Garry Kasparov Trivia
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48 free Garry Kasparov trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
Garry Kasparov trivia for anyone who followed the most dominant chess player of the late twentieth century. Born Garik Weinstein in Baku, named after Harry Truman, and anointed by Botvinnik at eleven, he lost the first four games of his 1984 title match against Anatoly Karpov, survived a five-month marathon that FIDE abandoned, and a year later became the youngest undisputed world champion at 22. This quiz covers the five Karpov matches and their 144 games, the break with FIDE and the Professional Chess Association, the losses to Deep Blue in 1997 and Vladimir Kramnik's Berlin Defence in 2000, the record 2851 rating and 255 months at number one, the game against 50,000 internet players, the Immortal against Topalov, his 2005 retirement after a ninth Linares, coaching Magnus Carlsen, and the second act as a writer and opponent of Vladimir Putin who now holds Croatian citizenship. Easy questions suit anyone who has heard of Deep Blue; the expert tier is for people who can name his seconds. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on Kasparov and his matches, and the supporting sentence is attached to each question.
30 of 48 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which city was Garry Kasparov born in 1963?
Baku
Baku stayed his home until January 1990, when anti-Armenian violence there forced his family to flee.
Q 02What was Kasparov's surname at birth?
Weinstein
Weinstein was his Jewish father's surname; at twelve he took his Armenian mother's surname instead, Kasparov.
Q 03According to Kasparov, which US president was he named after?
Truman
Truman, whom Kasparov's father admired for standing up to communism; in Russian, Harry and Garry are pronounced the same way.
Q 04Which former world champion ran the chess school Kasparov joined at ten?
Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Botvinnik's school went on to produce three world champions, and he was also a pioneer of computer chess.
Q 05Which defence did Kasparov use to win the 1985 title decider?
Sicilian
The Sicilian let Kasparov sacrifice two pawns for counterplay, and Karpov, needing a win to keep his title, blundered and resigned.
Q 06Who broke Kasparov's record as the youngest undisputed world champion in 2024?
Gukesh Dommaraju
Gukesh Dommaraju beat Ding Liren by winning the 14th and final game in Singapore, when a draw would have sent the match to tiebreaks.
Q 07Which online course platform invited Kasparov to teach chess in 2017?
MasterClass
MasterClass hosted that course, and four years later Kasparov and Vivendi launched Kasparov Chess, which offers his own masterclass.
Q 08Which variant did Kasparov play against elite players at an online Saint Louis event in 2020?
Chess960
Chess960 shuffles the back-row pieces before each game, making opening preparation, a famous Kasparov strength, impossible.
Q 09Down 4–0 after nine games of a first-to-six-wins match in 1984, how did Kasparov respond?
He dug in for draws
He dug in for draws: 17 in a row followed, and he went unbeaten through the match's last 21 games.
Q 10Which FIDE president halted the 1984–85 Kasparov–Karpov title match without a result?
Florencio Campomanes
Florencio Campomanes cited the players' exhaustion, though both men protested, and Kasparov declared war on him.
Q 11Which piece was the 'octopus' that dominated Karpov's position in Kasparov's celebrated 1985 win with Black?
A knight
A knight planted on d3 set up the win once Karpov passed up a more active reply, and he resigned on move 40.
Q 12Kasparov's 1986 title rematch was split between which two cities?
London and Leningrad
London and Leningrad hosted 12 games each, and after three straight losses Kasparov sacked his second Evgeny Vladimirov, accusing him of leaking preparation to Karpov.
Q 13Kasparov saved his title in 1987 by winning the must-win final game of a match held in which Spanish city?
Seville
The Seville match ended 12–12, and a drawn match let the champion keep his title.
Q 21How many positions per second could IBM's 1997 chess machine evaluate?
About 200 million
About 200 million positions a second, twice the 1996 version's speed, after IBM upgraded its hardware for the rematch.
Q 22What was the title of the 2003 documentary about Kasparov's 1997 rematch with IBM's computer?
Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine
Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine takes Kasparov's side and suggests IBM wanted the win to serve its corporate interests.
Q 23On 22 October 1989 Kasparov beat which computer 2–0, eight years before his famous defeat?
Deep Thought
Q 14In 1993 Kasparov broke with FIDE and played Nigel Short under which new organisation?
The Professional Chess Association
The Professional Chess Association's split left two rival world champions for 13 years, a break Kasparov later called the worst mistake of his career.
Q 15Whom did Kasparov defend his world title against at the World Trade Center in 1995?
Viswanathan Anand
Viswanathan Anand won game 9 to take the lead, then scored just half a point over the next five games and lost 10½–7½.
Q 16Which former pupil took Kasparov's classical world title in 2000?
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik had helped Kasparov prepare for his 1995 title defence; after losing to him, Kasparov never played another title match despite repeated attempts.
Q 17In the 2000 title match, which defence did the challenger use to blunt Kasparov's attacks as White?
The Berlin Defence
The Berlin Defence of the Ruy Lopez held Kasparov's White, and Kasparov, who lost two games with Black, never won a game in the match.
Q 18Which IBM computer beat Kasparov in 1997, the first machine to defeat a reigning champion in a match?
Deep Blue
Deep Blue won the deciding sixth game, and Kasparov resigned after just 19 moves.
Q 19Which flag did Kasparov want at his table during his 1990 title match against Karpov?
The Russian tricolour
The Russian tricolour: although still a Soviet citizen, Kasparov refused to play the match under the Soviet flag.
Q 20What did Kasparov accuse IBM of after the 1997 match?
Cheating with human intervention in a game
Cheating with human intervention in a game was his charge after game two, when IBM's program passed up material that most engines would have grabbed.
Deep Thought's creators, Feng-hsiung Hsu and Murray Campbell, joined IBM that year to build a machine that could beat a world champion.
Q 24Kasparov drew a four-game match in New York in November 2003 against which program?
X3D Fritz
X3D Fritz played Kasparov on a virtual board he saw through 3D glasses, so instead of moving pieces he spoke his moves aloud.
Q 25Which company's online gaming service hosted 'Kasparov versus the World' in 1999, with voters choosing the World's moves?
Microsoft
Microsoft's MSN Gaming Zone ran the event, and charges of vote-stuffing flared before Kasparov won in 62 moves.
Q 26Which American teenage girl was among the four young players advising the World team in 1999?
Irina Krush
Irina Krush became the World team's favourite adviser, and voters followed her suggestion for virtually every move.
Q 27Kasparov's 'Immortal' game of 1999 was played against whom?
Veselin Topalov
Veselin Topalov accepted a rook sacrifice, and Kasparov chased his king across the board; Chess.com's panel later ranked it the best game ever.
Q 28In January 1990 Kasparov passed 2800, breaking which champion's record rating of 2785?
Fischer
Fischer's old record fell; he had refused to defend his world title in 1975, handing it to Karpov by default.
Q 29How did Kasparov's 2008 presidential bid end?
Missed the ballot
He missed the ballot, blaming official obstruction, and in 2013 he left Russia for exile.
Q 30Kasparov founded which anti-Putin group in 2005?
United Civil Front
The United Civil Front was his base in opposition, and in 2007 he was arrested during an opposition march in Moscow.