This
Armenian-
Russian chess player recently lost his long-held #1 position after establishing himself as one of history's greatest chess legends. At 37 years old, he created a buzz in 1997 when he beat IBM's
Deep Blue supercomputer. In a subsequent match, he used
chess databases and analysis programs as aids. His opponents? A global team making all its moves after taking votes. Kasparov proved his mettle, though,
winning the match before an audience of
3 million surfers.
In spite of his recent defeat, it's a sure bet that Kasparov will be back at least one more time to try and re-claim the crown that was once his.
In response to
gitm's "correction": Although Kasparov was indeed born in Baku, Azerbaijan, his mother was Armenian and his father was a Russian Jew. His father died at at early age (Garry was seven years old) so he was left to be raised by his very Armenian mother, Karla. Yes, he was from Baku; but seeing as how he is of the decent of Azerbaijan's arch enemy,
Armenia, you won't be hearing any Azeris claiming him as their own any time soon. In fact, he had to escape Azerbaijan by
helicopter during the
pogroms in Baku against ethnic Armenians.