Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov is a legendary grandmaster and former World Champion originally from Baku, Azerbaijan. He held the title from 1985-2000 and was the World No. 1 ranked player until his retirement in 2005. Kasparov also earned the highest FIDE rating in history (2851) until he was surpassed by Magnus Carlsen in 2013. Considered by many to be the greatest of all time, Kasparov won virtually every top tournament in the chess world, including Wijk aan Zee, Linares, and many more super-tournaments. While representing the Soviet Union and then Russia in eight chess olympiads, Kasparov earned a total of nineteen medals, including the team gold in all eight olympiads he competed in.