- BornApril 13, 1963, Baku, Azerbaijan (then in the Soviet Union)
- CountrySoviet Union, later Russia
- World champion1985–2000
The classical title from 1993 - In the line of championsNo. 13 of 18
- Highest rating2851 (July 1999)
FIDE's official lists (from July 1971)
The road to the title
Kasparov was born in Baku and became a grandmaster in 1980. He won the Candidates matches and met Anatoly Karpov in 1984. That match was stopped after 48 games, but in the new match of 1985 Kasparov won the last game, with Black, and with it the title, 13–11.
Kasparov and Karpov played five title matches against each other between 1984 and 1990, 144 games in all. The sixteenth game of 1985 is one of the best known.
The title matches
| Year | Against | Result | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984–1985 | Anatoly Karpov | 23–25 (+3 −5 =40) Stopped without a result | Moscow |
| 1985 | Anatoly Karpov | 13–11 (+5 −3 =16) Won the title | Moscow |
| 1986 | Anatoly Karpov | 12½–11½ (+5 −4 =15) Kept the title | London and Leningrad |
| 1987 | Anatoly Karpov | 12–12 (+4 −4 =16) Kept the title | Seville |
| 1990 | Anatoly Karpov | 12½–11½ (+4 −3 =17) Kept the title | New York and Lyon |
| 1993 | Nigel Short | 12½–7½ (+6 −1 =13) Kept the title · the classical title | London |
| 1995 | Viswanathan Anand | 10½–7½ (+4 −1 =13) Kept the title · the classical title | New York |
| 2000 | Vladimir Kramnik | 6½–8½ (+0 −2 =13) Lost the title · the classical title | London |
How he played
Kasparov always wanted the initiative and was happy to give up material to get it. Kasparov's Immortal, against Veselin Topalov in 1999, is one of his most famous games.
The split title
In 1993 Kasparov and his challenger Nigel Short broke with the world chess federation FIDE and played their match outside it. FIDE stripped Kasparov of the title, and until 2006 there were two world champions. Kasparov kept the classical title against Short in 1993 and against Viswanathan Anand in 1995. In 2000 he lost it to Vladimir Kramnik without winning a single game.
Against the computer
In 1996 Kasparov beat IBM's computer Deep Blue in a six-game match. The following year the computer won the return match, and the sixth and deciding game is here on LaviChess.
Afterward
Kasparov retired from competitive chess in 2005, still the world number one. His highest rating, 2851 in July 1999, was the highest anyone had reached until 2013. He has written a five-volume series about the world champions before him, My Great Predecessors.
Kasparov's games here
- Karpov vs. Kasparov, Game 16 (1985, Kasparov played Black). Play like Kasparov: guess the moves, one at a time.
- Deep Blue vs. Kasparov, Game 6 (1997, Kasparov played Black). Play like Kasparov: guess the moves, one at a time.
- Kasparov's Immortal (1999, Kasparov played White). Play like Kasparov: guess the moves, one at a time.
- Judit Polgár vs. Kasparov (2002, Kasparov played Black). Play like Kasparov: guess the moves, one at a time.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Garry Kasparov
- Store norske leksikon: Garri Kasparov
- OlimpBase: FIDE's rating lists 1979–2001
- PGN Mentor: the title matches' games 1984–2000
The facts on this page come from the sources above, checked against each other. Where the sources disagree, only what they agree on is given. The match results are also checked against the games themselves.
Updated November 8, 2026