Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 1963, Garry Kasparov became the under-18 chess champion of the USSR at the age of 12 and the world under-21 champion at 16. He came to international fame as the youngest world chess champion in history in 1985 at the age of 22.

He defended his title five times, including a legendary series of matches against arch-rival Anatoly Karpov. Kasparov broke Bobby Fischer’s rating record in 1990 and his own peak rating record remained unbroken until 2013.

Kasparov retired from competitive chess in 2005 to join the vanguard of the Russian pro-democracy movement. He founded the United Civil Front and organized the Marches of Dissent to protest the policies enacted by the then-government of Vladimir Putin. In 2012, Kasparov was elected to the Coordinating Council of the united opposition movement. In the same year, he was named chairman of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation, succeeding Vaclav Havel.

The US-based Kasparov Chess Foundation non-profit promotes the teaching of chess in education systems around the world. Now in over 3500 US schools, KCF recently launched centers in Europe and Africa. Kasparov is a pioneering figure in computer chess, most famously for his two matches against the IBM super-computer Deep Blue in 1996 and 1997. Since 2007, he has researched and collaborated with the high-tech industry on human-machine cooperation and the future of artificial intelligence.

Mr. Kasparov has been a contributing editor to The Wall Street Journal since 1991 and is a frequent commentator on politics and human rights. Kasparov’s book, How Life Imitates Chess, on decision-making is available in over 20 languages. He is the author of two acclaimed series of chess books, My Great Predecessors and Modern Chess.

“A dictator grows into a monster when he is not confronted at an early stage… And unlike Adolf Hitler, Vladimir Putin has nuclear weapons”