Early career Garry Kasparov

kasparov @ age 11, vilnius, 1974

kasparov born garik kimovich weinstein (russian: Гарик Вайнштейн) in baku, azerbaijan ssr (now azerbaijan), soviet union. father, kim moiseyevich weinstein, russian jewish, , mother, klara shagenovna gasparian, armenian. kasparov has described himself self-appointed christian , although indifferent .

kasparov first began serious study of chess after came across chess problem set parents , proposed solution. father died of leukemia when garry 7 years old. @ age of twelve, garry adopted mother s armenian surname, gasparian, russified kasparov.

from age 7, kasparov attended young pioneer palace in baku and, @ 10 began training @ mikhail botvinnik s chess school under noted coach vladimir makogonov. makogonov helped develop kasparov s positional skills , taught him play caro-kann defence , tartakower system of queen s gambit declined. kasparov won soviet junior championship in tbilisi in 1976, scoring 7 points of 9, @ age 13. repeated feat following year, winning score of 8½ of 9. being trained alexander shakarov during time.

in 1978, kasparov participated in sokolsky memorial tournament in minsk. had been invited exception took first place , became chess master. kasparov has repeatedly said event turning point in life, , convinced him choose chess career. remember sokolsky memorial long live , wrote. has said after victory, thought had shot @ world championship.

he first qualified soviet chess championship @ age 15 in 1978, youngest ever player @ level. won 64-player swiss system tournament @ daugavpils on tiebreak on igor v. ivanov capture sole qualifying place.

kasparov rose through world chess federation rankings. starting oversight russian chess federation, participated in grandmaster tournament in banja luka, bosnia , herzegovina (then part of yugoslavia), in 1979 while still unrated (he replacement viktor korchnoi invited withdrew due threat of boycott soviets). kasparov won high-class tournament, emerging provisional rating of 2595, enough catapult him top group of chess players (at time, number 15 in world)). next year, 1980, won world junior chess championship in dortmund, west germany. later year, made debut second reserve soviet union @ chess olympiad @ valletta, malta, , became grandmaster.