Garry Kimovich Kasparov [ a ] born Garik Kimovich Weinstein [ b ] on 13 April is a Russian chess grandmaster , former World Chess Champion — , political activist and writer. His peak FIDE chess rating of , [ 2 ] achieved in , was the highest recorded until being surpassed by Magnus Carlsen in From until his retirement from regular competitive chess in , Kasparov was ranked the world's 1 player for a record months overall.
Kasparov also holds records for the most consecutive professional tournament victories 15 and Chess Oscars Kasparov became the youngest-ever undisputed world champion in at age 22 by defeating then-champion Anatoly Karpov , a record he held until , when Gukesh Dommaraju won the title at age He continued to hold the "Classical" world title until his defeat by Vladimir Kramnik in Despite losing the PCA title, he continued winning tournaments and was the world's highest-rated player at the time of his official retirement.
Kasparov coached Carlsen in —10, during which time Carlsen rose to world no. Kasparov stood unsuccessfully for FIDE president in — Since retiring from chess, Kasparov has devoted his time to writing and politics.
His book series My Great Predecessors , first published in , details the history and games of 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 , 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. Kasparov was chairman of the Human Rights Foundation from to He serves as chairman of the group. Kasparov is also a security ambassador for the software company Avast. According to Kasparov himself, he was named after United States President Harry Truman , [ c ] [ 29 ] "whom my father admired for taking a strong stand against communism.
