Gary Kasparov

Kasparov, Gary (1963– ), Russian chess prodigy who at 22 became the sport's youngest world champion by beating Anatoly Karpov (1985). He has successfully defended his title, most recently by beating Anatoly Karpov in a 24-game match that ended on Dec. 31, 1990. In 1993, he was one of the founders of the Professional Chess Association (PCA), which organized its own world championship. In 1995 Kasparov prolonged his world title in the PCA version. In 1996 he defeated Deep Blue, the IBM chess computer. The next year, however, Deep Blue won.