Garry Kasparov

Born on 13 April 1963 in Baku, Azerbaijan, to engineer parents; he was an only child.

Learned chess at age five by watching his parents solve chess problems in the newspaper.

At age seven, he enrolled in the Young Pioneer Palace in Baku for chess instruction; by age ten, he was receiving tuition at the Mikhail Botvinnik School of Chess.

At age twelve, he was the under-18 chess champion of the USSR; at seventeen, the World Under-20 champion.

Attended the Azerbaijan Teaching Institute of Foreign Languages, graduating in 1986.

He later wrote that he "studied very easily and without any particular trouble, finishing school with a gold medal."

Thirteenth World Chess Champion, becoming the youngest ever at age 22 in 1985 when he defeated Anatoly Karpov.

Held the official World Championship title from 1985 to 1993, then the PCA title from 1993 to 2000.

Dominated world chess for over two decades, holding the No. 1 FIDE rating for a record 255 months and achieving a peak rating of 2851 in 1999.

Defended his title five times, including three rematches against Karpov (1986, 1987, 1990).

In 1997, lost a landmark match to IBM's Deep Blue, the first computer to defeat a reigning world champion in a classical match.

Retired from competitive chess in 2005 while still ranked No. 1. He has since become a prominent political activist and author.

Kasparov's rivalry with Karpov is the most famous in chess history; their 1984–85 match lasted five months and 48 games before being halted by FIDE.

He is known for his aggressive, dynamic playing style and his deep opening preparation.

After losing to Deep Blue, he said: "Deep Blue was as intelligent as an alarm clock, though losing to a $10m alarm clock did not make me feel any better."

He has been a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin and has been involved in Russian pro-democracy movements.

"I used to attack because it was the only thing I knew. Now I attack because I know it works best."

"Machines won't make us obsolete — our complacency might."

"The number of ways to do something wrong always exceeds the number of ways to do it right."

"If you play without long-term goals your decisions will become purely reactive and you'll be playing your opponent's game, not your own."

My Great Predecessors (5 volumes) — monumental history of the World Chess Championship.

How Life Imitates Chess — strategic thinking applied to life and business.

Deep Thinking — account of the Deep Blue match and human-machine collaboration.

Garry Kasparov on Modern Chess (multiple volumes) — match analyses.

Child of Change / Unlimited Challenge — autobiographies.