Garry Kasparov

Soviet chess player and world champion after defeating A. Karpov in 1985. He defended his title 9/10/95 in the World Trade Center, New York against Indian challenger, Vishy Anand with a $1.5 million prize. In 1996, he won against an IBM computer. On 5/11/97, he was pitted against the $2 million IBM RS/6000SP supercomputer Deep Blue and lost. Furious and embittered, he accused IBM and its scientists of cheating by helping the computer during the six games. He did accept the loser's check for $400,000; the largest purse in exhibition chess history. At age 22, he was the youngest world champion ever, and 12 years later even stronger. However, his mom, Klara, a former scientist, worried that he might have had too many interests to compete with Deep Blue. He had a new wife and a six-month-old baby, a collection of business ventures, a charitable foundation and a passionate interest in Russian politics. Known for his intimidating arrogance, Kasparov ruled the chess world for 15 years, surviving five major challenges. On 10/21/2000, midway through the 2000 World Chess Championship, he was yet to win a game in a tense stand-off, playing against one of his students, 25-year-old Vladimir Kramnik. They had contested 23 times before in games played under classical rules: each man has won three times and 17 games ended in draws. On 11/02/2000, Kramnik defeated Kasparov in the 15th game, clinching the title of World Chess Champion and winning $1.3 million. Although he lost the final game, the chess master won the Linares tournament on Thursday, March 10, 2005. A day later, he announced his retirement from the world of professional chess saying that he had made the decision to retire before the commencement of the prestigious tournament. He said his last games were "very difficult for me to play under such pressure, because I knew it was the end of the career which I could be proud of.” He went on, “As a chess player, I did everything I could, even more. Now I want to use my intellect and strategic thinking in Russian politics. I will do everything in my power to resist Putin’s dictatorship. It is very difficult to play for a country whose authorities are antidemocratic.” Link to Wikipedia biography