Garry Kasparov

As a teenager, Kasparov tied for first place in the USSR Chess Championship in 1981–82. His first win in a superclass-level international tournament was scored at Bugojno, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia in 1982. He earned a place in the 1982 Moscow Interzonal tournament, which he won, to qualify for the Candidates Tournament.[35] At age 19, he was the youngest Candidate since Bobby Fischer, who was 15 when he qualified in 1958. At this stage, he was already the No. 2-rated player in the world, trailing only World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov on the January 1983 list.

Kasparov becomes World Junior Champion at Dortmund in 1980

Kasparov's first (quarter-final) Candidates match was against Alexander Beliavsky, whom he defeated 6–3 (four wins, one loss).[36] Politics threatened Kasparov's semi-final against Viktor Korchnoi, which was scheduled to be played in Pasadena, California. Korchnoi had defected from the Soviet Union in 1976 and was at that time the strongest active non-Soviet player. Various political manoeuvres prevented Kasparov from playing Korchnoi, and Kasparov forfeited the match. This was resolved by Korchnoi allowing the match to be replayed in London, along with the previously scheduled match between Vasily Smyslov and Zoltán Ribli. The Kasparov-Korchnoi match was put together on short notice by Raymond Keene. Kasparov lost the first game but won the match 7–4 (four wins, one loss).[37]

In January 1984, Kasparov became the No. 1 ranked player in the world, with a FIDE rating of 2710. He became the youngest ever world No. 1, a record that lasted 12 years until being broken by Vladimir Kramnik in January 1996; the record is currently held by Magnus Carlsen.[38]

Later in 1984, he won the Candidates' final 8½–4½ (four wins, no losses) against the resurgent former world champion Vasily Smyslov, at Vilnius, thus qualifying to play Anatoly Karpov for the World Championship. That year he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), as a member of which he was elected to the Central Committee of Komsomol in 1987.[39]

The World Chess Championship 1984 match between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov had many ups and downs, and a very controversial finish. Karpov started in very good form, and after nine games Kasparov was down 4–0 in a "first to six wins" match. Fellow players predicted he would be whitewashed 6–0 within 18 games.[40]

In an unexpected turn of events, there followed a series of 17 successive draws, some relatively short, and others drawn in unsettled positions. Kasparov lost game 27 (5–0), then fought back with another series of draws until game 32 (5–1), earning his first-ever win against the World Champion. Another 14 successive draws followed, through game 46; the previous record length for a world title match had been 34 games, the match of José Raúl Capablanca vs. Alexander Alekhine in 1927.[41]

Kasparov won games 47 and 48 to bring the scores to 5–3 in Karpov's favour. Then the match was ended without result by Florencio Campomanes, the President of the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), and a new match was announced to start a few months later. The termination was controversial, as both players stated that they preferred the match to continue. Announcing his decision at a press conference, Campomanes cited the health of the players, which had been strained by the length of the match.[42]

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

Kasparov after winning the FIDE World Championship title in 1985

The second Karpov–Kasparov match in 1985 was organized in Moscow as the best of 24 games where the first player to win 12½ points would claim the World Champion title. The scores from the terminated match would not carry over; however, in the event of a 12–12 draw, the title would remain with Karpov. On 9 November 1985, Kasparov secured the title by a score of 13–11, winning the 24th game with Black,[43] using a Sicilian defence. He was 22 years old at the time, making him the youngest ever World Champion[44] and breaking the record held by Mikhail Tal for over 20 years.[45] Kasparov's win as Black in the 16th game has been recognized as one of the all-time masterpieces in chess history, including being voted the best game played during the first 64 issues of the magazine Chess Informant.[46][47]

As part of the arrangements following the aborted 1984 match, Karpov had been granted (in the event of his defeat) a right to rematch. Another match took place in 1986, hosted jointly in London and Leningrad,[48][49] with each city hosting 12 games. At one point in the match, Kasparov opened a three-point lead and looked well on his way to a decisive match victory. But Karpov fought back by winning three consecutive games to level the score late in the match. At this point, Kasparov dismissed one of his seconds, grandmaster Evgeny Vladimirov, accusing him of selling his opening preparation to the Karpov team (as described in Kasparov's autobiography Unlimited Challenge, chapter Stab in the Back). Kasparov scored one more win and kept his title by a final score of 12½–11½.[49]

A fourth match for the world title took place in 1987 in Seville,[50] as Karpov had qualified through the Candidates' Matches to again become the official challenger. This match was very close, with neither player holding more than a one-point lead at any time during the contest. Kasparov was down one full point at the time of the final game and needed a win to draw the match and retain his title. A long tense game ensued in which Karpov blundered away a pawn just before the first time control, and Kasparov eventually won a long ending. Kasparov retained his title as the match was drawn by a score of 12–12.[51]

The fifth match between Kasparov and Karpov was held in New York and Lyon in 1990, with each city hosting 12 games. Again the result was a close one, with Kasparov winning by a margin of 12½–11½. In their five world championship matches, Kasparov had 21 wins, 19 losses, and 104 draws in 144 games.[52]

Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand in a publicity photo on top of the World Trade Center in New York, 1995

With the World Champion title in hand, Kasparov began opposing FIDE. In November 1986, he created the Grandmasters Association (GMA), an organization to represent professional chess players and give them more say in FIDE's activities. Kasparov assumed a leadership role. GMA's major achievement was in organizing a series of six World Cup tournaments for the world's top players. This caused a somewhat uneasy relationship to develop between him and FIDE.

This stand-off lasted until 1993, by which time a new challenger had qualified through the Candidates cycle for Kasparov's next World Championship defence: Nigel Short, a British grandmaster who had defeated Anatoly Karpov in a qualifying match and then Jan Timman in the finals held in early 1993. After a confusing and compressed bidding process produced lower financial estimates than expected,[53] the world champion and his challenger decided to play outside FIDE's jurisdiction, under another organization created by Kasparov called the Professional Chess Association (PCA). At this point, a great fracture occurred in the lineage of the FIDE World Championship. In an interview in 2007, Kasparov called the break with FIDE the worst mistake of his career, as it hurt the game in the long run.[54]

Kasparov and Short were ejected from FIDE and played their well-sponsored match in London in 1993. Kasparov won convincingly by a score of 12½–7½. The match considerably raised the profile of chess in the UK, with an unprecedented level of coverage on Channel 4. Meanwhile, FIDE organized a World Championship match between Jan Timman (the defeated Candidates finalist) and former World Champion Karpov (a defeated Candidates semi-finalist), which Karpov won.

Kasparov and Sting in 2000

FIDE removed Kasparov and Short from the FIDE rating lists. Until this happened, there was a parallel rating list presented by PCA which featured all the world top players regardless of their relation to FIDE. There were now two World Champions: PCA champion Kasparov and FIDE champion Karpov. The title remained split for 13 years.

Kasparov defended his title in a 1995 match against Viswanathan Anand at the World Trade Center in New York City. Kasparov won the match by four wins to one, with thirteen draws.[55]

Kasparov tried to organize another World Championship match under another organization, the World Chess Association (WCA) with Linares organizer Luis Rentero. Alexei Shirov and Vladimir Kramnik played a candidates match to decide the challenger, which Shirov won in an upset. But when Rentero admitted that the funds required and promised had never materialized, the WCA collapsed. This left Kasparov stranded, and yet another organization stepped in: BrainGames.com, headed by Raymond Keene. No match against Shirov was arranged, and talks with Anand collapsed, so a match was instead arranged against Kramnik.[56]

During this period, Kasparov was approached by Oakham School in the United Kingdom, at the time the only school in the country with a full-time chess coach,[57] and developed an interest in the use of chess in education. In 1997, Kasparov supported a scholarship programme at the school.[58] Kasparov also won the Marca Leyenda trophy that year.[59]

In 1999, he played a well-known game against Topalov wherein he won after a rook sacrifice and king hunt.[60][61]

Kasparov playing against Vladimir Kramnik in the Botvinnik Memorial match in Moscow, 2001

The Kasparov-Kramnik match took place in London during the latter half of 2000. Kramnik had been a student of Kasparov's at the famous Botvinnik/Kasparov chess school in Russia and had served on Kasparov's team for the 1995 match against Viswanathan Anand.[62]

The better-prepared Kramnik won game 2 against Kasparov's Grünfeld Defence and achieved winning positions in Games 4 and 6, although Kasparov held the draw in both games. Kasparov made a critical error in Game 10 with the Nimzo-Indian Defence, which Kramnik exploited to win in 25 moves. As White, Kasparov could not crack the passive but solid Berlin Defence in the Ruy Lopez, and Kramnik successfully drew all his games as Black. Kramnik won the match 8½–6½.[63]

After losing the title, Kasparov won a series of major tournaments, and remained the top-rated player in the world, ahead of both Kramnik and the FIDE World Champions. In 2001 he refused an invitation to the 2002 Dortmund Candidates Tournament for the Classical title, claiming his results had earned him a rematch with Kramnik.[64]

Kasparov and Karpov played a four-game match with rapid time controls over two days in December 2002 in New York City. Karpov surprised the experts and emerged victorious, winning two games and drawing one.[65]

Because of Kasparov's continuing strong results and status as world No. 1 in much of the public eye, he was included in the so-called "Prague Agreement", masterminded by Yasser Seirawan and intended to reunite the two World Championships. Kasparov was to play a match against the FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov in September 2003. But this match was called off after Ponomariov refused to sign his contract for it without reservation. In its place, there were plans for a match against Rustam Kasimdzhanov, winner of the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004, to be held in January 2005 in the United Arab Emirates. These also fell through owing to a lack of funding. Plans to hold the match in Turkey instead came too late. Kasparov announced in January 2005 that he was tired of waiting for FIDE to organize a match and so had decided to stop all efforts to regain the World Championship title.[66]

After winning the prestigious Linares tournament for the ninth time, Kasparov announced on 10 March 2005 that he would retire from serious competitive chess. He cited as the reason a lack of personal goals in the chess world (he commented when winning the Russian championship in 2004 that it had been the last major title he had never won outright) and expressed frustration at the failure to reunify the world championship.[67][66]

Kasparov said he might play in some rapid chess events for fun, but he intended to spend more time on his books, including the My Great Predecessors series, and work on the links between decision-making in chess and other areas of life. He also stated that he would continue to involve himself in Russian politics, which he viewed as "headed down the wrong path."[68][69]

On 22 August 2006, in his first public chess games since his retirement, Kasparov played in the Lichthof Chess Champions Tournament, a blitz event played at the time control of 5 minutes per side and 3-second increments per move. Kasparov tied for first with Anatoly Karpov, scoring 4½/6.[70]

Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov played a 12-game match from 21 to 24 September 2009, in Valencia, Spain. It consisted of four rapid (or semi rapid) games, in which Kasparov won 3–1, and eight blitz games, in which Kasparov won 6–2, winning the match with a total result of 9–3. The event took place exactly 25 years after the two players' legendary encounter at World Chess Championship 1984.[71]

Kasparov actively coached Magnus Carlsen for approximately one year, beginning in February 2009. The collaboration remained secret until September 2009.[72] Under Kasparov's tutelage, Carlsen in October 2009 became the youngest ever to achieve a FIDE rating higher than 2800, and he rose from world number four to world number one. While the pair initially planned to work together throughout 2010,[73] in March of that year it was announced that Carlsen had split from Kasparov and would no longer be using him as a trainer.[74] According to an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel, Carlsen indicated that he would remain in contact and that he would continue to attend training sessions with Kasparov;[75] however, in fact, no further training sessions were held, and the cooperation gradually fizzled out over the course of the spring.[76]

In May 2010, he played 30 games simultaneously, winning each one, against players at Tel Aviv University in Israel.[77] In the same month, it was revealed that Kasparov had aided Viswanathan Anand in preparation for the World Chess Championship 2010 against challenger Veselin Topalov. Anand won the match 6½–5½ to retain the title.[78]

Kasparov delivering a speech in Arizona in October 2017

In January 2011, Kasparov began training the U.S. grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura. The first of several training sessions was held in New York just before Nakamura participated in the Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands.[79] In December 2011, it was announced that the cooperation had come to an end.[80]

Kasparov played two blitz exhibition matches in the autumn of 2011. The first was in September against French grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, in Clichy (France), which Kasparov won 1½–½. The second was a longer match consisting of eight blitz games played on 9 October, against English grandmaster Nigel Short. Kasparov won again by a score of 4½–3½.

A little after that, in October 2011, Kasparov played and defeated fourteen opponents in a simultaneous exhibition that took place in Bratislava.[81]

On 25 and 26 April 2015, Kasparov played a mini-match against Nigel Short. The match consisted of two rapid games and eight blitz games and was contested over the course of two days. Both commentators GM Maurice Ashley and Alejandro Ramírez remarked how Kasparov was an 'initiative hog' throughout the match, consistently not allowing Short to gain any foothold in the games, and won the match decisively with a score of 8½–1½.[82] Kasparov also managed to win all five games on the second day, with his victories characterised by aggressive pawn moves breaking up Short's position, thereby allowing Kasparov's pieces to achieve positional superiority.[83]

On Wednesday 19 August 2015, he played and won all 19 games of a simultaneous exhibition in Pula, Croatia.[84]

On Thursday 28 April and Friday 29 April 2016 at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, Kasparov played a 6-round exhibition blitz round-robin tournament with Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, and Hikaru Nakamura in an event called the Ultimate Blitz Challenge.[85] He finished the tournament third with 9.5/18, behind Hikaru Nakamura (11/18) and Wesley So (10/18). At the post-tournament interview, Kasparov announced that he would donate his winnings from playing the next top-level blitz exhibition match to assist funding of the American Olympic Team.[86]

On 2 June 2016, Kasparov played against fifteen chess players in a simultaneous exhibition in the Kaiser-Friedrich-Halle of Mönchengladbach. He won all games.[87]

On 7 October 2013, Kasparov announced his candidacy for World Chess Federation president during a reception in Tallinn, Estonia, where the 84th FIDE Congress took place.[88] Kasparov's candidacy was supported by his former student, reigning World Chess Champion and FIDE#1 ranked player Magnus Carlsen.[89] At the FIDE General Assembly in August 2014, Kasparov lost the presidential election to incumbent FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, with a vote of 110–61.[90]

A few days before the election took place, the New York Times Magazine had published a lengthy report on the viciously fought campaign. Included was information about a leaked contract between Kasparov and former FIDE Secretary General Ignatius Leong from Singapore, in which the Kasparov campaign reportedly "offered to pay Leong US$500,000 and to pay $250,000 a year for four years to the ASEAN Chess Academy, an organization Leong helped create to teach the game, specifying that Leong would be responsible for delivering 11 votes from his region [...]".[91] In September 2015, the FIDE Ethics Commission found Kasparov and Leong guilty of violating its Code of Ethics[92] and later suspended them for two years from all FIDE functions and meetings.[93]

In 2017, Kasparov came out of retirement to participate in the inaugural St. Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament from 14 to 19 August, scoring 3.5/9 in the rapid and 9/18 in the blitz, finishing eighth out of ten participants, which included Nakamura, Caruana, former world champion Anand, and the eventual winner, Aronian.[94][95] Any tournament money that he earned would go towards charities to promote chess in Africa.[96]

In 2020, he participated in 9LX, which is a Chess 960 tournament. He finished eighth in a field of 10 players.[97] Notably, he drew a game against Magnus Carlsen, who tied for first place.

In 2021, he launched Kasparovchess, a subscription-based online chess community featuring documentaries, lessons, puzzles, podcasts, articles, interviews, and playing zones.[98]

In 2021, Kasparov played in the blitz section of the Grand Chess Tour event in Zagreb, Croatia. He performed poorly, however, scoring 0.5/9 on the first day and 2.0/9 on the second day, getting his only win against Jorden Van Foreest.[99][100] He also participated in 9LX 2, finishing fifth in a field of 10 players, with a score of 5/9.[101]

Kasparov's grandfather was a staunch communist, but the young Kasparov gradually began to have doubts about the Soviet Union's political system at age 13 when he travelled abroad for the first time to Paris for a chess tournament. In 1981, at age 18, he read Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago, a copy of which he bought while abroad.[102]

Nevertheless, Kasparov joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in 1984, and was elected to the Central Committee of Komsomol in 1987. In 1990, he left the party.[103]

In January 1990, Kasparov and his family fled Baku to escape pogroms against Armenians.[104][105]

In May 1990, Kasparov took part in the creation of the Democratic Party of Russia, which at first was a liberal anti-communist party, later shifting to centrism.[17] Kasparov left the party on 28 April 1991, after its conference.[106]

In 1991, Kasparov received the Keeper of the Flame award from the Center for Security Policy, a Washington, D.C. based far-right, anti-Muslim think tank. In his acceptance speech Kasparov lauded the defeat of communism while also urging the United States to give no financial assistance to central Soviet leaders.[107][108][109][110][111]

In June 1993, Kasparov was involved with the creation of the "Choice of Russia" bloc of parties and in 1996 took part in the election campaign of Boris Yeltsin. In 2001 he voiced his support for the Russian television channel NTV.[17]

In 1997, Kasparov was awarded honorary citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina for his support of Bosnian people during the Bosnian War.[112]

In 2002, he called for Turkey to be admitted to the European Union if Turkey recognizes the Armenian genocide.[113]

After his retirement from chess in 2005, Kasparov turned to politics and created the United Civil Front, a social movement whose main goal is to "work to preserve electoral democracy in Russia".[114] He has vowed to "restore democracy" to Russia by restoring the rule of law.[115][116][117]

Kasparov was instrumental in setting up The Other Russia, a coalition which opposes Putin's government. The Other Russia has been boycotted by the leaders of Russia's mainstream opposition parties, Yabloko and Union of Right Forces due to its inclusion of both nationalist and radical groups. Kasparov has criticized these groups as being secretly under the auspices of the Kremlin.[118]

In April 2005, Kasparov was in Moscow at a promotional event when he was struck over the head with a chessboard he had just signed. The assailant was reported to have said "I admired you as a chess player, but you gave that up for politics" immediately before the attack.[119] Kasparov has been the subject of a number of other episodes since, including police brutality and alleged harassment from the Russian secret service.[120][121]

Kasparov at the third Dissenters March in Saint Petersburg on 9 June 2007

Kasparov helped organize the Saint Petersburg Dissenters' March on 3 March 2007 and The March of the Dissenters on 24 March 2007, both involving several thousand people rallying against Putin and Saint Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko's policies.[122][123]

In April 2007, Kasparov led a pro-democracy demonstration in Moscow. Soon after the demonstration's start, however, over 9,000 police descended on the group and seized almost everyone. Kasparov, who was briefly arrested by the Moscow police, was warned by the prosecution office on the eve of the march that anyone participating risked being detained. He was held for some 10 hours and then fined and released.[124] He was later summoned by the FSB for violations of Russian anti-extremism laws.[125]

Speaking about Kasparov, former KGB defector Oleg Kalugin in 2007 remarked, "I do not talk in details – people who knew them are all dead now because they were vocal, they were open. I am quiet. There is only one man who is vocal and he may be in trouble: [former] world chess champion [Garry] Kasparov. He has been very outspoken in his attacks on Putin and I believe that he is probably next on the list."[126]

Kasparov gave speeches at think tanks such as the Hoover Institution.[107]

On 30 September 2007, Kasparov entered the Russian presidential race, receiving 379 of 498 votes at a congress held in Moscow by The Other Russia.[127] In October 2007, Kasparov announced his intention of standing for the Russian presidency as the candidate of the "Other Russia" coalition and vowed to fight for a "democratic and just Russia". Later that month he traveled to the United States, where he appeared on several popular television programs, which were hosted by Stephen Colbert, Wolf Blitzer, Bill Maher, and Chris Matthews.[128]

In November 2007, Kasparov and other protesters were detained by police at an Other Russia rally in Moscow, which drew 3,000 demonstrators to protest election rigging. Following an attempt by about 100 protesters to march through police lines to the electoral commission, which had barred Other Russia candidates from parliamentary elections, arrests were made. The Russian authorities stated a rally had been approved but not any marches, resulting in several detained demonstrators.[129] He was subsequently charged with resisting arrest and organizing an unauthorized protest and given a jail sentence of five days. Kasparov appealed the charges, citing that he had been following orders given by the police, although it was denied. He was released from jail on 29 November.[130] Putin criticized Kasparov at the rally for his use of English when speaking rather than Russian.[131]

In December 2007, Kasparov announced that he had to withdraw his presidential candidacy due to inability to rent a meeting hall where at least 500 of his supporters could assemble. With the deadline expiring on that date, he explained it was impossible for him to run. Russian election laws required sufficient meeting hall space for assembling supporters. Kasparov's spokeswoman accused the government of using pressure to deter anyone from renting a hall for the gathering and said that the electoral commission had rejected a proposal that would have allowed for smaller gathering sizes rather than one large gathering at a meeting hall.[132]

Kasparov was among the 34 first signatories and a key organizer of the online anti-Putin campaign "Putin must go", started on 10 March 2010. The campaign was begun by a coalition of opposition to Putin who regard his rule as lacking any rule of law. Within the text is a call to Russian law enforcement to ignore Putin's orders. By June 2011, there were 90,000 signatures. While the identity of the petition author remained anonymous, there was wide speculation that it was indeed Kasparov.[133][134][135][136]

Kasparov was named Chairman of the Human Rights Foundation in 2011.[137]

On 31 January 2012, Kasparov hosted a meeting of opposition leaders planning a mass march on 4 February 2012, the third major opposition rally held since the disputed State Duma elections of December 2011. Among other opposition leaders attending were Alexey Navalny and Yevgenia Chirikova.[138]

On 17 August 2012, Kasparov was arrested and beaten outside of the Moscow court while attending the sentencing in the case involving the all-female punk band Pussy Riot.[139] On 24 August, he was cleared of charges that he took part in an unauthorized protest against the conviction of three members of Pussy Riot. Judge Yekaterina Veklich said there were "no grounds to believe the testimony of the police". He could still face criminal charges over a police officer's claims that the opposition leader bit his finger while he was being detained.[140] He later thanked all the bloggers and reporters who provided video evidence that contradicted the testimony of the police.[141]

Kasparov wrote in February 2013 that "fascism has come to Russia. ...Project Putin, just like the old Project Hitler, is but the fruit of a conspiracy by the ruling elite. Fascist rule was never the result of the free will of the people. It was always the fruit of a conspiracy by the ruling elites!"[142]

In April 2013, Kasparov joined in an HRF condemnation of Kanye West for having performed for the leader of Kazakhstan in exchange for a $3 million paycheck, saying that West "has entertained a brutal killer and his entourage" and that his fee "came from the loot stolen from the Kazakhstan treasury".[143]

Kasparov denied rumors in April 2013 that he planned to leave Russia for good. "I found these rumors to be deeply saddening and, moreover, surprising," he wrote. "I was unable to respond immediately because I was in such a state of shock that such an incredibly inaccurate statement, the likes of which is constantly distributed by the Kremlin's propagandists, came this time from Ilya Yashin, a fellow member of the Opposition Coordination Council (KSO) and my former colleague from the Solidarity movement."[144]

In an April 2013 op-ed piece, Kasparov accused prominent Russian journalist Vladimir Posner of failing to stand up to Putin and to earlier Russian and Soviet leaders.[145]

Kasparov was presented with the Morris B. Abram Human Rights Award, UN Watch's annual human-rights prize, in 2013. The organization praised him as "not only one of the world's smartest men" but "also among its bravest".[146]

At the 2013 Women in the World conference, Kasparov told The Daily Beast's Michael Moynihan that democracy no longer existed in what he called Russia's "dictatorship".[147]

Kasparov said at a press conference in June 2013 that if he returned to Russia he doubted he would be allowed to leave again, given Putin's ongoing crackdown against dissenters. "So for the time being," he said, "I refrain from returning to Russia." He explained shortly thereafter in an article for The Daily Beast that this had not been intended as "a declaration of leaving my home country, permanently or otherwise", but merely an expression of "the dark reality of the situation in Russia today, where nearly half the members of the opposition's Coordinating Council are under criminal investigation on concocted charges". He noted that the Moscow prosecutor's office was "opening an investigation that would limit my ability to travel", making it impossible for him to fulfill "professional speaking engagements" and hindering his "work for the nonprofit Kasparov Chess Foundation, which has centers in New York City, Brussels, and Johannesburg to promote chess in education".[147]

Kasparov further wrote in his June 2013 Daily Beast article that the mass protests in Moscow 18 months earlier against fraudulent Russian elections had been "a proud moment for me". He recalled that after joining the opposition movement in March 2005, he had been criticized for seeking to unite "every anti-Putin element in the country to march together regardless of ideology". Therefore, the sight of "hundreds of flags representing every group from liberals to nationalists all marching together for 'Russia Without Putin' was the fulfillment of a dream." Yet most Russians, he lamented, had continued to "slumber" even as Putin had "taken off the flimsy mask of democracy to reveal himself in full as the would-be KGB dictator he has always been".[148]

Kasparov responded with several sardonic Twitter postings to a September 2013 The New York Times op-ed by Putin. "I hope Putin has taken adequate protections," he tweeted. "Now that he is a Russian journalist his life may be in grave danger!" Also: "Now we can expect NY Times op-eds by Mugabe on fair elections, Castro on free speech, & Kim Jong-un on prison reform. The Axis of Hypocrisy."[149]

In a 12 May 2013 op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, Kasparov questioned reports that the Russian security agency, the FSB, had fully cooperated with the FBI in the matter of the Boston bombers. He noted that the elder bomber, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, had reportedly met in Russia with two known jihadists who "were killed in Dagestan by the Russian military just days before Tamerlan left Russia for the U.S." Kasparov argued, "If no intelligence was sent from Moscow to Washington" about this meeting, "all this talk of FSB cooperation cannot be taken seriously." He further observed, "This would not be the first time Russian security forces seemed strangely impotent in the face of an impending terror attack," pointing out that in both the 2002 Moscow theater siege and the 2004 Beslan school attack, "there were FSB informants in both terror groups – yet the attacks went ahead unimpeded." Given this history, he wrote, "it is impossible to overlook that the Boston bombing took place just days after the U.S. Magnitsky List was published, creating the first serious external threat to the Putin power structure by penalizing Russian officials complicit in human-rights crimes." In sum, Putin's "dubious record on counterterrorism and its continued support of terror sponsors Iran and Syria mean only one thing: common ground zero".[150]

Kasparov wrote in July 2013 about the trial in Kirov of fellow opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who had been convicted "on concocted embezzlement charges", only to see the prosecutor, surprisingly, ask for his release the next day pending appeal. "The judicial process and the democratic process in Russia," wrote Kasparov, "are both elaborate mockeries created to distract the citizenry at home and to help Western leaders avoid confronting the awkward fact that Russia has returned to a police state". Still, Kasparov felt that whatever had caused the Kirov prosecutor's about-face, "my optimism tells me it was a positive sign. After more than 13 years of predictable repression under Putin, anything different is good."[151]

Kasparov had maintained a summer home in the Croatian city of Makarska. In February 2014, he applied for citizenship by naturalisation in Croatia, according to media reports, claiming he was finding it increasingly difficult to live in Russia. According to an article in The Guardian, Kasparov was "widely perceived" as having been a vocal supporter of Croatian independence during the early 1990s.[152] Later in February 2014, his application for naturalisation was approved and he had a meeting with Croatian prime minister Zoran Milanović on 27 February.[153] Croatian press cited his "lobbying for Croatia in 1991" as grounds for the expedited naturalisation.[153] In an interview for a Croatian daily published in February 2022, Kasparov said he was "very grateful" to Croatian president Zoran Milanović for the help rendered by him (then as prime minister) in obtaining Croatian citizenship.[154]

On 20 May 2022, Kasparov was designated as "foreign agent" by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation.[155]

Kasparov holds the record for the longest time as the No. 1 rated player in the world—from 1984 to 2005 (Vladimir Kramnik shared the No. 1 ranking with him once, in the January 1996 FIDE rating list).[200] He was also briefly ejected from the list following his split from FIDE in 1993, but during that time he headed the rating list of the rival PCA. At the time of his retirement, he was still ranked No. 1 in the world, with a rating of 2812. His rating has fallen inactive since the January 2006 rating list.[201]

In January 1990, Kasparov achieved the (then) highest FIDE rating ever, passing 2800 and breaking Bobby Fischer's old record of 2785. By the July 1999 and January 2000 FIDE rating lists, Kasparov had reached a 2851 Elo rating, at that time the highest rating ever achieved.[202] He held that record for the highest rating ever achieved until Magnus Carlsen attained a new record high rating of 2861 in January 2013.[203]

Kasparov holds the record for most consecutive professional tournament victories, placing first or equal first in 15 individual tournaments from 1981 to 1990.[204] The streak was broken by Vasyl Ivanchuk at Linares 1991, where Kasparov placed second, half a point behind him after losing their individual game. The details of this record winning streak follow:[35]

• Frunze 1981, USSR Championship, 12½/17, tie for 1st;
• Bugojno 1982, 9½/13, 1st;
• Moscow 1982, Interzonal, 10/13, 1st;
• Nikšić 1983, 11/14, 1st;
• Brussels OHRA 1986, 7½/10, 1st;
• Brussels SWIFT 1987, 8½/11, tie for 1st;
• Amsterdam Optiebeurs 1988, 9/12, 1st;
• Belfort (World Cup) 1988, 11½/15, 1st;
• Moscow 1988, USSR Championship, 11½/17, tie for 1st;
• Reykjavík (World Cup) 1988, 11/17, 1st;
• Barcelona (World Cup) 1989, 11/16, tie for 1st;
• Skellefteå (World Cup) 1989, 9½/15, tie for 1st;
• Tilburg 1989, 12/14, 1st;
• Belgrade (Investbank) 1989, 9½/11, 1st;
• Linares 1990, 8/11, 1st.

Kasparov went 9 years winning every super-tournament he played, in addition to contesting his series of 5 consecutive matches with Anatoly Karpov. His only failure in this time period in either tournament or match play was in the World Chess Championship 1984 when the 21-year-old Kasparov was trailing (−5, +3 = 40) against the defending champion Karpov before the match was abruptly cancelled.

Later on in his career, Kasparov went on another long streak of consecutive super-tournament wins.[205]

• Wijk aan Zee Hoogovens 1999, 10/13, 1st;
• Linares 1999, 10½/14, 1st;
• Sarajevo 1999, 7/9, 1st;
• Wijk aan Zee Corus 2000, 9½/13, 1st;
• Linares 2000, 6/10, tie for 1st;
• Sarajevo 2000, 8½/11, 1st;
• Wijk aan Zee Corus 2001, 9/13, 1st;
• Linares 2001, 7.5/10, 1st;
• Astana 2001, 7/10, 1st;
• Linares 2002, 8/12, 1st.

In these 10 consecutive classical super-tournaments wins, Kasparov had a score of 53 wins, 61 draws and 1 loss in 115 games with his only loss coming against Ivan Sokolov in Wijk aan Zee 1999.

Kasparov won the Chess Oscar a record eleven times.[206]

Kasparov has written books on chess. He published a controversial[232] autobiography when still in his early 20s, originally titled Child of Change, later retitled Unlimited Challenge. This book was subsequently updated several times after he became World Champion. Its content is mainly literary, with a small chess component of key unannotated games. He published an annotated games collection in 1983, Fighting Chess: My Games and Career,[233] which has been updated several times in further editions. He also wrote a book annotating the games from his World Chess Championship 1985 victory, World Chess Championship Match: Moscow, 1985.[234]

He has annotated his own games extensively for the Yugoslav Chess Informant series and for other chess publications. In 1982, he co-authored Batsford Chess Openings with British grandmaster Raymond Keene and this book was an enormous seller. It was updated into a second edition in 1989. He also co-authored two opening books with his trainer Alexander Nikitin in the 1980s for British publisher Batsford – on the Classical Variation of the Caro-Kann Defence and on the Scheveningen Variation of the Sicilian Defence. Kasparov has also contributed extensively to the five-volume openings series Encyclopedia of Chess Openings from Chess Informant which Kasparov also wrote personal columns Garry's Choice, the publication which is inarguably the beginning of modern chess.[235][236]

In 2000, Kasparov co-authored Kasparov Against the World: The Story of the Greatest Online Challenge[237] with grandmaster Daniel King. The 202-page book analyzes the 1999 Kasparov versus the World game, and holds the record for the longest analysis devoted to a single chess game.[238]

In 2003, the first volume of his five-volume work Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors was published. This volume, which deals with the world chess champions Wilhelm Steinitz, Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, and some of their strong contemporaries, has received lavish praise from some reviewers (including Nigel Short), while attracting criticism from others for historical inaccuracies and analysis of games directly copied from unattributed sources. Through suggestions on the book's website, most of these shortcomings were corrected in following editions and translations. Despite this, the first volume won the British Chess Federation's Book of the Year award in 2003. Volume two, covering Max Euwe, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov and Mikhail Tal appeared later in 2003. Volume three, covering Tigran Petrosian and Boris Spassky appeared in early 2004. In December 2004, Kasparov released volume four, which covers Samuel Reshevsky, Miguel Najdorf, and Bent Larsen (none of these three were World Champions), but focuses primarily on Bobby Fischer. The fifth volume, devoted to the chess careers of World Champion Anatoly Karpov and challenger Viktor Korchnoi, was published in March 2006.[239]

His book Revolution in the 70s (published in March 2007) covers "the openings revolution of the 1970s–1980s" and is the first book in a new series called "Modern Chess Series", which intends to cover his matches with Karpov and selected games. The book Revolution in the 70s concerns the revolution in opening theory that was witnessed in that decade. Such systems as the controversial (at the time) "Hedgehog" opening plan of passively developing the pieces no further than the first three ranks are examined in great detail. Kasparov also analyzes some of the most notable games played in that period. In a section at the end of the book, top opening theoreticians provide their own "take" on the progress made in opening theory in the 1980s.[240]

Kasparov published three volumes of his games, spanning his entire career.

In October 2015, Kasparov published a book titled Winter Is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped. The title is a reference to the HBO television series Game of Thrones. In the book, Kasparov writes about the need for an organization composed solely of democratic countries to replace the United Nations. In an interview, he called the United Nations a "catwalk for dictators".[102]

Kasparov believes that the conventional history of civilization is radically incorrect. Specifically, he believes that the history of ancient civilizations is based on misdatings of events and achievements that actually occurred in the medieval period.[241][242] He has cited several aspects of ancient history that he says are likely to be anachronisms.[243]

Kasparov has written in support of the pseudohistorical New Chronology (Fomenko), although with some reservations.[244] In 2001, he expressed a desire to devote his time to promoting the New Chronology after his chess career. "New Chronology is a great area for investing my intellect ... My analytical abilities are well placed to figure out what was right and what was wrong."[245] "When I stop playing chess, it may well be that I concentrate on promoting these ideas... I believe they can improve our lives."[245]

Later, Kasparov renounced his support of Fomenko theories but reaffirmed his belief that mainstream historical knowledge is highly inconsistent.[246][247]

In 2007, he wrote How Life Imitates Chess, an examination of the parallels between decision-making in chess and in the business world.[248]

In 2008, Kasparov published a sympathetic obituary for Bobby Fischer, writing: "I am often asked if I ever met or played Bobby Fischer. The answer is no, I never had that opportunity. But even though he saw me as a member of the evil chess establishment that he felt had robbed and cheated him, I am sorry I never had a chance to thank him personally for what he did for our sport."[249]

He is the chief advisor for the book publisher Everyman Chess.[250]

Kasparov works closely with Mig Greengard and his comments can often be found on Greengard's blog.[251][252]

Kasparov collaborated with Max Levchin and Peter Thiel on The Blueprint, a book calling for a revival of world innovation, planned to release in March 2013 from W. W. Norton & Company. The book was never released, as the authors disagreed on its contents.[253]

Kasparov argued that chess has become the model for reasoning in the same way that the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster became a model organism for geneticists, in an editorial comment on Google's AlphaZero chess-playing system. "I was pleased to see that AlphaZero had a dynamic, open style like my own," he wrote in late 2018.[254]

Kasparov served as a consultant for the 2020 Netflix miniseries The Queen's Gambit. He gave an extended interview to Slate describing his contributions.[255]

In 2020, Kasparov collaborated with Matt Calkins, founder and CEO of Appian, on HYPERAUTOMATION, a book about low-code development and the future of business automation. Kasparov wrote the foreword where he discusses his experiences with human–machine relationships.[256][257]

The New York Times published an essay by Kasparov titled "Garry Kasparov: What We Believe About Reality" in 2021.[258] The essay is part of a series called The Big Ideas: What Do We Believe,[259] which also includes essays by T.M. Luhrmann, Harry Reid, Ini Archibong, Errol Morris, and Carlo Rovelli, amongst others.

• Kasparov Teaches Chess (1984–85, Sport in the USSR Magazine; 1986, First Collier Books)
• The Test of Time (Russian Chess) (1986, Pergamon Pr)
• World Chess Championship Match: Moscow, 1985 (1986, Everyman Chess)
• Child of Change: An Autobiography (1987, Hutchinson)
• London–Leningrad Championship Games (1987, Everyman Chess)
• Unlimited Challenge (1990, Grove Pr)
• The Sicilian Scheveningen (1991, B.T. Batsford Ltd)
• The Queen's Indian Defence: Kasparov System (1991, B.T. Batsford Ltd)
• Kasparov Versus Karpov, 1990 (1991, Everyman Chess)
• Kasparov on the King's Indian (1993, B.T. Batsford Ltd)
• Kasparov, Garry. Jon Speelman and Bob Wade. 1995. Garry Kasparov's Fighting Chess. Henry Holt. ISBN 0-8050-4221-0
• Garry Kasparov's Chess Challenge (1996, Everyman Chess)
• Lessons in Chess (1997, Everyman Chess)
• Kasparov Against the World: The Story of the Greatest Online Challenge (2000, Kasparov Chess Online)
• My Great Predecessors Part I (2003, Everyman Chess)
• My Great Predecessors Part II (2003, Everyman Chess)
• Checkmate!: My First Chess Book (2004, Everyman Mindsports)
• My Great Predecessors Part III (2004, Everyman Chess)
• My Great Predecessors Part IV (2004, Everyman Chess)
• My Great Predecessors Part V (2006, Everyman Chess)
• How Life Imitates Chess (2007, William Heinemann Ltd.)
• Garry Kasparov on Modern Chess, Part I: Revolution in the 70s (2007, Everyman Chess)
• Garry Kasparov on Modern Chess, Part II: Kasparov vs Karpov 1975–1985 (2008, Everyman Chess)
• Garry Kasparov on Modern Chess, Part III: Kasparov vs Karpov 1986–1987 (2009, Everyman Chess)
• Garry Kasparov on Modern Chess, Part IV: Kasparov vs Karpov 1988–2009 (2010, Everyman Chess)
• Garry Kasparov on Garry Kasparov, part I (2011, Everyman Chess)
• Garry Kasparov on Garry Kasparov, part II (2013, Everyman Chess)
• Garry Kasparov on Garry Kasparov, part III (2014, Everyman Chess)
• Winter Is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped (2015, Public Affairs)
• Deep Thinking[260] with Mig Greengard (2017, Public Affairs)

• Kasparov, Garry, Nigel Short, Raymond Keene and Daniel King. 1993. Kasparov Short The Inside Story. Grandmaster Video.
• Kasparov, Garry, Jonathan Tisdall and Jim Plaskett. 2000. My Story. Grandmaster Video.
• Kasparov, Garry. 2004. How to Play the Queen's Gambit. Chessbase. ISBN 978-3-937549-06-4
• Kasparov, Garry. 2005. How to Play the Najdorf. Chessbase. vol. 1 ISBN 978-3-937549-25-5, vol. 2 ISBN 978-3-937549-78-1
• Kasparov, Garry. 2012. How I Became World Champion 1973–1985. Chessbase. ISBN 978-3-86681-341-0
• Kasparov, Garry. 2017. Garry Kasparov Teaches Chess. Masterclass.com.[261]
• Kasparov, Garry. 2022. Stand with Ukraine in the fight against evil, Ted Talk.[262]