Brilliant player who managed to take the chess crown from the titled grandmaster Anatoly Karpov at the age of 22 turns 60 years. Sports tells about the thirteenth world champion Garry Kasparov (recognized as a foreign agent in Russia).
Significant meetings
Kasparov enrolled in the section of the Palace of Pioneers at the age of seven. It is interesting that at one time the father of another well-known Azerbaijani chess player, Teymur Radjabov, who was older than him, also played in the same circle with him.In an interview, the grandmaster conveyed his father's memories in the following way: «Already then, Garry shone. Of course, he is a chess genius. Heydar Aliyev (at that time the head of Azerbaijan) helped him in many ways, but, unfortunately, Kasparov did not appreciate it. He had a colossal talent, he always shone with variations and simply lived with chess from morning to night — moves, games, ideas. Good memory and crazy erudition, he absorbed everything from childhood.
Southerner at the age of ten was selected to the school of the first Soviet world champion Mikhail Botvinnik. And at 12, in a simultaneous game session, he met with the world champion Karpov and lost. However, also in a session with the future contender for the title Viktor Korchnoi, he achieved an honorable draw.
At the age of 16, he shared third-fourth places in the debut USSR championship. A year later, he became a grandmaster, won the junior world championship and, as part of the national team, the World Chess Olympiad. And in 1981, at the age of 18, he shared the victory in the USSR championship with Lev Psakhis. jpg»/
Match with Karpov could not be
The breakthrough of a gifted chess player into the world elite was swift. In 1982, Kasparov excelled in the interzonal tournament, then successfully performed on the second board in the victorious World Olympiad (winning, by the way, against Korchnoi representing Switzerland) and for the first time won the chess Oscar (a prize for the best grandmaster of the year). Subsequently, Harry will add ten more of these statuettes to his collection of awards.
Korchnoi was waiting for the Soviet grandmaster in the semifinal match, having previously lost twice in title fights for the crown to Karpova — in an epic battle in 1978 and almost without a chance in 1981. Now this has already been forgotten, but after all, Karpov and Kasparov could not meet at all in 1984 in match, which gave rise to many years of extravaganza.
The fact is that the leadership of the Chess Federation of the USSR in 1983 refused the match between Kasparov and Korchnoi in Pasadena (USA), citing problems with security. Although the main motive was transparent: unwillingness to meet again at the board with a disgraced refugee from the Soviet Union. Garry was credited with the defeat, and Korchnoi had to challenge the ticket to the third (!) consecutive match with Karpov with the Hungarian Zoltan Ribli, for which Vasily Smyslov was not allowed to fight from the USSR.
Salvation for Kasparov was a candidate member of the Central Committee of the CPSU Heydar Aliyev. He persuaded the USSR government to give the go-ahead for the match against Korchnoi. This cost the Soviet Union a huge monetary fine paid to the International Chess Federation (FIDE). But the game turned out to be gorgeous — Kasparov first defeated Korchnoi ahead of schedule (7-4), and then in the final Smyslov (8.5-4.5). And at the age of 21 he became the world champion.
Neither before nor after
Almost forty years have passed since the first match between brilliant chess players, who then played four more duels for the world crown. There was nothing like it before their meetings, nor after. And the first one ended in a huge scandal. After nine games, Karpov was winning 4-0 in the match up to six wins, after the 27th 5-0 and he was only a step away from success. But everything suddenly turned upside down: the challenger won one victory, and then two in a row, in the 47th and 48th.
The final chord in the confrontation between the two great «K» was played at the end of 1990 in New York. Moreover, the debut of the match unexpectedly received political overtones: Anatoly Evgenievich habitually played under the flag of the USSR, and Garry Kimovich started the match under the Russian «tricolor». But a scandal ensued and after four fights the flags were removed. The result is the victory of a younger player with a score of 12.5-11.5.
After the end of the great epic, Kasparov more than once obstinately went against the policy of FIDE. In 1993, he founded the Professional Chess Association (PCHA), after which the federation stripped him of the title of world champion. And for a long time the title of world champion was played according to the PCA and FIDE. In 1993, Kasparov won the title match against the Englishman Nigel Short (12.5-7.5), and in 1995 defeated the Indian Viswanathan Anand (10.5-7.5).
In 1998, Kasparov created a new organization — the World Chess Council, also an alternative to FIDE. And even a mini-cycle of matches for the world title was almost held, but there were no funds for the final between Kasparov and a native of Riga, Alexei Shirov.
In subsequent years, Kasparov brightly and convincingly won a number of super tournaments and achieved the highest ranking in the world — 2851 points. It wasn't until years later that Carlsen surpassed him. But in 2000, Harry quite unexpectedly lost his champion title, losing to Russian Vladimir Kramnik (6.5-8.5).
In those years, the grandmaster seriously studied the possibilities of artificial intelligence and played several matches with the best chess computers in the world. In 1996, Kasparov won a match against one of the leading programs with a score of 4:2. However, a year later he lost to her (2.5-3.5), and in 2003 he tied with a different program (3-3).
And in March 2005, the genius suddenly announced the end of his sports career, after winning an elite tournament in Spain. Kasparov justified the decision with a lack of motivation, a desire to write chess books, and going into politics. But in 2014, he reaffirmed his multifaceted ambitions by challenging FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov in the elections. Moreover, the candidate ran for Croatia, but lost.Kasparov broke the streak of chess oblivion in 2016 by playing in a blitz tournament in the United States, and in subsequent years he occasionally competed in rapid chess and blitz chess. But without much success, it's time for other geniuses. But Garry Kimovich still remains a chess legend, whose games many famous grandmasters grew up with.
Learned a lot from Karpov
Vice-President of the Russian Chess Federation Sergey Smagin considers Kasparov a bright personality.
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"Garik is a chess genius and a brilliant combinational chess player. With a huge number of own ideas in openings. And matches with Karpov taught him patience and the ability to defend slightly worse positions. He himself noted that Karpov turned out to be one of his best coaches. After the matches, he improved a lot in the endgame and became an all-rounder. If earlier he almost always strove for initiative and attacks, then when he became the world champion and dominated, he turned into a real all-rounder. It is no coincidence that in those ten years he was called «The Great and Terrible», because he smashed everyone to smithereens,» the grandmaster emphasized.
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"Harry always worked hard on openings and masterfully played the Sicilian. But in many other openings, he left a bright mark: about only one confrontation with Karpov in the «Spanish» you can write several books. And he is distinguished by a craving for deep analytics, it is no coincidence that one of the most famous and popular was the trilogy written by Harry about world champions. This is a colossal academic work, one of the best in the history of chess. He has developed everything in chess very deeply, and he has some kind of basis, which he himself develops, he is very versatile,» Smagin added.
Kasparov's decision about leaving after the expiration of time looks both reasonable and timely, the expert believes. The 13th world champion gave impetus to a huge number of players who were under him in the shadows — for example, Viswanathan Anand.
«I used to call Garry Kasparov number one in the world in the history of chess. But Magnus Carlsen quietly caught up with him. And now they are probably number one and number two,» said grandmaster Alexander Grischuk.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.