Soviet, Russian and Croatian citizen Garry Kasparov was born on 13 April 1963 in Baku. From the age of seven he was honed in the Young Pioneers Palace in Baku, and from 1973 to 1978 he attended Mikhail Botvinnik’s chess school. His peak World Ranking was 1th (continuously between 1986 and 2005). He was considered to be one of the ten best chess players of the world between 1980 and 2005. His peak rating was 2886 according to Chessmetrics. 

In the 1985 Chess World Championship match defending champion Anatoli Karpov was challenged by Garry Kasparov and with this their decade long rivalry started. This World Championship match was the repeat match of the 1984 World Championship match which was interrupted after the 48th game by the FIDE president. The 24 round World Championship match ended with the victory of Garry Kasparov by 13-11 who became the 13th Chess World Champion. He was only 22 years old at that time and with this achievement he is the youngest ever World Champion to this time (Wikipedia). After this, Kasparov was challenged by Anatoly Karpov in 1986, 1987 and 1990, but Kasparov could defend his title all three times.

Kasparov founded the Professional Chess Association (PCA) before the 1993 FIDE World Championship match and organised a counter World Championship with Nigel Short which he called “classical”. As an answer FIDE revoked Kasparov’s World Championship title and removed both him and Nigel Short from their rating list. In 1993 in the classical World Chess Championship in London Nigel Short challenged Garry Kasparov. Kasparov won the match by 12 ½- 7 ½ and defended his title. For the next 13 years the World Champion title remained split, there was a FIDE world champion and a “classical” world champion supported by PCA. In the 1995 classical World Championship the winner of the Candidates Tournament, Viswanatan Anand, played against Garry Kasparov in New York. Kasparov won by 10 ½-7 ½ and defended his title again. In the 2000 classical World Championship Garry Kasparov was challenged by Vladimir Kramnik in London. Kramnik won by 8 ½- 6 ½ and became classical World Champion.

Garry Kasparov participated in eight Chess Olympiads competing for the Soviet Union and Russia. In 1980 La Valetta he won individual bronze medal. In 1982 in Luzern he won individual bronze again. In 1986 in Dubai he won individual gold medal both for performance rating and on board one as well. In 1988 in Saloniki he won individual gold after his living scores and on board one as well again. In 1992 in Manila he won silver medal behind Kramnik for his performance rating and individual gold on board one. In 1994 in Moscow he ended up 17th individually. In 1996 in Yerevan he won individual gold for performance rating and silver on board one behind gold medallist Mohamad Al-Modiahki. In 2002 in Bled he won individual gold for performance rating and placed fourth on his board.    

Interesting facts:

Kasparov was the first World Champion who was defeated by a computer, Deep Blue, in 1997 in an official match using time controls.