The Republican, MA
March 22 2005
Chess champ announces retirement
By ROZA EYNULLAYEVA
The MacDuffie School
Garry Kasparov, the world’s top ranked chess player, has announced
his retirement from competitive chess at age 41.
Kasparov became the youngest world champion in chess at age 22 and
made news for his games against IBM supercomputer Deep Blue and his
six-month match in the mid-1980s against Anatoly Karpov.
“It is very difficult to quote one reason,” Kasparov is quoted as
saying on ChessBase.com when asked by journalists why he decided to
retire.
“But if I try I could tell you that, as you know, I am a man of big
goals. I have to achieve something, I have to prove something, I have
to be determined. But I no longer see any real goal in the world of
chess.”
Kasparov added that “I haven’t lost my passion for the game. That is
why from time to time I may play for fun, maybe in some rapid
tournaments. But it will only be for fun.”
Kasparov’s announcement came after his ninth win in the prestigious
Linares tournament earlier this month in Spain.
Kasparov indicated his plans include work on several writing projects
including a book tentatively titled, “How Life Imitates Chess,”
expected to be released in several languages by the end of the year.
“It is a very important project because I want to demonstrate to a
mainstream audience how the game of chess can explain the
decision-making process in many walks of life,” Kasparov is quoted as
saying on ChessBase.com
Kasparov, who lives in Russia, also indicated he plans to continue to
devote time to Russian politics.
“As a chess player, I did everything I could, even more. Now, I want
to use my intellect and strategic thinking in Russian politics,”
ESPN.com quotes Kasparov as saying in a statement cited by Interfax
news agency.
“I will do everything in my power to resist Putin’s dictatorship. My
opinion is that the country is headed down the wrong path now.”
Kasparov is a member of Committee 2008: Free Choice, a group formed
by liberal leaders opposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin whose
term ends in 2008.
One can only wonder what effect Kasparov’s resignation will have on
chess players throughout the world.
Kasparov, who was born in what was then the Soviet republic of
Azerbaijan, entered chess school at the age of 10 in 1973. He became
the world’s junior chess champion at the age of 16 and a year later
attained the title of grandmaster.
Kasparov was a true genius in many aspects of the game: he had the
greatest command of the board; had a superb capability of calculating
moves at least 15 moves ahead without moving any piece; and his
passion for competitive chess led him to compete in tournaments for
over 30 years.
Kasparov became so huge on the board as well as off the board that he
was invited to play two matches against the strongest computers at
the time: Deep Blue in 1997 and Deep Junior in 2003, which could
calculate well over a million moves each second.