Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 1963 and is the leading (and highest-paid) chess player of our time. He won the world championship title at the age of twenty-two and remained the world number one for two decades, far longer than any other player in the history of official international competitions. In 1996, he was thrust into the spotlight when he accepted IBM's challenge to compete against the computer Deep Blue. Kasparov is an intriguing (and controversial) figure who has translated the aggressiveness of chess into his personal and political life: today, Kasparov has a regular column in the "Wall Street Journal," where he writes about international issues, and he gives lectures on business matters. He founded the charitable "Kasparov Foundation" and is the chairman of the committee "2008: Free Choice," which aims to conduct democratic elections in Russia. He lives in Moscow, where, based on chess strategies, he strives to defeat Putin's regime.