PeopleofSuperintelligence

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Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov is a chess grandmaster whose matches with IBM’s Deep Blue brought artificial intelligence into mainstream attention. Born in Baku in 1963, he met Mikhail Botvinnik at 10 and received an invitation to Botvinnik’s chess school before winning Soviet under-18 and world under-20 titles and becoming the youngest world chess champion in history in 1985. He created Advanced Chess in 1998, retired from professional chess in 2005 and joined Russia’s pro-democracy movement, then became chair of the Human Rights Foundation in 2012. He published Deep Thinking in 2017 about his Deep Blue matches and human-machine collaboration, and received an honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree from the Weizmann Institute of Science in May 2024. He founded the Renew Democracy Initiative (RDI) in 2017 and chairs it as of October 2026; RDI publishes The Next Move, where his September 2026 essay calls for a positive vision of artificial intelligence.

Now at
Renew Democracy Initiative
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Timeline

  1. By 1985

    Early chess training and titles

    Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, in the Soviet Union in 1963, he meets Mikhail Botvinnik at 10 in summer 1973 and receives an invitation to Botvinnik’s school. He becomes the USSR under-18 chess champion at 12 and the world under-20 champion at 17.

  2. 1985

    Youngest world champion

    At 22, he becomes the youngest world chess champion in history in 1985.

  3. 1996–1997

    The Deep Blue matches

    His matches against IBM’s Deep Blue in 1996–1997 help bring chess and artificial intelligence into mainstream attention. In May 1997, Deep Blue becomes the first computer system to defeat a reigning world champion in a match under standard tournament time controls, winning 3.5–2.5.

  4. 1998

    Advanced Chess with software

    In 1998, he creates Advanced Chess, where grandmasters play with chess software during their games.

  5. 2005–2012

    Pro-democracy and HRF work

    He retires from professional chess in 2005 and joins Russia’s pro-democracy movement. In 2012, he becomes chair of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation.

  6. 2017

    Deep Thinking

    He publishes Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins in 2017. The book recounts his Deep Blue matches and describes how people can work with machines.

  7. May 2024

    A Weizmann honorary degree

    In May 2024, the Weizmann Institute of Science awards the chess grandmaster an honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree.

  8. As of October 2026

    Chairing the Renew Democracy Initiative

    He founds the Renew Democracy Initiative (RDI) in 2017 and chairs it as of October 2026. RDI publishes The Next Move. In a September 2026 essay there, he argues that the democratic world needs a positive vision for artificial intelligence.

Videos

YouTube videos in which Garry Kasparov speaks or appears, newest first. A model chose them from YouTube search results. List updated 20 October 2026.

  1. Garry Kasparov: Fear of Mistake Guarantees Mistakes | AI Podcast ClipsLex Fridman · 30 October 2019 · 4 min
  2. Garry Kasparov: IBM Deep Blue, AlphaZero, and the Limits of AI in Open Systems | AI Podcast ClipsLex Fridman · 29 October 2019 · 15 min
  3. Garry Kasparov: Magnus Carlsen is a Lethal Combination of Fischer and Karpov | Lex Fridman PodcastLex Fridman · 28 October 2019 · 7 min
  4. Garry Kasparov: The Butterfly Effect and the Wisdom of Forrest Gump | AI Podcast ClipsLex Fridman · 28 October 2019 · 3 min

All 6 videos of Garry Kasparov

Video data from YouTube API Services. By watching you agree to the YouTube Terms of Service. How we use YouTube data.

  1. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.
  2. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIWe estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  3. 43% of living people shaping AI work outside their country of birthWe estimate that 43% of living people shaping AI work outside their country of birth (520 of 1,198 people with known birth and employment countries).
  4. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionWe estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Garry Kasparov yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Biography – Kasparov.com kasparov.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. Garry Kasparov, the greatest chess player in history, talks the game of kings in the computer age | PC Gamer | May 20, 2021 – Kasparov.com kasparov.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. Deep Blue | IBM ibm.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. The Real World AI Experiment | Appian Blog Post | April 1, 2021 – Kasparov.com kasparov.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. Deep Thinking by Garry Kasparov | Hachette UK hachette.co.uk. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. Life in the shadow of war weizmann.ac.il. Checked 22 October 2026.
  7. Excellence, resilience and diligence: Meet the Weizmann Institute of Science’s honorary PhD recipients – Weizmann Canada weizmann.ca. Checked 22 October 2026.
  8. Garry Kasparov – RDI rdi.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  9. A Machine Beat Me at Chess. I’m Still Rooting for AI. thenextmove.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  10. New Details: Assassins Were Indicted. Very Likely, I Was Their Target. thenextmove.org. Checked 22 October 2026.