Garry Kasparov: A great question to start with though it may take a few hours or maybe a few days to actually cover, you know, my career, and the influence of machines! And how the game has changed, how the game was influenced by the gradual machine takeover of many fields of the game of chess. When did they start appearing as a tool for serious training? And when did it become clear they were going to become something more than that? PC Gamer: Can you talk about the changes you’ve seen in the chess world over your life in regards to computers? Your career aligns with some pretty remarkable advancements. (Image credit: Garry Kasparov / Louis Germain) Check back soon for more on Deep Blue, modern machine learning, some of Kasparov’s great predecessors, and to find out if he ever played Battle Chess. Due to the interview’s length I’ve split our discussion into multiple articles: here we focus on Kasparov’s history with computers, and what he hopes to teach students of the game with his newest project. The latest of these is the newly launched, an all-encompassing chess site that includes lessons, a playing environment, documentaries, live tournaments, and a masterclass series from the man himself.Īs part of the site’s launch into beta, PC Gamer was offered the opportunity to speak to the former world champion. Throughout his career Kasparov has paid it on and been involved with teaching young players, and is behind various initiatives including the Kasparov Chess Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to helping educate children in the joys of the game. Kasparov played professionally until 2005 and retired as the world’s top-ranked player.īorn in Baku, Azerbaijan (then part of the Soviet Union) in 1963, the young Kasparov was taken under the wing of the legendary Mikhail Botvinnik, the first Soviet world champion. Kasparov played professionally from the early 1980s and became the youngest-ever world chess champion after defeating Anatoly Karpov in 1985, a title he held until a loss to Vladimir Kramnik in 2000. Kasparov himself played a major part in the latter story: as well as being involved with chess software throughout his long career, he would go on to defeat the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue in 1996 before, a year later, losing the rematch.

Garry Kasparov has a good case for being the best chess player in history, and not just because he’s the last world champion to have reigned before the machines took over.

Garry kasparov chess lessons