Wrote this because I read in today’s newspaper that Kasparov’s arrested for his political activity in Russia.
Greatest chess player of all time
Perhaps Wikipedia would tell all about Gary Kasparov, the best chess player ever. Kasparov held the highest ever ELO Rating.
He is the one that inspired me to learn chess.
I used to follow his games’ moves, because following his games were really like watching a beautiful painting or great movie.
vs Karpov (World Championship 1983-1990)
At that time (1984), first player winning six times would be crowned world champion.
After 9 games, Karpov has lead 4-0. But Kasparov (at 21 years of age) showed his nerve’s strength. He begun to match Karpov.
The game was stopped at 48th game in 5-3. The first time in history of chess.
The rule then was changed to “best-of-24″, and in 1985, Kasparov was crowned World Champion. In 1987, they met again, and in the last game, Kasparov was one game behind (11-12). But amazingly, he won the last game to tie 12-12 and retain the crown.
I remember this game opening until now, when he played ‘double fianchetto” to retain all pieces as long as possible in the board.
His battle against Karpov was very interesting because Karpov was known for his impeccable defense, while Kasparov was known for his agressivity and beautiful play.
I remembered that even in Ruy Lopez opening (one of the oldest opening ever known), he could still find an unbelievable new variants.
vs Machine
Kasparov is the only player who can match super-computer.
He’s only lost in one battle against IBM’s Deep Blue (and Kasparov demanded a rematch, but IBM declined and retired Deep Blue).
In logical way, in this state of technology, there is no way to match machine’s computing power. Machine never makes mistake, will not allow you to make one mistake. But Kasparov proved that human still have something called creativity.
The Last ‘True’ Chessmaster?
Kasparov is the world champion that saw the revolution of computer power.
In the 1980’s (even the early 90’s), chessplayer must learn chess by playing opponents and from journals. But computer makes it possible to quickly learn about variants, accessing library of all matches ever recorded, and analysing moves.
So players are becoming more like machines. They avoid mistakes and exploit other’s mistake to win. Kasparov probably the last chessmaster who has contribution in creating a lot of moves that are never done before.
— Too bad he is retired very young.