, but Auzan was not included in the number of co-chairs. Kommersant described the Congress congress as an event at which “the discussion turned into a day-long showdown between members of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.” Already in January 2008 year, the conflict in the leadership of the Supreme Commander reached highest point: Alekseeva and Satarov announced that they were leaving their posts as co-chairs of the organization. According to them, in the case of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, a situation has arisen where “the most negative inherent in modern Russian political practice is being introduced into the work of a civil organization,” and therefore they do not see the possibility of further cooperation with Kasparov. In turn, Kasparov expressed surprise and regret in connection with the departure of Alekseeva and Satarov. “This is a very sad story,” he said and noted that “many who consider themselves adherents of democracy are allergic to democratic procedures.”
In March 2008 In 2009, Dmitry Medvedev, who previously held the post of first deputy prime minister of the country's government, was elected the new president of Russia. In May of the same year, his inauguration ceremony took place, confirming Putin as Prime Minister of Russia.
That same month, the Other Russia coalition made a new attempt to unite the opposition, initiating the creation of an “alternative parliament.” May 17 2008 In 2009, a meeting of the National Assembly was held in Moscow, which united, as reported in the press, representatives of 85 organizations from 66 regions of Russia. Assembly participants promised to restore political democracy in the country. Elected to the Presidium of the National Assembly, Kasparov, in his speech at the opening of the “alternative parliament,” called the assembly “a unique phenomenon in Russian history", since it became "the first representative body not imposed from above by the authorities." The leader of the UCF stated that the National Assembly should become a counterweight to the "flawed, illegitimate, shameful State Duma."
In September 2008 year, Kasparov represented Russia at a meeting with dissidents and human rights activists from states with authoritarian regimes, organized within the framework of the opening UN General Assembly in New York.
December 13-14 2008 The founding congress of the new opposition movement "Solidarity" took place in Khimki near Moscow. Kasparov, who joined the presidium and political council of the movement, even before the approval of its program, stated that the goal of Solidarity was “not destruction, but dismantling the regime.” Researchers noted that two currents immediately took shape in the new movement: supporters of Nemtsov and supporters of Kasparov, who at the founding congress fought for seats on the political council. Elections for the head of the Solidarity executive committee were scheduled for February 2009 year, this post was taken by Kasparov’s ally Denis Bilunov.
In February 2009 year, on the eve of the first meeting of the Solidarity political council, Kasparov, Nemtsov and the head of the Energy Policy Institute Vladimir Milov presented their plan to combat the economic crisis. They saw the main reason for the deterioration of the economic situation in the country in the “Putin model of government.” Accordingly, “the main anti-crisis measure should be the immediate resignation of Vladimir Putin and his government” followed by political reform. To implement it, members of the party's political council expressed their readiness to "cooperate with anyone... Even with President Medvedev, although he also has problems with legitimacy."
In September 2009 In 2008, a match between Kasparov and Karpov took place in the Spanish city of Valencia, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of their match for the world title. The match consisted of four games with a “quick” time control (25 minutes for each opponent) and eight blitz games (5 minutes for each chess player). As a result, Kasparov again defeated Karpov.
Kasparov is the author of many chess books. Kasparov wrote his first book, “The Test of Time,” at the age of 20. Other publications and public appearances, according to experts, allowed Kasparov to create an image for himself as a chess researcher and publicist. One of his latest works- “My Great Predecessors” - consists of several volumes and is dedicated to all previous world chess champions. 2005 Kasparov announced that he had begun writing a book about how life imitates chess, the rights to which were purchased in 17 countries. It was noted that Kasparov does not and never had his own chess school, since he was not attracted to classes with beginners.
Kasparov is an active supporter of the “New Chronology” theory, which claims the historical falsification of the “true” chronology. He even wrote the preface to the book by Anatoly Fomenko and Gleb Nosovsky, “Introduction to the New Chronology (What Century Are We Living in?).”
The life of the famous chess genius Garry Kasparov is as varied as his analytical mind is brilliant. Victories in chess that excited the world, sudden departure at the peak of glory, literary and political activity- this is only a small part of the achievements of the great grandmaster. Truly, the great representatives of humanity are multifaceted and talented in everything.
Childhood
On April 13, 1963, Baku heard the cry of a baby of the future chess champion. Parents, Weinstein Kim Moiseevich and Kasparyan Klara Shagenovna, were immensely happy. Both were people with engineering specialties, but loved to while away the evenings playing chess.
Little Garik Kasparov (chess player in the future) with early years demonstrated a remarkable intelligence and grasped everything on the fly. Unnoticed by everyone, the curious baby watched the chess battles of mom and dad, absorbing all sorts of tricks and solutions like a sponge. One day, completely unexpectedly, at the age of 5, he suggested a way out of a chess problem that his parents were puzzling over. At that moment, Kim Moiseevich saw a future champion in his son.
In 1970, after the death of his father, a little chess lover begins to visit a section of the local Pioneer Palace. In the first year of study he receives the 3rd category and the road to international competitions opens up for him.
From this moment on, constant travel begins. Kasparov (chess player), whose nationality was Jewish from birth, at that time had the sonorous surname Weinstein. His mother understood that it would be quite difficult for him to achieve success in chess. And in 1974, the surname was changed to Kasparov. Now little Garik is Armenian. Now this position may seem strange, but at that time it was the only right decision. Anti-Semitic persecution would hardly have allowed a Jew to win and gain fame in the sport of chess.
The first victories of the young chess player
The beginning of his career was quite easy for the little chess player. Success accompanied the talented child. In 1973, at the All-Union Youth Games in Vilnius, Kasparov the chess player found a mentor in the person of the master of sports Alexander Nikitin. Captivated by the young talent, Nikitin gives him a recommendation for admission to a school for in-depth study of chess art under the leadership. Without thinking twice, in the same year, Garik and his mother go to Dubna, where they enroll in studies without any problems. After some time, Botvinnik himself notices the boy and takes him under his wing, providing all possible support.
A year later, Kasparov, a chess player with a capital “C,” became a participant in the USSR Youth Championship for the first time. This time he takes only 7th place, which delights those watching, because the age of the other participants is at least 6 years ahead of the age of the little chess player. The next year, the stubborn child returns to the tournament and wins a brilliant victory. At this moment, the young talent was noticed by the highest circles in the game of chess and since then they have not taken their gaze off, following the achievements of young Garik.
Already at the age of 15, having received a master of sports in chess, the brilliant child participates in the selection for the country's major league. And again he wins. In 1980, at the next tournament in Baku, chess player Garry Kasparov received the title of grandmaster, defeating Igor Zaitsev, the coach of his future opponent Anatoly Karpov.
Fight of two "K"s for the title of "World Champion"
In 1984, Kasparov (chess player) entered into a confrontation with the incumbent Anatoly Karpov. The fight and the desire to become the best consumes both and drags on for 10 years. All this time, the world is watching with tension the battle between the two greatest chess players.
The first fight begins in the fall of 1984. With what attention the whole world is watching the game. The fight has no time limit and the final must be 6 victories of one of the participants. Difficult games and incredible tension do not allow anyone to relax. The fight drags on for 159 days and perhaps could have lasted longer, but the President of the International Chess Federation decides to interrupt the chess battle. The result is a draw and the title, according to the rules, remains with Karpov. It is the epoch-making duel between the two that is included as the first and only unfinished chess battle.
Six months later, Kasparov and Karpov meet again for a decisive battle. This time the match has a limit of 24 games. On November 9, with the score 13:11, Garry Kasparov - a chess player whose biography is interesting to his fans - wins a well-deserved victory and becomes the youngest World Champion. At this moment he is only 22 years old.
Over the next 10 years, two brilliant chess players collide in three more battles. But each of them ends in Kasparov’s victory.
Life of a Champion
Since receiving the title of world chess champion, Kasparov has repeatedly confirmed his unique talent. Wins tournaments, defeats brilliant chess players.
At the same time, Kasparov advocates the opening of the Professional Chess Organization (PSA), which holds a number of matches and tournaments.
In 1993, the chess genius left FIDE (International Chess Organization) and was almost deprived of all titles, titles and place in the world ranking. But some time later, justice triumphs, and the title returns to its rightful owner.
At this time, Harry Kimovich was actively involved in social activities. Opens schools for young talents, supports in every way the development of chess in various countries. The photo of Kasparov the chess player is recognized all over the world.
The fight between man and computer
In 1996, the creators of computer technology challenged the champion and he accepted it without hesitation. Based on curiosity and interest, the genius chess player enters into a battle with the machine. The first match leaves the man victorious, although Kasparov loses one game. And in May 1997, during the second match, Kasparov was defeated and the computer became the winner of the match.
After losing 2 more times, the grandmaster enters into a chess battle with the machine. Both times the result is a draw.
Years later, Kasparov’s interest in computer technology does not fade and several interesting chess programs are released in his name.
Political career
Despite the enormous busyness in developing his sports career, constant training, and traveling, Kasparov is madly attracted to politics.
After the devastating actions in Baku in 1990, the champion moved with his family to Moscow and became involved in the political activities of the country. The chess player advocates the introduction of democracy and promotes the Democratic Party.
For now political career famous chess player is in full swing. A participant in election campaigns, an activist in the creation of parties, the brilliant chess player can no longer imagine life without politics, the main direction of which remains democracy.
Leaving a sports career
The fall of 2000 becomes, to some extent, a milestone in the life of the grandmaster.
As part of the next tournament to identify the leader in ancient game, turns out to be more successful and defeats the great chess player. Kasparov ceases to be world champion, but only officially.
After the loss, Garry Kimovich, being a multifaceted personality, is not particularly sad and for another 5 years continues to take part in all kinds of chess tournaments and championships. Naturally, winning numerous victories.
And in 2005 he suddenly announced his intention to end his career as a chess player. It was from this moment that the main direction of his activity became politics, into which Kasparov plunged headlong.
Literary activity
At the beginning of his movement to the chess Olympus, Kasparov quite often wrote articles that were published in various publications.
In addition, he wrote several books on the conduct of chess games and their completion.
In 1987, the autobiography book “Child of Change” was published. The book was published in English and was written not by hand, but by dictation to a local journalist. After which Kasparov published several more books, devoting them to his beloved ancient game.
Personal life
The heart life of the famous chess player is as varied as the directions of his activity in the outside world.
In 1986, he met Maria Arapova. The young and lovers enter into an official union two years later, and after another three years the family is replenished. And a wonderful daughter is born - Polina. But everyday problems, conflicts between his beloved wife and his equally dear mother lead to the collapse of the family, and in 1993 the couple filed for divorce. After some time, the ex-wife and daughter Polina leave the country and currently live in the USA.
Three years later, chess player Garry Kasparov, whose biography is described in the article, begins to develop feelings for a young student and enters into an official marriage with her. Kasparov's son is born. But this marriage does not bring happiness either and ends in divorce in 2005. After which Kasparov marries St. Petersburg resident Daria Tarasova. The marriage produces two children - son Nikolai and daughter Aida.
At the moment, the name of chess player Kasparov is known all over the world. Garry Kimovich remains an unsurpassed master of chess art who has gone down in history. Winner of several chess Oscars and many awards. A man who, with the unshakable tenacity inherent in his strong character, defends his opinion in the world. A person about whom even after the end of his life’s journey they will talk and create legends.
In the chess world, Garry Kasparov was never called anything other than “The Great and Terrible”. The famous champion left the sport at the peak of his fame. Some are convinced that it is in vain, while others say that it is on time. Nevertheless, the great grandmaster has something to tell about himself, because Garry Kasparov’s biography, personal life and children are of interest to many of his admirers. And today’s activities of the champion cause a lot of talk in society.
Today, the former chess player has devoted himself almost entirely to politics and is a prominent positionist, accusing Russian government in the outbreak of the armed conflict in Donbass and the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. But first things first.
So, below is the biography of Garry Kasparov: personal life, children, sporting achievements and others interesting points from the life of a great grandmaster.
Childhood
The future champion was born in Baku on April 13, 1963. The boy's parents were intelligent people and kept themselves apart from the lower, so to speak, working class. As for the nationality of Garry Kasparov, this point caused a lot of controversy in sports circles.
The fact is that the chess player’s father (Kim Moiseevich) is Jewish, and his mother (Klara Shagenovna) is Armenian. Both he and the other were purebred almost to the fifth generation. Therefore, in the sports community, both Jews and Armenians, as they say, each pulled the blanket over themselves, disputing the nationality of Garry Kasparov in their favor. However, in the Soviet Union he was considered an Armenian and simply a Soviet citizen.
The parents of the future grandmaster worked as engineers and staged chess battles almost every evening. It was thanks to them that Garry Kasparov became so passionate about this sport. Starting at the age of five, he began to master the basics of chess art. And this absorbed him so much that he did not need any toys, or the street, or other yard delights. Only chess, books and newspapers.
Youth
At the age of twelve, a turning point occurred in the biography of Garry Kasparov: the young prodigy became a champion Soviet Union in chess among youths. Since then, this sport has become the meaning of his whole life for him.
By the age of seventeen, Garry Kasparov (photos presented in the article) received the title of Master of Sports. At the same time, the chess player graduated from school, with a gold medal, and then entered the local pedagogical university to the Department of Foreign Languages. Harry was accepted into the institute after passing one single exam, which, by the way, he passed with a solid five points.
In 1980, Garry Kasparov, already known throughout the Union, was awarded the title of grandmaster.
After his father's death in 1970, the talented chess player's mother became more than a parent to him. She was his coach, mentor and devoted herself entirely to her son and his career. Klara Shagenovna was with him almost everywhere. Championships were held not only in the Union, but also abroad, and Garry Kasparov’s mother followed her son everywhere and solved all his problems, from domestic ones to some kind of professional friction.
It was then that she decided to radically change the grandmaster’s image, changing not only Harry’s nationality, but also his last name. So after 1980, he ceased to be the Jewish chess player Weinstein, but turned into the Armenian Kasparov.
Career
The career of Kasparov Garry Kimovich is replete with victories and all sorts of awards. The venerable grandmaster took first places in various championships and chess competitions for 13 years. At that time, Harry’s Elo rating reached 2800 points, and this is an exceptionally highly professional level.
After unpleasant events in 1990, when brutal reprisals against Armenians began in his homeland, he was forced to leave Azerbaijan and moved to the capital of the USSR. A little later, in 1993, Harry left the International Chess Federation, while creating its analogue - the Professional Chess Association.
Later, in 1996, the grandmaster organized a virtual sports organization - the Kasparov Club. The resource gained popularity year by year, and already in 1999, the famous chess player beat all users on the Internet in a match organized by Microsoft. At that time, this game with all non-professional chess players, which lasted almost four months, was watched by more than 3 million users of the World Wide Web. This indicator still cannot be beaten by any virtual chess resource.
Kasparov vs Deep Blue
In 1996, the then leading corporation IBM challenged Kasparov, inviting him to oppose them. modern computer- Deep Blue. The designers assured users that the machine was capable of processing up to 200 million moves per second and making decisions with proper competence.
Kasparov won the competition with good score- 4:2, but lost to a computer opponent in the first game.
The next time Deep Blue and the great grandmaster met was a year later - in 1997. The game was difficult and tense for Kasparov. And on move 46, the famous chess player admitted defeat and surrendered to the computer. After the game, Harry asked for detailed logs of the game, suspecting human interference in the process, but the company refused him, citing trade secrets.
Champion
In 1985, the chess player officially became the thirteenth world champion. Sports experts called the game of Karpov and Kasparov enchanting. But the previous champion was unable to retain his title and lost it to the newcomer. Kasparov managed to cleverly play the little-used Nemtsovich Defense and win the first game. Neither one nor the other gave in and held on until the end, reducing the pieces to a draw. But by the end of the 16th game, Harry won a spectacular victory and won the World Championship.
Kasparov became the youngest grandmaster. During the game with Karpov he was 22 years old. Only the athlete from Norway Magnus Carlsen, who also turned 22 when he took the champion title, was able to win such a “youth” record.
End of career
In 2005, the grandmaster decided for himself that he had achieved everything he wanted in chess and told his fans that he was leaving this sport. As an alternative to the board and pieces, Harry preferred politics, declaring that in Russia there are a dime a dozen colonels and generals, but too little intelligence.
It was precisely the latter that he decided to compensate with his presence, deciding, with the help of his talent for comprehensive and including strategic thinking, to change the Motherland for the better and contribute to its development. Some perceived such impulses very enthusiastically, but a good half of the grandmaster’s fans, as well as politicians, were quite skeptical about this.
Over the next years, the chess player devoted himself almost day and night to the opposition movement “United Civil Front” that he created. The main policy of the party was aimed at counteracting the current leadership of the Russian Federation. The serious political life of the famous chess player began with this movement.
Together with his comrades in the movement, Karpov opposed the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his team. Garry Kimovich organized marches of dissent under his banners wherever possible, for which he was detained by law enforcement more than once.
A little later, in 2008, Kasparov created a new democratic movement and called it Solidarity. The latter, again, was aimed at fighting the current government, where the main priority was the resignation of the president.
Not everyone liked the chess player’s radical plans and ideas, so he did not receive support from the media. He also did not become a member of the Opposition Coordination Council. Alexey Navalny was ahead of Garry Kimovich by a fairly large margin.
After all these ups and downs, the chess player moved with his family to America and settled in New York. In 2013, he stated that he was not going to return to the Russian Federation and would fight the Russian authorities where he lived. Garry Kasparov continues to fight “Kremlin crimes” from abroad at the international level. It is also worth noting that in 2014, the chess player’s main website was blocked by Roskomnadzor for calls for extremist actions.
After the events in Ukraine in 2014, Kasparov openly supported the leadership in Kyiv and with the help of everyone available funds accused Russia of seizing the Crimean peninsula and supporting military militia in the Donbass.
Kasparov strongly calls on Europe and the United States to increase pressure on the Russian President with the help of sanctions and other political instruments. Then, in 2014, Harry Kimovich repeatedly visited the capital of Ukraine and gave a simultaneous game to everyone in support of the authorities.
A year later, Kasparov wrote a book where he presents to readers his vision of the world situation and problems modern Russia in particular. In his publication, the chess player speaks extremely negatively about the current government in the Russian Federation and specifically about Vladimir Putin. One of the key roles in modern history Kasparov gave credit to Ronald Reagan, who in the 1980s did a lot to put an end to the “Evil Empire.”
Personal life of Garry Kasparov
The children of the great chess player are much more willing to talk about their father, while he himself tries to avoid uncomfortable questions about his personal life. As such, the grandmaster's personal life began when he turned 21.
The already famous chess player met a popular actress, Marina Neelova, at one of the social events. For many, she remained the capricious little princess from the “Old, Old Fairy Tale.” The actress differed from other stage personalities with her diminutive size, plump lips and delicate taste.
Marina Neelova
The young chess player was not at a loss and invited the “princess” to take a walk. This is how the romance between Garry Kasparov and Marina Neyolova began. Literally the entire inner circle of both the chess player and the actress took such a relationship with hostility. The fact is that Kasparov was 21 years old, and Neelova was 37 years old.
The mother of the future grandmaster was obsessed with her son and his victories and, naturally, she did not even want to see any actress, much less 16 years older than him. Nevertheless, Garry Kasparov still carved out several hours and even days from his busy schedule for his personal life and devoted them entirely to Marina.
The actress introduced the future grandmaster into the highest circles of Soviet bohemian youth. At social events he was presented by the most talented people. Thanks to great games and similar acquaintances, the chess player’s name began to appear not only in specialized media.
But as mentioned above, Kasparov’s mother was categorically against such a relationship, and soon the romance between the actress and the chess player came to naught. Marina Neelova gave birth to a daughter some time later and named her Nika. But the strict mother forbade her son to recognize the child, even though Nika was like two peas in a pod like a chess player.
Maria Arapova
In 1989, Garry Kimovich officially signed with Maria Arapova. She worked as a guide-translator at the Intourist hotel complex. A little later, in 1992, they had a daughter, Polina. A year later, Kasparov's marriage began to fall apart, and the couple decided to separate. The divorce proceedings lasted a full year and a half. Ex-wife a chess player and his daughter decided to leave Russia and settled for permanent residence in America.
Yulia Vovk
Kasparov’s next chosen one was 18-year-old student Yulia Vovk. From her, the chess player has a son, Vadim, born in 1996. The couple lived together for 9 years, after which the marriage began to crack and subsequently broke up.
Daria Tarasova
But the grandmaster, after a relatively quick divorce, again became entangled in Cupid’s net. And this time Kasparov again got a bride noticeably younger than himself. The age difference with socialite Daria Tarasova was almost 20 years. They got married in 2005, and a year later the couple had a daughter, Aida. In the summer of 2015, there was a replenishment; Tarasova made her husband happy with her son Nikolai.
The children of Garry Kasparov have no connection with the world of chess and do not even consider this sport as a hobby. But the great grandmaster himself does not insist on this, believing that everyone should choose their calling independently and without the guardianship of parents.
These days
The former world champion is still actively involved in politics. The chess player’s position, thoughts, some conclusions and other information can be found on Twitter. There he shares latest news with his subscribers and comments on what is happening in the world and in Russia.
Kasparov invariably follows the previously chosen political course and believes that “the Russian Federation must return to the European family of nations.” A good half of his compatriots criticize the chess player’s ideas, plans and position regarding Russia.
Kasparov, in addition to housing in New York, also has real estate in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Croatia. He visits the latter very often and lives for months in the town of Makarska with his wife and children. The former champion's main sources of income are chess master classes and thematic lectures. This also includes literary activity. Political prose is not so in demand among readers, but they are ready to buy professional works related to the sport of chess, and in decent quantities.
Since 2002 and to this day, Garry Kasparov has been making his own, and considerable, contribution to the development of the chess field throughout the world. The ex-champion is trying to introduce chess as a sporting discipline in educational systems different countries, along with the same physical education. Over the past ten years, Harry Kimovich has organized an impressive network of cooperation with hundreds of schools in Europe, Asia and the United States.
At the age of ten, at youth competitions in Vilnius, Harry met master Alexander Nikitin, who became his coach for a long time. Until 1976, Nikitin periodically gave consultations and written assignments, then they began to work constantly as a team. On his recommendation, in August 1973, Harry came to try out the chess school of ex-world champion Mikhail Botvinnik and was accepted there. Botvinnik ensured that the young chess player studied according to an individual plan, and later received a scholarship. In 1974 in Moscow at the Palace of Pioneers tournament (it was a team tournament in which the children's team of each Palace was led by a grandmaster who gave a simultaneous game to other teams), Harry defeated grandmaster Yuri Averbakh. At the beginning of the next year, Harry took part in the national youth championship, playing against opponents 6-7 years older than him. In Leningrad, at the new Palace of Pioneers tournament, in a session against world champion Anatoly Karpov, he achieved an equal position, but made a mistake and lost. In the same tournament, in a session against Viktor Korchnoi, he forced the grandmaster to a draw.
In early 1976, at the age of twelve, Garry Kasparov won the USSR Youth Chess Championship, most of the participants in which were several years older. After this, since Nikitin lived in Moscow, Baku master Alexander Shakarov became Kasparov's permanent coach. That same year, at the insistence of the sports committee, Kasparov went to the world championship among cadets (boys under 18 years old), although his coaches objected to this, and shared third place. At the beginning of 1977, Kasparov again won the national youth championship, this time with a score of 8½ out of 9. At the World Cadet Championship, where the age limit had already been lowered to 17 years, Kasparov took third place. Three rounds before the end, he shared first place with future winner Jón Arnason, but due to fatigue, the remaining games were drawn.
In January 1978, Kasparov won the Sokolsky Memorial in Minsk and received the title of Master of Sports in chess. He fulfilled the master's norm five more rounds before the end, and in the last round he won against Anatoly Lutikov - this was Kasparov's first tournament meeting with a grandmaster. At the age of fifteen, Kasparov became Botvinnik's assistant. In July, he took first place in the qualifying tournament in Daugavpils and received the right to make his debut in the final of the USSR Championship. The final took place at the end of the year, Kasparov scored 50% in 17 games, which allowed next year do not qualify. In April 1979, Kasparov took part in a tournament in Banja Luka (Yugoslavia). The sixteen-year-old master, who had no ranking, was allowed into the tournament, in which fourteen of the sixteen participants were grandmasters, at the insistence of Botvinnik. As a result, Kasparov sensationally took first place, without losing a single game and securing an overall victory two rounds before the end. Smeikal and Andersson were 2 points behind, Petrosyan was 2½ points behind. In Banja Luka, Kasparov received his first grandmaster point. For the first time receiving an international rating, Kasparov immediately took fifteenth place in the rating list. After returning to Baku, Kasparov was received by the influential politician Heydar Aliyev, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan and a candidate member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. Starting from this time, Aliyev began to patronize Kasparov. At the end of the year at the 47th USSR Championship, Kasparov started with three victories. A slump followed (six draws and three losses with one win), but a strong finish allowed him to share 3rd-4th places with 10 points out of 17. Veteran Efim Geller won the tournament.
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Fight for the title of world chess champion
In September 1982, an interzonal tournament was held in Moscow, from which the first two winners advanced to the candidates' matches. Kasparov went the distance without defeat (10 out of 13, +7 =6) and was one and a half points ahead of Belyavsky and two points ahead of Tal and Andersson. In November, at the Olympiad in Lucerne, nineteen-year-old Kasparov played on the second board and scored 8½ points in 11 games. At the same time, in the match against Switzerland, he replaced Karpov in the principle game with black against Korchnoi and won in complications. Even then, Kasparov was considered as the favorite for the upcoming candidates' matches. Early next year, Kasparov played a quarterfinal match against Belyavsky in Moscow. Kasparov won the second game using the Tarrasch Defense, specially prepared for this Candidates' Cycle. Belyavsky equalized the score in the fourth game, but Kasparov took the lead in the fifth, and ended the match early with victories in the eighth and ninth. Based on the results of 1982, Kasparov became the winner of the chess Oscar, largely thanks to his victory over Korchnoi in Lucerne.
Kasparov's opponent in the semi-final match, scheduled for August 1983, was Viktor Korchnoi. According to the rules, the opponents had the right to choose the venue for the match from among the cities that provided the necessary conditions and prize fund, and in controversial cases the FIDE President had the casting vote. Korchnoi chose Rotterdam, Kasparov chose Las Palmas, and FIDE President Campomanes chose the third option, Pasadena. The Soviet Chess Federation, under the pretext that the Soviet delegation would not be provided with security in the United States, decided that Kasparov would not go to Pasadena, and he was counted defeated without playing. Three days later, in the second semi-final in Abu Dhabi, the defeat of Smyslov in the match against Ribli was counted in the same way. Heydar Aliyev, who was the first deputy chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers at the time, helped Kasparov by convincing the country's leadership to give Kasparov the opportunity to play the match. As part of the agreements reached, the Soviet side agreed to pay a large fine and lift the embargo on the performances of Soviet chess players together with Korchnoi. Both matches began in November 1983 in London. Korchnoi won the first game, the next four ended in a draw. In the sixth game, Kasparov took advantage of his opponent's mistake and leveled the situation. And starting from the seventh game, Kasparov imposed a Catalan start on his opponent for both colors, which became the decisive factor. He won the seventh, ninth and eleventh games, again ending the match early (+4 −1 =6). In the final, Kasparov met with Smyslov, who was exactly three times his age (Kasparov turned 21 on the last day of the match, Smyslov was 63). Kasparov won with a score of 8½:4½, without losing a single game.
In June 1984, Kasparov played on board two in the USSR vs. the Rest of the World match. Kasparov won his micro-match against Timman +1 =3.
At the next FIDE congress, new rules were approved: matches for the world champion title were played for the majority of 24 games, with a score of 12:12, the champion retained the title. In the summer of 1985, Kasparov gave a long interview to the West German magazine Spiegel, in which he accused the USSR Chess Federation of supporting Karpov by any means and of anti-Semitism and expressed doubt that a new match would take place. Three weeks before the start of the match, a meeting of the federation was supposed to take place, at which a decision on Kasparov’s disqualification was planned. Kasparov was saved by the new head of the propaganda department of the CPSU Central Committee, Alexander Yakovlev, who convinced the country's leadership that the match should take place.
World champion
In April 1986, the “Kasparov-Botvinnik school” was opened in a holiday home in Pestovo near Moscow, which was a renewed Botvinnik school. 13 talented schoolchildren were invited to the first session, including Konstantin Sakaev and Vladimir Akopyan. Later, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexei Shirov, Sergei Tivyakov and other future grandmasters studied at the school. In the same year, Kasparov graduated. In a rematch (London - Leningrad, July - October 1986), Kasparov defended his world champion title. In this match, Kasparov received a comfortable advantage of three points after victories in the 14th and 16th games. The sixteenth game became especially tense and eventful, in which Karpov countered the attack on his king with an attack on the queenside. In a game full of mistakes and difficult to analyze, Kasparov turned out to be stronger. But after that, the champion lost three games in a row and allowed Karpov to even the score. After the third defeat, Kasparov expelled international master Evgeniy Vladimirov from the coaching staff, whom he suspected of passing on tests to Karpov. The 22nd game was decisive, in which Kasparov, recording the move before adjournment, found a forced win. The last two meetings ended in a draw, with Kasparov winning 12½:11½.
At the end of the year, Kasparov won the Olympics in Dubai as part of the USSR national team. The FIDE Congress and elections of the organization's president took place there. Kasparov, in tandem with Raymond Keane, has been supporting Campomanes' opponent, Brazilian Lucena, for the past year. However, Campomanes secured the support of a majority of the delegates, and Lucena withdrew his candidacy before the vote.
On February 15, 1987, on the initiative of Kasparov, the Association of Grandmasters was created, whose task was to protect the interests of leading chess players and create a counterbalance to FIDE, which pursued a policy of supporting small federations. Kasparov became its president. At the end of the year in Seville, Kasparov again had a match against Karpov, who had previously defeated Candidates' Cycle finalist Andrei Sokolov in a match. Karpov took the lead twice after the second and fifth games, then Kasparov won two victories, and in the sixteenth game Karpov evened the score. In the penultimate, twenty-third, game, Kasparov made a tactical miscalculation: he sacrificed a rook, but after three moves the sacrifice was refuted. In the last game, Kasparov needed to win, and he coped with this task. Contrary to assumptions, he did not escalate, but accumulated a positional advantage. Karpov did not defend himself in the best way, and Kasparov won the game, retaining the title (12:12).
In the 1988-1989 season, the Grandmasters Association held a World Cup for the 25 strongest chess players in the world, which consisted of six round-robin stages. Each chess player could play in four tournaments, and the three best results were counted. Kasparov took part in tournaments in Belfort, Reykjavik, Barcelona and Skellefteå. He won the first two tournaments, in the other two he shared first places with Ljubojevic and Karpov, respectively, and eventually took first place in the overall standings, slightly ahead of Karpov. All the strongest Soviet grandmasters took part in the 1988 USSR Championship. Kasparov and Karpov went the entire distance without defeat and shared first place, ahead of their closest pursuers, Yusupov and Salov, by one and a half points. The regulations provided for a four-game match for first place, but it did not take place.
In the fall of 1989, Kasparov won the two-round grandmaster tournament in Tilburg by a huge margin. He scored 12 points out of 14 and was 3½ ahead of second prize-winner Korchnoi. Thanks to this victory, Kasparov surpassed Fischer's record rating of 1972 (2785 points). At the end of the year, Kasparov won another tournament in Belgrade with a score of 9½ out of 11 (Timman and Elvest were three points behind), and his rating reached 2811. When Kasparov won the 1990 Linares tournament with a score of 8 out of 11 (Boris Gelfand took second place, Boris Gulko inflicted the only defeat on the champion), the points scored were not enough to maintain the rating. At the end of 1990 in New York and Lyon, in the fifth match against Karpov, who won the Candidates' cycle, Kasparov again defended his title. At the start of the match, a scandal occurred: Kasparov played not under the Soviet flag, but under the white-blue-red Russian one. Karpov's delegation protested, and after four games both flags were removed. In the period from games 16 to 20, Kasparov won three games with one defeat, and after draws in the next two games, Kasparov scored the twelfth point, which allowed him to retain the title ahead of schedule. The result of the match is 12½:11½ in favor of the champion. As the winner, Kasparov received a check for $1.7 million and a diamond trophy valued at $600 thousand - the largest prize money in the history of world championships. Shortly before this match, Kasparov broke up with his long-term coach A. Nikitin.
1991 began with a tournament in Linares, where Kasparov was ahead of Vasily Ivanchuk, who also won a personal match against the champion. In Amsterdam, Kasparov shared 3-4 places, and Salov won. Kasparov then won the two-round tournament in Tilburg with a score of 10 out of 14; second prize-winner Short was one and a half points behind. At the end of the year, Kasparov shared 2-3 places with Gelfand at the tournament in Reggio Emilia. The first place was taken by Viswanathan Anand, for whom this victory became a breakthrough into the chess elite. Linares 1992 was a victory for Kasparov, he did not lose a single game and scored 10 out of 13, two points more than Ivanchuk and Timman, who took the prizes. That same year, a tournament took place in Dortmund, where Kasparov shared first place with Ivanchuk. He scored 6 out of 9 and lost two games at once - to Kamsky and Hübner. Linares 1993 Kasparov won again with a score of 10 out of 13, while achieving a brilliant victory over Karpov with black in 27 moves.
In February 1992, the first congress of the Russian Chess Federation took place. Kasparov nominated Arkady Murashev, head of the Moscow Main Internal Affairs Directorate and Kasparov’s ally in the Democratic Party of Russia, for the post of president. Murashev won, and Karpov, due to a conflict with Kasparov over the elections, refused to play for the Russian team at the 1992 Olympics (at which, thanks to the very effective play of Kasparov and the young Vladimir Kramnik, the Russian team won). A year later, new presidential elections took place, in which Yevgeny Bebchuk, supported by Karpov, was elected instead of Murashev.
Break with FIDE and creation of the Professional Chess Association
Disagreeing with the policy pursued by FIDE, on February 27, 1993, Kasparov and Nigel Short, who won the Candidates cycle, announced that they would play their match without the participation of FIDE and under the auspices of a new body, the Professional Chess Association (PCA). FIDE stripped Garry Kasparov of the title of world chess champion and excluded him from its rating lists. Kasparov and Short were reinstated in the ranking only the following year, before the PSA managed to release its own ranking, which was headed by Kasparov. Simultaneously with the Kasparov-Short match, a FIDE World Championship match took place between Karpov and the Candidates Cycle finalist Timman. The match between Kasparov and Short was played for the majority of 24 games. Kasparov immediately took the lead 3½:½ and ended the match early after the 20th game (+6 −1 =13). Subsequently, Kasparov said that the break with FIDE in 1993 was the biggest mistake in his chess career.
At the 18th category super tournament in Linares in 1994, Kasparov shared second place with Shirov, and first place was taken by Karpov, who scored 11 of 13 points and was 2½ points ahead. This tournament is considered one of the strongest in the history of chess, and Karpov's performance is one of the most impressive tournament victories of all time. The tournament was also notable for an incident involving Kasparov and seventeen-year-old Judit Polgar. Kasparov made a knight move, saw White's possible response and moved his piece to another square. The camera recorded that before that he had taken his hand off the knight for 1/4 of a second, so that according to the rules, Kasparov could no longer change the move, but the game continued. In August, Kasparov won a two-round tournament in Novgorod, and in September - a tournament in Zurich, and at the finish of the tournament he defeated two direct competitors - Shirov and Yusupov. In April 1995, the first of three stages series of PSA tournaments “Super Classic” - Tal Memorial in Riga. The game between Kasparov and Anand, who soon faced a match for the world championship, was decisive for determining the winner. Kasparov used a rarely seen top level Evans Gambit and won on the 25th move. The second tournament of the series took place in Novgorod a little over a month later. Kasparov was a point ahead of Short, Ivanchuk, Elvest and Topalov.
In the fall of 1995, Kasparov won the world championship match against Viswanathan Anand, held at the World Trade Center in New York. The first eight games ended in a draw, Anand won the ninth, but in the next five games Kasparov won four victories. The match ended early again - after the eighteenth game. Kasparov explained the result this way: “He was prepared very well, personally for me. Anand's coaches took into account all my habits, preferences and characteristics, the openings that I play, etc., etc., but they did not take into account the individual characteristics of Anand himself. They imposed on Vishy a style of play that was unusual for him.” At the end of the year, in the last Super Classic tournament in Horgen, Kasparov came fifth with 5 points out of 10 and only one game won. The first and second places were shared by Ivanchuk, who inflicted the only defeat on Kasparov, and Kramnik.
In January 1996, PSA's primary sponsor Intel announced that it would not renew its sponsorship agreement with PSA. According to Kasparov, the reason for this was Kasparov's desire to play a match against the Deep Blue computer, developed by IBM, a competitor of Intel. Soon the PSA ceased to exist.
In 1996, Kasparov won the first ever XXI category tournament in Las Palmas, which had a record average rating of participants (2756.6). In this tournament, Anand, Ivanchuk, Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik and Topalov played in two rounds. Kasparov won one victory each over Topalov, Karpov and Ivanchuk and drew the remaining games, eventually beating the second-place Anand by a point. The first tournament with a higher average rating of participants took place in 2009 (Tal Memorial in Moscow). The following year, Kasparov won in Linares, while winning head-to-head matches against all participants finishing second to sixth, and losing to Ivanchuk, and Novgorod, and also shared first place in Tilburg with Kramnik and Svidler.
In 1998, Kasparov and the newly created World Chess Council, led by Linares tournament organizer Luis Rentero, planned a title match. The challenger was supposed to be determined in the match between Anand and Kramnik, but Anand refused, as he was bound by obligations not to play in challenger cycles not under the auspices of FIDE, so he was replaced by Shirov. Shirov unexpectedly won 5½:3½ and received the right to a match with Kasparov, which was scheduled for the fall of the same year. However, due to financial problems of the sponsor, Rentero, the match did not take place.
In 1999 he won an exceptional match against the whole world. Subsequently, over 18 months in 1999 and 2000, Kasparov won six super tournaments in a row of at least category 18 each. At the beginning of 1999, Kasparov won the annual tournament in Wijk aan Zee (10 out of 13 with one defeat from I. Sokolov; Anand scored 9½, Kramnik - 8). Then he won in Linares with a result of +7 −0 =7, while scoring five victories with black. Kramnik and Anand were 2½ points behind. In May, a tournament took place in Sarajevo, in which Anand and Kramnik did not take part. Kasparov scored 7 out of 9 (no defeats), 2-3 places were shared by Bareev and Shirov (6 each). In the FIDE rating list of July 1999, Kasparov achieved a record rating of 2851. The following year he won another tournament each in Wijk aan Zee, Linares and Sarajevo. In Sarajevo, Shirov became Kasparov's main competitor, but he lost in the penultimate round to Movsesyan, whom Kasparov himself defeated in the last round.
According to Kasparov, this is the best game he played.
Man vs computer
Garry Kasparov's matches against chess programs aroused great interest. In 1989, the chess program Deep Thought, running on Sun-4 computer hardware, achieved significant success. For the first time in history, the program beat an international grandmaster (Bent Larsen) in an official tournament.
On October 22, 1989, a match of two blitz games between Garry Kasparov and Deep Thought took place in New York. The world champion won them easily. The second meeting was especially significant, in which Kasparov won in a spectacular combination style. After the match, Kasparov said:
If a computer can beat the best of the best at chess, it will mean that the computer is able to compose the best music, write the most best books. I can not believe it. If a computer is created with a rating of 2800, that is, equal to mine, I myself will consider it my duty to challenge it to a match in order to protect the human race.
In 1996, representatives of IBM invited Garry Kasparov to play a match against their chess machine “Deep Blue” with a prize fund of $500 thousand. “Deep Blue” is a supercomputer based on the RS6000 system, consisting of 32 nodes, including a total of 512 processors , of which 480 were hardware optimized for the chess program. Deep Blue's performance on general computing (without using special chess processors) corresponded to 11.38 GFLOPS; the computer could evaluate up to 200 million positions per second. Kasparov's first match against a chess computer took place in February 1996, and the man won with a score of 4:2, but lost the first game. This was the first time in history that a computer won a game against a world champion using classical time control.
In the second match, IBM offered a prize fund of $1.1 million, of which $700 thousand was to go to the winner. A six-match match with normal time control (120 minutes for 40 moves) took place in May 1997. As a result, for the first time in history, the world champion lost to the computer with a score of 2½: 3½.
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2nd game of the match “Deep Blue” – Kasparov (1997). The computer brilliantly realizes positional advantage 35. Bxd6! B:d6 36. ab ab 37. Ce4!!. Why didn't White play 36. Qb6 Qe7 and then 37. ab Lab8 38 Q:a6? Black sacrifices three pawns, getting a difficult counterplay with possible chances, but the benefit of the continuation chosen by the program 37. Ce4 not at all obvious. According to Sergei Makarychev, it is difficult to explain how a chess program could find such a typically human, subtle positional move.
The supercomputer was in a separate room. A representative of the IBM team sat at the board opposite Kasparov. Feng-Xiong Xu, who was at the origins of the project, or one of the other two Deep Blue programmers. Feng-Xiong Xu carried out all communication with Deep Blue through a special monitor. The technical terminal (monitor) in the room adjacent to the machine room was under the control of one of the match referees. One of the regular grandmasters was also on duty there, who could accept or reject Kasparov's offer of a draw. Theoretically, a specially invited chess player could be between the monitor in the gaming room and the supercomputer and influence the course of the game.
In the second game of the 1997 match, Kasparov, finding himself in a difficult situation, sacrificed a pawn (see diagram). “Deep Blue” thought about the 35th move for 14 minutes, and about the 36th move for 6 minutes, although he usually spent from one to five minutes “thinking” about the move, and gave Kasparov fragments of key moments. Details of how the program "thought" were not provided, and Kasparov accused IBM of cheating. According to Kasparov, in several cases the computer could be helped by a person, since the program played with differences, periodically choosing moves that were uncharacteristic of publicly available programs of that time.
20 years after the match, Kasparov summed up his doubts in his new book, Deep Thinking:
I've been asked countless times, "Did Deep Blue cheat?" and my honest answer was always, "I don't know." After twenty years of soul-searching, exposure and analysis, my answer is now “no.” As for IBM, the lengths they went to win was a betrayal of the principles of fair competition, but the real victim of this betrayal was science.
It worked under the Windows Server 2000 operating system and 8 Intel Xeon 1.6 GHz processors. Kasparov, using an “anti-computer” strategy, won the first game and had a significant advantage in the second, but drew it. In the third game, he made a gross miscalculation and gave up on move 34. In the remaining games, Kasparov was careful and reduced them to quick draws. The result of the match is 3:3.
In November 2003, a match between Kasparov and “Fritz X3D” (a version of “Deep Fritz” with a three-dimensional interface) took place. According to the terms of the match, a person had to play in special 3D glasses. "Deep Fritz" ran on a computer with 4 Intel processors Xeon. A year before, the same program played a draw in a match with Vladimir Kramnik with similar rules. The meeting took place in New York. In a match of 4 games with one victory, one defeat and two draws, an equal result was achieved 2:2. It is interesting to note that in the fourth game, “Deep Fritz” unexpectedly offered a queen as a sacrifice, but the grandmaster rejected the sacrifice and calmly brought the game to a draw. As a result of the fight, Kasparov received $175 thousand and a gold statuette.
"Deep Junior" and "Deep Fritz" are commercial programs with an evaluation speed of about 3-4 million positions per second (2003). Copies of the programs were provided to Kasparov before the match for analysis. The computer with the program was located directly in the gaming room. There were no suspicions of fraud on Kasparov's part. Summing up the match with “Deep Junior”, Kasparov shared the idea that in a few years a person will no longer have any chance in confrontation with chess programs.
Former world champion
During 2001, Kasparov won three tournaments in a row. His first competition as a former world champion was the tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Kasparov scored 9 out of 13 and beat Anand by half a point, Kramnik shared 3-4 places. Kasparov then won the annual tournament in Linares (7½ out of 10) and the tournament in Astana, where Russia again took first place. On the first board he scored 7½ points out of 9, this result corresponded to a rating of 2933, and according to this indicator, Kasparov’s performance was absolutely the best at the Olympiad.
Linares 2003 was unsuccessful, Kasparov shared 3-4 places with Anand. In the second round, Kasparov lost a winning position in a game with fifteen-year-old Teymur Radjabov. When it was announced at the closing ceremony that this game was recognized as the most beautiful in the tournament, Kasparov publicly stated that he regarded this choice as a public insult and humiliation. In 2004, Kasparov played for the first time in the Russian Chess Championship. The 57th national championship featured ten of the strongest chess players, with the exception of Kramnik and Karpov. Kasparov won with a result of +5 −0 =5 and was ahead of Grischuk by one and a half points.
Kasparov announced his retirement from sports on March 10, 2005 at a press conference at the end of the super tournament in Linares. In it, Kasparov scored an equal number of points with Topalov, from whom he suffered his only defeat in the last round, but according to additional indicators (the number of victories in black) he was declared the winner. Kasparov explained his decision by a lack of motivation - he had achieved everything in chess - and by the fact that he was never given the opportunity to fight for the world title again after losing to Kramnik (in particular, the match against FIDE world champion Ponomarev did not take place). Kasparov also said that he plans to compete in blitz tournaments and other exhibition events in the future, and will make his main priorities work on books and participation in Russian politics. Carlsen later clarified that he had become responsible for his own career decisions, but would continue to maintain contact with Kasparov.
In the fall of the same 2010, Kasparov supported Karpov, who was running for the post of FIDE President. However, the incumbent president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, won the election.
In 2014, Kasparov, running from Croatia, himself became Ilyumzhinov’s rival in the next elections. He built a campaign on criticizing FIDE as a “corrupt organization” and Ilyumzhinov as an ally of “Putin’s dictatorial regime.” In turn, Ilyumzhinov accused Kasparov of trying to buy the votes of delegates: as a result of the leak, a draft agreement between Kasparov and a member of his team, the FIDE Secretary General, became available to the public Ignatius Leong, according to which Leong, for a fee, had to ensure that Asian delegates voted for Kasparov. Ilyumzhinov won the election with a score of 110:61. In September 2015, the FIDE Ethics Commission found Kasparov and Leong guilty of violating clause 2.1 of the FIDE Code of Ethics, which prohibits offering or accepting a bribe to influence the outcome of a chess game or an election for a position in FIDE. On October 21, 2015, FIDE suspended Kasparov and Leong from any official chess-related activities. “Kasparov and Leong are prohibited from holding any position in FIDE, including in its member national federations, continental associations, affiliated organizations, as well as from participating in FIDE meetings as a delegate, representative or member for two years,” it says in the organization's statement. He scored 3.5 out of 9 in rapid chess and 9 out of 18 in blitz, sharing 8th-10th places in total points.
Chess players joke
Photo caption. Kasparov and first wife Maria
Royal bounty
In 1989 in Paris, in a rapid chess tournament using the knockout system, Kasparov and Korchnoi met in one of the semi-finals. Both main games ended peacefully, and according to the position, the third blitz game was played, and in it White needed a victory, and Black was satisfied with a draw. Black went to Korchnoi, he achieved the desired result and reached the final. But then Judge Giessen, interested in Kasparov ending up in the final, in violation of the rules, forced his partners to sit down at the board again, and actually put Harry on trial. This time Kasparov won and made it to the finals, where he prevailed over Short. Of course, the judge was to blame for the fact that Korchnoi suffered financially, but Harry felt awkward and found a way out. conflict situation. When the prizes were awarded at the closing of the tournament, he without further ado gave Korchnoi 16 thousand dollars in cash - that much Viktor Lvovich would have been guaranteed in the final...
All world champions love money, but only Kasparov parted with it so generously...
Magic Sweater
In 1981, the world youth team championship was held in Austria. After the victory of the Soviet team, Kasparov, its leader, purchased a dozen red and white sweaters with large numbers “85” on the chest - as gifts to everyone who intends to help him in the fight for the champion title. “What is this strange number? - asked his coach Alexander Nikitin, putting on a sweater. “If you expect to play a duel for the crown, then the next one will take place only three years later, in 1984, and the next one three years later, and it is unlikely that FIDE President Campomanes will break the calendar for you.” “We’ll wait and see,” Harry smiled mysteriously. “For now, let’s assume that I took these sweaters because of the sum of the numbers, 8+5=13.” Indeed, a damn dozen - lucky number for Kasparov, born on April 13th and subsequently proclaimed the 13th world champion. But, apparently, Harry was cunning - even then he had the gift of providence... And in fact, Kasparov became the chess king in the second, extraordinary match with Karpov in 1985!
Women's duel
In 1984, even before the marathon with Karpov, Kasparov began an affair with the popular actress of the Sovremennik Theater Marina Neyolova. They met while visiting a famous married couple - pianist Vladimir Krainev and figure skating coach Tatyana Tarasova. Although Harry was sixteen years younger, he managed to win Marina’s heart and fell seriously in love. Their relationship lasted for about two years, but the question of marriage, apparently, did not arise. Harry lived in Baku with his mother, and whenever he was in Moscow, he would certainly visit Marina. She was assigned the role of a second, Moscow mother: her chess talent needed female tutelage. Neyolova was a homebody, and Kasparov loved to sparkle in society, especially with such a beautiful lady, and the famous artist, in order to please him, went to meet him halfway.
It is not known how long this relationship would have lasted, but Klara Shagenova, Harry’s mother, was tired of sharing her son with another woman, and she convinced him that for the sake of his career he had to break up with Neyolova. Of the two mature and experienced competitors, the mother won...
Second try
In 1986, Kasparov met a graduate of the Romano-Germanic department of the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University, Maria Arapova, who worked as a guide-translator at Intourist. A pretty blonde with pleasant manners, a good education and a prestigious job - all with a plus sign. They dated for three years and finally got married. In 1992, Harry’s wife gave birth to a daughter, Polina, and the birth took place in Finland, where Maria’s parents were on a business trip at the time. Alas, after five years of cloudless happiness, “the family boat crashed into everyday life.” There is a version that the spouses were ruined by the “housing problem.” When the time came to buy a new home in the center of Moscow, Masha made an unforgivable mistake by suggesting that her husband buy a separate apartment for Klara Shagenovna in the building next door. The loving mother, who always lived with her son under the same roof and could not imagine anything else, could not tolerate such deceit. The divorce process was long and difficult. Maria was not satisfied with the generous allowance that Kasparov assigned to her and Polina. The wife said that she was disappointed in the chess player who was fighting with her for square meters, as with Karpov for the fields of a 64-cell board. Having hired experienced lawyers, she presented claims to Harry for each item of income, demanding the division of all property “accumulated during their life together.” It seems, main reason The divorce was based on the wife’s desire to go abroad, while maintaining a high material level at Harry’s expense. In the end, Maria went with her daughter and parents to America, where Harry bought them a very comfortable house in New Jersey. The daughter is already more than twenty years old, she is a student at Columbia University, but Kasparov still supports Polina and her mother.
Latvian trace
For several years, Kasparov was a bachelor and was one of the most eligible bachelors. Lucky was the beautiful Yulia Vovk, a tall, long-legged girl whom Harry met in 1995 in Riga at the Tal Memorial: she was nineteen, he was thirty-two. A year later, the wedding took place (although there was no official registration of the marriage). Soon the young wife gave her husband a son, Vadim. “Are you going to quit chess?” - Harry was asked every now and then. “Not before my son sees my victory on stage! - came the answer, - he must realize who his father is.
In 2000, Kasparov lost to Kramnik, for several years all his attempts to play a rematch were in vain, and in 2005, disappointed with the situation, Harry made a sensational statement that he was leaving big chess, abandoning the fight for the return of the crown and switching to politics . However, parting with his beloved chess, Harry managed to please his son - at the end of 2004 he won the “missing” title of Russian champion. Vadim was present in the hall and, as Kasparov had planned, he saw with his own eyes what an outstanding father he had. Moreover, it was the son who received the gold medal - a valuable toy! But time flies quickly, Vadim is already eighteen, he is a tall guy, a giant, almost two meters tall.
It is important to note here that Julia is a native of Riga, has Latvian citizenship, and thanks to this, Vadim has a residence permit, and he often visits Riga. In 2013, these circumstances played an important role in the fact that Kasparov himself asked to be granted Latvian citizenship (of course, retaining Russian citizenship)! Thus, if the Latvian Seimas had made a positive decision, then a chess king would again appear in Riga (the first was Mikhail Tal). However, in 2014, Kasparov received Croatian citizenship, became a full-fledged European, and the question of Riga registration disappeared by itself...
(to be continued)
