Garry Kasparov Keynote Speaker

A child chess prodigy who started playing as a five-year-old, Garry Kasparov qualified as an International Chess Master at the age of 16. In November 1985, aged just 22, he became the youngest ever World Champion when he defeated Anatoly Karpov for the title. Garry was World Champion for thirteen consecutive years and earned the number one world rating for the first time in 1984.

He has successfully defended his title more than any other champion in modern times. On each occasion, his famous attacking style of play and incredible depth of knowledge of chess theory has proved too much for his opponent.

In February 1996, in Philadelphia, Garry played IBM’s Deep Blue computer. His opponent was able to analyse 50 billion moves in three minutes. In NYC in May 1997, Kasparov again played the monster computer. The series stands at one match each and the World Champion has challenged IBM to a tie-breaking third match.

Kasparov’s books include the My Great Predecessors series, about all the world chess champions as well the Modern Chess series and “How Life Imitates Chess” (2007).

Garry announced his retirement from professional chess on March 10th 2005, to devote his time to politics and writing. Widely recognized as an expert on Russian affairs, Garry Kasparov is the youngest-ever contributing editor for the Wall Street Journal.  He formed the United Civil Front movement, and joined as a member of The Other Russia, a coalition opposing the administration of Vladimir Putin. He was considered to become a candidate for the 2008 Russian presidential race, but later withdrew.

Kasparov is a regular guest speaker at conferences worldwide, including the World Economic Forum at Davos and the Cursos de Verano in Madrid.