Passion or Profession: Chess Champion

Period: 1963–

Born Garri Weinstein to an Azerbaijani mother and Jewish father in Baku, Kasparov became the youth chess champion of the Soviet Union at age 13. He defeated Anatoly Karpov in 1985 to become world chess champion. In 1996, Kasparov was victorious over IBM computer Deep Blue in a much-publicized match. An upgraded version of Deep Blue won the rematch the following year. Kasparov retired from chess in 2005 and has been active in Russian politics.