Born April 13, 1963 · Garry Kimovich Kasparov
Garry Kasparov dominated world chess for two decades and held the world number-one ranking longer than anyone before Magnus Carlsen. Beyond his five world championship matches against Anatoly Karpov, he is remembered for his 1997 loss to IBM's Deep Blue — one of the defining moments in the history of human-versus-computer competition — and for his later career as a political activist and chess commentator.
Beat Anatoly Karpov in 1985 to become the youngest World Champion at the time (age 22); lost the title to Vladimir Kramnik in a 2000 match.
Kasparov's game was built on ferocious opening preparation and dynamic, attacking play. He treated the opening as a weapon, arriving with deeply analysed novelties and pressing relentlessly for the initiative rather than settling for equal positions.
vs. Anatoly Karpov — World Chess Championship, Moscow, 1985
Kasparov won the match 13–11 to dethrone Karpov and become the youngest World Champion in history at the time, a record later broken by Gukesh Dommaraju.