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    Garry Kasparov
    2015. Photo: Fryta 73 from Strzegom, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

    13THWorld chess champion

    Garry Kasparov

    Garry Kasparov was world champion 1985–2000, for 15 years. He won the title in 1985, beating Anatoly Karpov 13–11 in Moscow.

    Born
    13 April 1963 (age 63) · Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union
    Learned chess
    Began serious study after solving a chess problem his parents had set up; from seven he attended the Young Pioneer Palace in Baku, and at ten Botvinnik's school
    Profiles
    FIDE World Chess MuseumFIDE ratingsWikipediaChessmetrics
    15 years
    World champion
    6 of 7
    Title events won or kept
    2851
    Peak FIDE rating, Jul 1999
    2885
    On today's scale: 7th of 18

    Every title event

    YearOpponentScoreResultGamesWhere
    1984–1985Anatoly Karpov25–23Abandoned, no result+3 −5 =40Moscow
    1985Anatoly Karpov13–11Won+5 −3 =16Moscow
    1986Anatoly Karpov12½–11½Won+5 −4 =15London (1–12), Leningrad (13–24)
    1987Anatoly Karpov12–12Drawn, kept the title+4 −4 =16Seville
    1990Anatoly Karpov12½–11½Won+4 −3 =17New York City (1–12), Lyon (13–24)
    1993Nigel Short12½–7½Won+6 −1 =13London
    1995Viswanathan Anand10½–7½Won+4 −1 =13New York City
    2000Vladimir Kramnik8½–6½Lost+0 −2 =13London

    Across 8 title matches, Kasparov won 31 games, lost 23 and drew 143: a score of 52% of the points against the best player of his day.

    Scores are listed winner first; a dash means the match wasn't played or was a tournament. Games are won, lost and drawn (+ − =) from Kasparov's side, counted from chessgames.com and shown only where they add up to the official score. Source: Wikipedia, List of World Chess Championships.

    Honours

    6
    World championship titles

    1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1993, 1995

    1
    Candidates wins

    1984

    1
    Interzonal wins

    1982

    1
    World rapid titles

    2001

    2
    National championships

    1981*, 1988*

    1
    World junior title

    1980

    8
    Olympiad team golds

    1980, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1996, 2002

    3
    Olympiad board golds

    1986, 1988, 1992

    2
    European team golds

    1980, 1992

    11
    Chess Oscars

    1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2002

    Each year links to its source. * Shared title. World championship titles are title events won or kept. Olympiad board golds are the best score on a board. Most of these events didn't exist before the 1920s.

    Compare all 18 champions' honours

    Impact at home: Soviet Union and Russia and Croatia

    • HonoursBecame the youngest undisputed world champion in 1985, at 22, a record that stood until 2024 source
    • PoliticsSet up the Professional Chess Association with Nigel Short source
    • PlayersUnder his coaching, Carlsen became the youngest to pass 2800 (October 2009) and rose from world No. 4 to No. 1 source
    • GrowthAt 17, at the 1980 Olympiad, the youngest player to represent the Soviet Union or Russia at that level source
    • PoliticsIn 2014 he applied for Croatian citizenship, reportedly saying it was increasingly difficult to live in Russia source

    The Soviet Union had 80 grandmasters when Kasparov became world champion in 1985. By 1991, its last year it had 129.

    Measure1985when he became champion1991the Soviet Union's last year
    Grandmasters80129
    In the world top 10029 Jan 1985 list45 Jul 1991 list

    Soviet grandmasters, 1950–1991

    02040608010012014019501960197019801990Kasparov champion

    Move over the chart to see any year.

    Grandmasters by the year FIDE gave the title, from Wikipedia's list of all 2,162 grandmasters (October 2026); Soviet players are counted to 1991, including those the list now files under a successor state. Top 100 from FIDE's rating lists (OlimpBase to 2001, then FIDE); FIDE's lists begin in 1971. These numbers show what happened around each champion, not what he caused: many things grow a country's chess.

    Rivalries

    Karpov v KasparovTitle events 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990

    25 wins129 draws · 193 games39 wins

    Kasparov v AnandTitle event 1995

    30 wins52 draws · 94 games12 wins

    Kasparov v KramnikTitle event 2000

    22 wins79 draws · 122 games21 wins

    How strong was Kasparov?

    His highest official rating was 2851, on FIDE's Jul 1999 list, as world No. 1: 2nd of the 8 champions from Fischer on, whose peaks fall on FIDE's lists.

    That month the best other player was Viswanathan Anand, at 2771: Kasparov was 80 points clear. The top 10 averaged 2743; on today's scale (FIDE's Nov 2026 top 10 average 2777) his peak is about 2885, 7th of the 18 champions. How this is worked out.

    Chessmetrics also ranks him 1st of all time on three-year average (2874, 1989-Jan to 1991-Dec). Source.

    25002600270028002900198019841988199219962000200420082012201620202024Peak 2851 · Jul 1999
    FIDE standard rating on each list where Garry Kasparov was in the world top 100 (lists were published once or twice a year until 2000), and FIDE's own monthly record from April 2003. Sources: OlimpBase, FIDE.
    Every month as a table
    FIDE listRating
    Nov 20262812
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    Jan 20052804
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    Oct 20002849
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    Jan 19992812
    Jul 19982815
    Jan 19982825
    Jul 19972820
    Jan 19972795
    Jul 19962785
    Jan 19962775
    Jul 19952795
    Jan 19952805
    Jul 19932815
    Jan 19932805
    Jul 19922790
    Jan 19922780
    Jul 19912770
    Jan 19912800
    Jul 19902800
    Jan 19902800
    Jul 19892775
    Jan 19892775
    Jul 19882760
    Jan 19882750
    Jul 19872740
    Jan 19872735
    Jul 19862740
    Jan 19862720
    Jul 19852700
    Jan 19852715
    Jul 19842715
    Jan 19842710
    Jul 19832690
    Jan 19832690
    Jul 19822675
    Jan 19822640
    Jul 19812630
    Jan 19812625
    Jan 19802595

    The road to the title

    1. 1976

      Soviet Junior Championship (Tbilisi)[1]

      Won championship with 7/9

      First major national junior title at age 13.

    2. 1977

      Soviet Junior Championship[1]

      Won championship with 8.5/9

      Defended his national junior title with a dominant score.

    3. 1978

      Sokolsky Memorial (Minsk)[1]

      First place

      Received a special invitation and won the tournament ahead of established masters.

    4. 1978

      Daugavpils Swiss Tournament[1]

      First place in 64-player Swiss

      Became the youngest player ever to qualify for the USSR Chess Championship at age 15.

    5. 1979-04

      Banja Luka Tournament[1]

      Won by 2 points

      His first international tournament, played while unrated; he left with a provisional 2545

    6. 1980

      World Junior Chess Championship (Dortmund)[1]

      World Junior Champion

    7. 1982

      Moscow Interzonal[1]

      Won tournament to qualify for Candidates

      Qualified for the Candidates

    8. 1983

      Candidates semi-final[1]

      Defeated Viktor Korchnoi 7–4

      He lost the first game but won the match

    9. 1984-01

      FIDE Rating List[1]

      Reached World No. 1 rating of 2710

      Then the youngest-ever world No. 1

    10. 1984

      Candidates Final (Vilnius)[1]

      Beat Vasily Smyslov 8½–4½ (four wins, no losses)

      Won the right to play Karpov for the title

    11. 1984–1985

      World Chess Championship 1984–1985 (Moscow)[1]

      Stopped after 48 games without a result

      Karpov led 4–0 after nine games of a first-to-six-wins match; the finish was controversial

    12. 1985-11

      World Chess Championship 1985 (Moscow)[1]

      Beat Anatoly Karpov

      The youngest undisputed champion, at 22: a record until 2024

    What Kasparov changed about chess

    • computersIn 1997 he became the first world champion to lose a match to a computer at standard time controls, to IBM's Deep Blue, in a highly publicised match.[1]
    • organisationA dispute with FIDE in 1993 led him to set up a rival organisation, the Professional Chess Association.[1]
    • trainingCoached Magnus Carlsen in 2009–10, when Carlsen rose to world No. 1.[1]

    Achievements

    • 1985-11Youngest Undisputed World Chess Champion (1985)[1]
    • 1986–1990Three title defenses against Anatoly Karpov[1]
    • 1984–2005Record 255 months as World No. 1[1]
    • Records for most consecutive professional tournament wins (15) and Chess Oscars (11)[1]
    • 2003My Great Predecessors, a book series on the champions before him (from 2003)[1]

    Famous games

    • Anatoly Karpov v Garry Kasparov, World Chess Championship 1985, game 16 1985 · 0-1[1]

      A pawn sacrifice, then an "octopus knight" on d3 dominating all three of White's major pieces.

      Garry Kasparov
      Anatoly Karpov

      Start position

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      41. 0-1

      Arrow keys step through the moves; click any move to jump to it. Pieces by Colin M. L. Burnett (BSD licence).

      Game score: chessgames.com

    • Garry Kasparov v Veselin Topalov, Hoogovens Wijk aan Zee 1999 1999 · 1-0[1]

      Widely regarded as his masterpiece: a king hunt from one side of the board to the other.

      Veselin Topalov
      Garry Kasparov

      Start position

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      45. 1-0

      Arrow keys step through the moves; click any move to jump to it. Pieces by Colin M. L. Burnett (BSD licence).

      Game score: en.wikipedia.org

    • Deep Blue v Garry Kasparov, Deep Blue v Kasparov 1996, game 1 1996 · 1-0[2]

      The first time a computer beat a reigning world champion under normal tournament conditions.

      Garry Kasparov
      Deep Blue

      Start position

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      38. 1-0

      Arrow keys step through the moves; click any move to jump to it. Pieces by Colin M. L. Burnett (BSD licence).

      Game score: en.wikipedia.org

    In his words

    "I am often asked if I ever met or played Bobby Fischer. The answer is no, I never had that opportunity. But even though he saw me as a member of the evil chess establishment that he felt had robbed and cheated him, I am sorry I never had a chance to thank him personally for what he did for our sport."[1]

    More on Garry Kasparov

    Quick answers

    When was Garry Kasparov world chess champion?

    1985–2000: 15 years. He won the title in 1985, beating Anatoly Karpov 13–11 in Moscow.

    What was Garry Kasparov's highest FIDE rating?

    2851, on FIDE's Jul 1999 list, when he was world No. 1. That is 2nd of the 8 champions from Fischer on.

    Sources

    1. [1] en.wikipedia.org: "Kasparov won the Soviet Junior Championship in Tbilisi in 1976, scoring 7/9 points, at age 13."
    2. [2] en.wikipedia.org: "the first time that a chess-playing computer defeated a reigning world champion under normal chess tournament conditions"