Today Garry Kasparov celebrates his 50th birthday. The 13th World Chess Champion, who won the crown in 1985, at 22, by beating Anatoly Karpov in a match in Moscow, quit chess in March 2005 to pursue a political career in Russia. These days Kasparov is also involved in writing and a chess in schools project.
Kasparov (left) was born Garik Kimovich Weinstein in Baku, Azerbaijan (then Soviet Union) on April 13th, 1963. When he was seven years old, his father died and at the age of twelve, he adopted his mother's Armenian surname, Gasparyan, modifying it to a more Russified version, Kasparov.Kasparov became the youngest ever World Champion in 1985 at the age of 22 by defeating Anatoly Karpov. In the year 2000 he lost his title to Vladimir Kramnik. However, the World Chess Federation did not recognize his world championship status from the year 1993, when a dispute led him to set up a rival organization, the Professional Chess Association.
