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ChessBase is a German company that develops and sells chess software, maintains a chess news site, and operates an internet chess server for online chess. Founded in 1986, it maintains and sells large-scale databases containing the moves of recorded chess games. The databases contain data from prior games and provide engine analyses of games. Endgame tablebases are also provided by the company.

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73-424: ChessBase's Indian YouTube channel ChessBase India has amassed more than 1.8 million YouTube subscribers and more than 1.63 billion total views as of August 2023. Starting in 1983, Frederic Friedel and his colleagues put out a magazine Computer-schach und Spiele covering the emerging hobby of computer chess. In 1985, Friedel invited then world chess champion Garry Kasparov to his house. Kasparov mused about how

146-499: A KGB agent and was tasked with preventing Karpov's defeat at all costs. The match was terminated while Karpov was still ahead to avoid the impression that the decision had been made for his benefit. The match became the first, and so far only, world championship match to be abandoned without a result. Kasparov's relations with Campomanes and FIDE became strained, and matters came to a head in 1993 with Kasparov's complete break-away from FIDE. The second Karpov–Kasparov match in 1985

219-606: A Power Play series by British grandmaster Daniel King for lower level players. In April 2006, following its victory at the World Computer Chess Championship , Anthony Cozzie's Zappa chess engine was published by ChessBase as Zap!Chess . In 2008, Vasik Rajlich 's Rybka engine was added to the ChessBase product line, followed by Robert Houdart's Houdini and Don Dailey and Larry Kaufman 's Komodo engines. Recent versions of ChessBase and

292-466: A Young Talents CD featuring the engines Anmon, Goliath Light, Gromit, Ikarus, Patzer, Phalanx and Rudolf Huber's SOS. Christophe Theron's engines Chess Tiger and Gambit Tiger were also released as ChessBase engines that month. In the early 2000s matches were held pitting world champions Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik against versions of the Fritz or Junior engines. In 2003, ChessBase introduced

365-693: A chess database would make it easier for him to prepare for specific opponents. Friedel began working with Bonn physicist Matthias Wüllenweber who created the first such database, ChessBase 1.0, as software for the Atari ST . The February 1987 issue of Computer-schach und Spiele introduced the database program as well as the ChessBase magazine, a floppy disk containing chess games edited by chess grandmaster John Nunn . The August 1991 issue of Computer-schach und Spiele announced that Dutch programmer Frans Morsch's Fritz program would soon be available for purchase as software for PCs . This method of software sale

438-610: A different organisation, the World Chess Association (WCA), with Linares organiser Luis Rentero . Alexei Shirov and 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 materialised, the WCA collapsed. Yet another body stepped in, BrainGames.com, headed by Raymond Keene . After a match with Shirov could not be agreed by BrainGames.com and talks with Anand collapsed,

511-624: A division of Encore, Inc. In 1998, the German company Data Becker released the program 3D Schach Genie, containing the Shredder engine and Fritz interface. ChessBase India markets their products in India and surrounding countries. ChessBase India is run by International Master(IM) Sagar Shah and his wife Amruta Mokal. ChessBase was originally designed for the Atari ST by Matthias Wüllenweber,

584-632: A 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 managed to draw all his games as Black. Kramnik won the match 8½–6½. Kasparov won a series of major tournaments and remained the PCA top-rated player in

657-461: A leadership role. GMA's major achievement was in organising a series of six World Cup tournaments for the world's top players. This caused an uneasy relationship to develop between Kasparov and FIDE. The previous month, Kasparov had made his feelings clear to fellow grandmaster Keene: "Campomanes must go. It is war to the death with him as far as I am concerned. I will do everything I can to remove him”. This stand-off lasted until 1993, by which time

730-540: A match was instead arranged against Kramnik. 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, and developed an interest in the use of chess in education. In 1997, Kasparov supported a scholarship programme at the school. Kasparov also won the Marca Leyenda trophy that year. In 1999, he played

803-622: A mini-match against Short. The match consisted of two rapid games and eight blitz games and was contested over the course of two days. 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. Kasparov won the match decisively (8½–1½), winning all five games on the second day. These victories were characterised by aggressive pawn moves breaking up Short's position, thereby allowing Kasparov's pieces to achieve positional superiority. Kasparov played and won all nineteen games of

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876-596: A new challenger had qualified through the Candidates cycle: Nigel Short , a British grandmaster who had defeated 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, the world champion and his challenger both rejected FIDE's bid for an August match in Manchester and decided to play outside FIDE's jurisdiction. Their match took place under

949-450: A score of 12½–7½. The match considerably raised the profile of chess in the UK, with a substantial level of coverage on Channel 4 . Meanwhile, FIDE organised its world championship match between Timman (the defeated Candidates finalist) and former world champion Karpov (a defeated Candidates semi-finalist), which Karpov won. FIDE removed Kasparov and Short from its rating list. Subsequently,

1022-593: A settlement on that lawsuit was reached. Frederic Friedel Frederic Alois Friedel (born 1945) studied Philosophy and Linguistics at the University of Hamburg without graduating. He joined the American sceptical society CSICOP (now the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry ). In 1985, he met Garry Kasparov and soon after that co-founded the chess database company ChessBase . From 1983 to 2004, he edited

1095-681: A simultaneous exhibition in Pula , Croatia on 19 August 2015. At the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis on 28 and 29 April 2016, Kasparov played a 6-round exhibition blitz round-robin tournament with Fabiano Caruana , Wesley So and Nakamura in an event called the Ultimate Blitz Challenge. He finished the tournament third with 9.5/18, behind Nakamura (11/18) and So (10/18). At the post-tournament interview, Kasparov announced that he would donate his winnings from playing

1168-487: A special invitation to enter the tournament but took first place and became a chess master . Kasparov has stressed that this event was a turning point in his life and that it convinced him to choose chess as his career: "I will remember the Sokolsky Memorial as long as I live", he wrote. He has also said that after the victory, he thought he had a very good shot at the world championship. He first qualified for

1241-538: A superclass-level international tournament was scored at Bugojno , Yugoslavia, in 1982. He earned a place in the 1982 Moscow Interzonal tournament, which he won, to qualify for the Candidates Tournament . 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 champion Karpov on

1314-597: A well-known game against Topalov wherein he won after a rook sacrifice and king hunt . 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 with Anand. The better-prepared Kramnik won game 2 against Kasparov's Grünfeld Defence and achieved winning positions in games 4 and 6, although Kasparov managed

1387-483: A whole class of positions better. ... Kasparov gave me a great deal of practical help." In 2012, when asked what he learnt from working with Kasparov, Carlsen answered: "Complex positions. That was the most important thing." In May 2010, Kasparov played and won 30 games simultaneously against players at Tel Aviv University in Israel. In the same month, it was revealed that he had aided Anand in his preparation for

1460-414: Is a Russian chess grandmaster , former World Chess Champion (1985–2000), political activist and writer . His peak FIDE chess rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by Magnus Carlsen in 2013. From 1984 until his retirement from regular competitive chess in 2005, Kasparov was ranked world no. 1 for a record 255 months overall. Kasparov also holds records for

1533-408: Is a rare example of a ChessBase format engine not released by ChessBase itself. ChessBase has faced criticism for allegedly using free software created by others without credit. The developers of Stockfish , an open-source chess engine, charged that Fat Fritz 2 is a modified copy of their software (that had originally been uncredited; since rectified) and that ChessBase claims "originality where there

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1606-496: Is an internet chess service where players can play chess with other players and discuss about chess. ChessBase also maintains ChessBase News, a web site containing chess news, as well as information on their products. The site is available in English, German, Spanish and Hindi. ChessBase produces CDs and DVDs, including monographs on famous players, tactical training exercises, and training for specific opening systems. They publish

1679-476: Is none". Lichess described the same product as "a rip-off". ChessBase responded to this criticism by adding references but claiming the new engine differs from Stockfish due to added input from the original Fat Fritz neural network—itself claimed by Lichess to be derived closely from Leela Chess Zero , another open-source initiative. In July 2021, Stockfish sued ChessBase, alleging that ChessBase violated Stockfish's GNU General Public License . In November 2022,

1752-685: Is not possible in PGN. The software converts files from PGN to ChessBase format, or from ChessBase to PGN. The program permits searches for games, and positions in games, based on player names, openings , some tactical and strategic motifs, material imbalance, and features of the position. ChessBase can import engines either those such as Fritz or Shredder in native ChessBase format or Universal Chess Interface (UCI) engines such as Stockfish . As of 19 November 2020, ChessBase's database contained over 8.4 million games. The online database can be accessed directly through their database programs. Playchess

1825-853: The Caro–Kann Defence and the Tartakower System of the Queen's Gambit Declined . Kasparov won the Soviet Junior Championship in Tbilisi in 1976, scoring 7/9 points, at age thirteen. He repeated the feat the following year, winning with a score of 8.5/9. He was being coached by Alexander Shakarov during this time. In 1978, Kasparov participated in the Sokolsky Memorial tournament in Minsk . He had received

1898-573: The ChessBase Magazine six times per year, which comes on DVD with video clip interviews, articles on opening novelties, database updates (including annotated games), and other articles. All these are designed for viewing within their database software or the free ChessBase Reader. A database-only version of ChessBase for the BBC Micro , called "BBChessBase", was published by Peter Tate in 1991. Gerritt Reubold's Der Bringer chess program

1971-662: 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 arrange a match and had decided to stop all efforts to become undisputed world champion once more. After winning

2044-625: 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." 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

2117-531: The Professional Chess Association . In 1997, he became the first world champion to lose a match to a computer under standard time controls when he was defeated by the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue in a highly publicised match . He continued to hold the "Classical" world title until his defeat by Vladimir Kramnik in 2000. Despite losing the PCA title, he continued winning tournaments and

2190-622: The Renew Democracy Initiative (RDI), an American political organisation promoting and defending liberal democracy in the U.S. and abroad. He serves as chairman of the group. Kasparov is also a security ambassador for the software company Avast . Kasparov was born Garik Kimovich Weinstein ( Russian : Гарик Кимович Вайнштейн , romanized :  Garik Kimovich Vainshtein ) in Baku , Azerbaijan SSR (now Azerbaijan ), Soviet Union . His father, Kim Moiseyevich Weinstein,

2263-678: The Russian mass protests that began in 2011, he announced in June 2013 that he had left Russia for the immediate future out of fear of persecution. Following his flight from Russia, he lived in New York City with his family. In 2014, he obtained Croatian citizenship and has maintained a residence in Podstrana near Split . Kasparov was chairman of the Human Rights Foundation from 2011 to 2024. In 2017, he founded

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2336-475: The Sicilian Defence . He was 22 years old at the time, making him the youngest-ever world champion, a record held by Mikhail Tal for over 20 years. Kasparov's win with Black in the 16th game has been recognised as one of the all-time chess masterpieces, including being voted the best game played during the first 64 issues of the magazine Chess Informant . As part of the arrangements following

2409-667: The USSR Chess Championship at age 15 in 1978, the youngest-ever player at that level. He won the 64-player Swiss system tournament at Daugavpils on a tie-break over Igor V. Ivanov to capture the sole qualifying place. Kasparov rose quickly through the FIDE world rankings . Due to an oversight by the USSR Chess Federation , which believed that a grandmaster tournament in Banja Luka , Yugoslavia ,

2482-861: The World Chess Championship 2010 against challenger Veselin Topalov . Anand won the match 6½–5½ to retain the title. Kasparov began training the U.S. grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura in January 2011. 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. In December 2011, it was announced that their cooperation had come to an end. Kasparov played two blitz exhibition matches in

2555-480: The Candidates' Matches to become the official challenger once again. This match was also very close, with neither player holding more than a one-point lead at any time. With one game left, Kasparov was down a point 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 . Kasparov then won a long ending to retain

2628-518: The Chess Media System, allowing players to produce videos with them playing out moves that can be seen on the user's chessboard within a ChessBase program. Eventually, ChessBase commissioned world champions Garry Kasparov , Viswanathan Anand , Vladimir Kramnik and Rustam Kasimdzhanov to produce DVDs using the new format. ChessBase also produced Fritztrainer Opening DVDs by the likes of grandmasters Alexei Shirov and Viktor Bologan and

2701-889: The ChessBase magazine, and soon authoring game database CD-ROMs on topics such as the Trompowsky Attack or Mating Attacks against 0-0. British grandmaster Daniel King was another early author of such CD-ROMs which eventually grew into the Fritztrainer series of multimedia DVDs . In the mid-1990s, R&D Publishing in the U.S. released a series of print books in the ChessBase University Opening Series, including Karpov and Alexander Beliavsky 's The Caro-Kann in Black and White . In December 1996, ChessBase added Mark Uniacke's Hiarcs 6 chess engine to its product line up, selling it inside

2774-565: The January 1983 list. Kasparov's first (quarter-final) Candidates match was against Alexander Beliavsky , whom he defeated 6–3 (four wins, one loss). Politics threatened Kasparov's semi-final against 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. The Soviet authorities would not allow Kasparov to travel to

2847-725: 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 organisation Leong helped create to teach the game, specifying that Leong would be responsible for delivering 11 votes from his region [...]". In September 2015, the FIDE Ethics Commission found Kasparov and Leong guilty of violating its Code of Ethics and later suspended them for two years from all FIDE functions and meetings. Kasparov came out of retirement to participate in

2920-574: The PCA created a rating list of its own, which featured all the world's 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 PCA 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. Kasparov tried to organise another world championship match under

2993-463: The United States, meaning that Korchnoi could have had a walkover. This decision was met with disapproval by the chess world, and Korchnoi agreed to the match to being played in London instead, 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

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3066-404: 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 , 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 victory. But Karpov fought back by winning three consecutive games to level the score late in

3139-610: The auspices of the Professional Chess Association (PCA), an organisation established by Kasparov and Short. At this point, a fracture occurred in the lineage of the FIDE World Championship. In an interview in 2007, Kasparov called the break with FIDE in 1993 the worst mistake of his career, as it hurt the game in the long run. Kasparov and Short were ejected from FIDE and played their well-sponsored match in London in September 1993. Kasparov won convincingly by

3212-664: 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 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 . On 25 and 26 April 2015, Kasparov played

3285-456: The biggest computer chess magazine in the world, Computer-Schach & Spiele , which recently became an online publication. Friedel served as an advisor to Kasparov during his matches with Deep Blue in 1996 and 1997. This biographical article relating to a German chess figure is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born Garik Kimovich Weinstein on 13 April 1963)

3358-553: The engine GUIs such as Fritz supports cloud engines. ChessBase/ Playchess added a web interface by 2013. ChessBase added a tactics trainer web app in 2015. In 2015, ChessBase released a play Fritz web app, as well as My Games for storing one's games. The company is located in Hamburg , Germany . ChessBaseUSA markets their products in the United States , and some of their most popular programs are sold by licensee Viva Media ,

3431-637: The existing Fritz graphical user interface (GUI). In March 1998, ChessBase added Junior 4.6 and Dr. Christian Donninger's Nimzo99. Also that year, ChessBase released Fritz 5 including a 'friend mode' which would automatically scale its strength of play down to the level that it assessed the player was playing. This remains a feature of all of ChessBase's Graphical User Interfaces. In 1998, ChessBase took their database of chess games online. In November, ChessBase started offering trainer CD-ROMs by such grandmasters as Robert Hübner , Rainer Knaak and Daniel King . In 1999, Stefan Meyer-Kahlen 's Shredder had won

3504-467: The match 7–4 (four wins, one loss). 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 Kramnik in January 1996. That same year, he won the Candidates' final 8½–4½ (four wins, no losses) against former world champion Smyslov at Vilnius , thus qualifying to play Karpov for

3577-591: 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 score of 12½–11½. A fourth match for the world title took place in 1987 in Seville , as Karpov had qualified through

3650-413: The most consecutive professional tournament victories (15) and Chess Oscars (11). Kasparov became the youngest-ever undisputed world champion in 1985 at age 22 by defeating then-champion Anatoly Karpov . He defended the title against Karpov three times, in 1986 , 1987 and 1990 . Kasparov held the official FIDE world title until 1993, when a dispute with FIDE led him to set up a rival organisation,

3723-636: The next top-level blitz exhibition match to assist funding of the American Olympic Team . 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. 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. He

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3796-408: The physicist/co-founder of the company. Mathias Feist helped port the program to DOS. In more recent years, Lutz Nebe, Wolfgang Haar and Jeroen van den Belt have also been involved in program development. ChessBase uses a proprietary format for storing games (CBH), but can also handle games in portable game notation (PGN). The proprietary format uses less hard drive space and manages information that

3869-547: The prestigious Linares tournament for the ninth time, Kasparov announced on 10 March 2005 that he would retire from regular competitive chess. He cited as the reason a lack of personal goals in the chess world. When winning the Russian championship in 2004, he commented that it had been the last major title he had never won outright. He also expressed frustration at the failure to reunify the world championship. Kasparov said he might play in some rapid chess events for fun, but he intended to spend more time on his books, including

3942-564: The request of his mother Klara and with the consent of the family, adopted Klara's surname Kasparov, which was done to avoid possible anti-Semitic tensions common in the USSR at the time. From age seven, Kasparov attended the Young Pioneer Palace in Baku and, at ten, began training at Mikhail Botvinnik 's chess school under coach Vladimir Makogonov . Makogonov helped develop Kasparov's positional skills and taught him to play

4015-500: The time control of five minutes per side and three-second increments per move. Kasparov tied for first with Karpov, scoring 4½/6. Kasparov and 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 final result of 9–3. The event took place exactly 25 years after

4088-712: The title on a 12–12 scoreline. Kasparov and Karpov met for a fifth time, on this occasion in New York City 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. In November 1986, Kasparov had created the Grandmasters Association (GMA) to represent professional players and give them more say in FIDE's activities. Kasparov assumed

4161-483: The two players' unfinished encounter at World Chess Championship 1984 . Kasparov coached Carlsen for approximately one year, beginning in February 2009. The collaboration remained secret until September 2009. 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, in March of that year it

4234-410: The world champion and bringing the score to 5–1. Another 14 successive draws followed, through game 46; the previous record length for a world title match had been 34 games ( José Raúl Capablanca vs. Alexander Alekhine in 1927). Kasparov won games 47 and 48 to bring the score to 5–3 in Karpov's favour. Then the match was ended without result by FIDE President Florencio Campomanes , and a new match

4307-441: The world champion chess players who preceded him. He formed the United Civil Front movement and was a member of The Other Russia , a coalition opposing the administration and policies of Vladimir Putin . In 2008, he announced an intention to run as a candidate in that year's Russian presidential race , but after encountering logistical problems in his campaign, for which he blamed "official obstruction", he withdrew. Following

4380-600: The world championship. The World Chess Championship 1984 match between Kasparov and Karpov had many ups and downs and a very controversial finish. Karpov started in excellent 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. In an unexpected turn of events, there followed a series of 17 successive draws, some relatively short, others drawn in unsettled positions. Kasparov lost game 27 (5–0), then fought back with another series of draws until game 32, earning his first-ever win against

4453-466: The world computer chess championship. In April, Meyer-Kahlen and Huber released the Universal Chess Interface (UCI) protocol for engines to communicate with GUIs, to compete with Winboard and ChessBase. Meyer-Kahlen's contract with Millennium 2000 expired in June, and ChessBase hired him shortly after, adding Shredder to their product line under a Fritz style GUI, and giving their new GUIs the ability to import UCI engines. In April 2000, ChessBase released

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4526-412: The world). The next year, 1980, he won the World Junior Chess Championship in Dortmund , West Germany. Later that year, he made his debut as the second reserve for the Soviet Union at the Chess Olympiad at Valletta , Malta , and became a Grandmaster. As a teenager, Kasparov shared the USSR Chess Championship in 1981 with Lev Psakhis (12.5/17), although Psakhis won their game. His first win in

4599-480: The world, ahead of both Kramnik and the FIDE World Champion. 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. Kasparov and Karpov played a four-game match with rapid time controls over two days in December 2002 in New York City. Kasparov suffered a surprise loss (1.5 – 2.5). Because of Kasparov's continuing strong results and status as FIDE world No. 1, he

4672-602: Was Jewish and his mother, Klara Shagenovna Kasparova, was Armenian . Both of his mother's parents were Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh . Kasparov has described himself as a "self-appointed Christian", although "very indifferent" and identifying as Russian : "[A]lthough I'm half-Armenian, half-Jewish, I consider myself Russian because Russian is my native tongue, and I grew up with Russian culture." Kasparov and his family had to flee anti-Armenian pogroms in Baku in January 1990 that were coordinated by local leaders with Soviet acquiescence. According to Kasparov himself, he

4745-467: Was announced that Carlsen had split from Kasparov and would no longer be using him as a trainer. 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; however, no further training sessions were held, and the cooperation fizzled out over the course of the spring. In 2011, Carlsen said: "Thanks to [Kasparov] I began to understand

4818-431: 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, Campomanes cited the health of the players, which had been strained by the length of the match. According to grandmasters Boris Gulko and Korchnoi, and historians Vladimir Popow and Yuri Felshtinsky in their The KGB Plays Chess book, Campomanes had been

4891-400: Was for juniors, he participated in that event in 1979 while still unrated. He was a replacement for the Soviet defector Viktor Korchnoi , who was originally invited but withdrew due to the threat of a boycott from the Soviets. Kasparov won this high-class tournament, emerging with a provisional rating of 2595, enough to catapult him to the top group of chess players (at the time, number 15 in

4964-416: 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 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

5037-414: Was named after United States President Harry Truman , "whom my father admired for taking a strong stand against communism. It was a rare name in Russia, until Harry Potter came along." Kasparov began the serious study of chess after he came across a problem set up by his parents and proposed a solution. When he was seven years old, his father died of leukaemia . At the age of twelve, Kasparov, upon

5110-413: Was organised in Moscow as the best of 24 games, where the first player to win 12½ points would claim the 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 world crown by a score of 13–11. Karpov, with White, needed to win the 24th game to retain the title but Kasparov won it with

5183-498: Was supported by reigning world champion and FIDE #1 ranked player Carlsen. At the FIDE General Assembly in August 2014, Kasparov lost the presidential election to the incumbent Kirsan Ilyumzhinov , with a vote of 110–61. A few days before the election took place, the New York Times Magazine had published a 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

5256-406: Was the world's highest-rated player at the time of his official retirement. Kasparov coached Carlsen in 2009–10, during which time Carlsen rose to world no. 1. Kasparov stood unsuccessfully for FIDE president in 2013–2014. Since retiring from chess, Kasparov has devoted his time to writing and politics. His book series My Great Predecessors , first published in 2003, details the history and games of

5329-420: Was unlike all the dedicated chess computers which at the time dominated the ratings lists. This program was marketed initially as Knightstalker in the U.S., while it was marketed as Fritz in the rest of the world. Mathias Feist joined ChessBase, and ported Fritz to DOS and then Microsoft Windows . In 1994, German chess grandmaster Rainer Knaak joined ChessBase as a full-time employee, annotating games for

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