Oslo is the capital of Norway.

Oslo may also refer to:

Oslo, Minnesota, a town in Minnesota, USA

Oslo, Florida, an unincorporated community in Florida, USA

Oslo (band), a Californian rock band

Oslo (Microsoft project), Microsoft modeling project

Oslo, a character in the French show ''Skyland''

Open Source and Linux Organization, a project by Hewlett-Packard

Optics Software for Layout and Optimization

Gamlebyen in Oslo, Norway, was known as Oslo until 1925

See also

Oslofjord, a fiord in the south-east of Norway

Oslo class frigate, a class of ship design in the Royal Norwegian Navy

The Oslo Accords between Israel and Palestinian representatives

Oslo City (shopping center)

de:Oslo (Begriffsklärung) it:Oslo (disambigua) nl:Oslo (doorverwijspagina) no:Oslo (andre betydninger) nn:Oslo (fleirtyding) fi:Oslo (täsmennyssivu) sv:Oslo (olika betydelser)

name	George Ayittey
color	lightsteelblue
birth date	1945
nationality
institution	American University
field	Political economics
alma mater	University of ManitobaUniversity of Western OntarioUniversity of Ghana
signature
repec prefix	| repec_id }}

George Ayittey (born 1945) is a Ghanaian economist, author and president of the Free Africa Foundation in Washington DC. He is a professor at American University, and an associate scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He has championed the argument that "Africa is poor because she is not free", that the primary cause of African poverty is less a result of the oppression and mismanagement by colonial powers, but rather a result of modern oppressive native autocrats. He also goes beyond criticism to advocate for specific ways to address the abuses of the past and present; specifically he calls for democratic government, debt reexamination, modernized infrastructure, free market economics, and free trade to promote development.

Life

Ayittey holds a B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Ghana, Legon, an M.A. from the University of Western Ontario in Canada, and a Ph.D. from the University of Manitoba. He has taught at Wayne State College and Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. He held a National Fellowship at the Hoover Institution in 1988-89, and then joined The Heritage Foundation as a Bradley Resident Scholar. He founded The Free Africa Foundation in 1993, to serve as a catalyst for reform in Africa. In 2008 Dr. Ayittey was listed by ''Foreign Policy'' as one of the "Top 100 Public Intellectuals" who "are shaping the tenor of our time". He lives in Lorton, Virginia.

Political Views

Ayittey believes there are three keys to successfully rescuing Africa from oppressive despotism:

First, he advocates forming coalitions consisting of small groups of "elders" who have no political ties and monitor the activities of the various opposition groups. Ayittey explains "They must be able to reach out to all the opposition groups." "The council should bring all of the opposition into an alliance ", which would prevent dictators from steam rolling the severely divided competition.

Second, you have to gain control of the civil service, security forces, judiciary, election centers, and national bank. Ayittey sees control of at least one of these resources as central to subverting dictatorial power in African countries. These organizations are currently staffed by cronies of dictators throughout Africa.

Third, and finally you have to use the correct sequence of reform.

Works

''Indigenous African Institutions'', Transnational Publishers, 1991; 2nd ed., 2004

''The Blueprint for Ghana's Economic Recovery'', Africana Publishers, 1997

''Africa Betrayed'', St. Martin’s Press,, 1992

''Africa in Chaos'', St. Martin’s Press, 1998.

''Africa Unchained: the blueprint for development'', Palgrave/MacMillan, 2004

''Defeating Dictators: Fighting Tyrants in Africa and Around the World'' published September 2011.

References

External links

Bio at A World Connected

TED Talks: George Ayittey on Cheetahs vs. Hippos at TED Global in 2007

Human Rights: Africa's Shady Politicians Are at Root of Continent's Destitution, commentary by Dr. Ayittey

Category:1945 births Category:Living people Category:American University faculty and staff Category:Ghanaian academics Category:Ghanaian economists Category:Heritage Foundation Category:University of Ghana alumni Category:University of Manitoba alumni Category:University of Western Ontario alumni

es:George Ayittey fr:George Ayittey

name	Jim Marrs
birth date	December 05, 1943
birth place	Fort Worth, Texas US
occupation	JournalistAuthor
children	}}

Jim Marrs (born 5 December 1943) is an American former newspaper journalist and New York Times best-selling author of books and articles on a wide range of alleged cover ups and conspiracies. Marrs is a prominent figure in the JFK conspiracy press and his book ''Crossfire'' was a source for Oliver Stone's film ''JFK''. He has written books asserting the existence of government conspiracies regarding aliens, 9/11, telepathy, and secret societies. He was once a news reporter in the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex and has taught a class on the Kennedy Assassination at University of Texas at Arlington for 30 years. Marrs is a member of the Scholars for 9/11 Truth.

Biography

A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Marrs earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the University of North Texas in 1966 and attended graduate school at Texas Tech in Lubbock for two years more. He has worked for several Texas newspapers, including the ''Fort Worth Star-Telegram'', where, beginning in 1968, he served as police reporter and general assignments reporter covering stories locally, in Europe, and in the Middle East. After a leave of absence to serve with a Fourth Army intelligence unit during the Vietnam War, he became military and aerospace writer for the newspaper and an investigative reporter.

Since 1980, Marrs has been a free-lance writer, author, and public relations consultant. He has also published a rural weekly newspaper along with a monthly tourism tabloid, a cable television show, and several videos.

Since 1976, Marrs has taught a course on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy at the University of Texas at Arlington. In 1989, his book, ''Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy'', was published and reached the ''New York Times'' Paperback Non-Fiction Best Seller list in mid-February 1992. It became a basis for the Oliver Stone film ''JFK''. Marrs served as a chief consultant for both the film's screenplay and production,''Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy.''

Beginning in 1992, Marrs spent three years researching and completing a non-fiction book on a top-secret government program called the Stargate Project involving the psychic phenomenon known as remote viewing, only to have the program canceled as it was going to press in the summer of 1995. Within two months, the story of military-developed remote viewing broke nationally in the Washington Post after the CIA revealed the program.

In May 1997, Marrs' investigation of UFOs, ''Alien Agenda'', was published by HarperCollins Publishers. ''Publishers Weekly'' described ''Alien Agenda'' as "the most entertaining and complete overview of flying saucers and their crew in years." The paperback edition was released in mid-1998. It has been translated into several foreign languages and become the top-selling UFO book in the world.

In early 2000, HarperCollins published ''Rule by Secrecy'', which claimed to trace a hidden history connecting modern secret societies to ancient and medieval times. This book also reached the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list. In 2003, his book ''The War on Freedom'' probed the alleged conspiracies of the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath. It was released in 2006 under the title ''The Terror Conspiracy''.

Marrs has been a featured speaker at a number of national conferences including the annual International UFO Congress and the annual Gulf Breeze UFO Conference, but he also speaks at local conferences, such as Conspiracy Con and The Bay Area UFO Expo. Beginning in 2000, he began teaching a course on UFOs at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Marrs has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, C-SPAN, The Discovery Channel, TLC, The History Channel, ''This Morning America'', ''Geraldo'', ''The Montel Williams Show'', ''Today'', ''TechTV'', ''Larry King'' (with George Noory), and ''Art Bell'' radio programs, as well as numerous national and regional radio and TV shows.

In October 2011, Jim Marrs started his own radio program, "A View from Marrs" on the Jeff Rense Radio network airing three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 3 p.m. Central time. Marrs has on his show a wide variety of guests and dedicated the entire month of November to the latest information regarding the JFK assassination. He also has subject matter on UFO research, survival tips, and much more.

Media

Books

ISBN 978-0-06-197068-9 The Trillion-Dollar Conspiracy: How the New World Order, Man-Made Diseases, and Zombie Banks Are Destroying America (Hardcover, June 2010)

ISBN 978-1-934708-29-3 The Sisterhood of the Rose (Hardcover, November 2009)

ISBN 978-1-934708-09-5 Above Top Secret (paperback, October 2008)

ISBN 978-0-06-124558-9 The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America (hardcover, June 2008)

ISBN 978-1-932857-43-6 The Terror Conspiracy: Deception, 9/11 and the Loss of Liberty (paperback, 2006) (An expanded and updated version of "The War On Freedom")

ISBN 978-1-57983-013-7 Inside Job: Unmasking the 9/11 Conspiracies (paperback, 2004) (the first section of "The War On Freedom" plus some appendices not included in other books)

ISBN 978-0-9727131-1-5 The War On Freedom (paperback, 2003)

ISBN 978-0-9727131-0-8 Psi Spies (paperback, 2002)

ISBN 978-0-06-093184-1 Rule by Secrecy: The Hidden History That Connects the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, and the Great Pyramids (paperback, 2001)

ISBN 978-0-06-095536-6 Alien Agenda: Investigating the Extraterrestrial Presence Among Us (paperback, 2000)

ISBN 978-0-88184-648-5 Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy (paperback, 1993) (#5 New York Times non-fiction paperback bestseller, February 1992)

Videos

Safespace - Fastwalkers - Winter 2006

Audio

CDs 16 Questions {Original CD is corrupted, no longer available.}

Radio Interviews Though participating in a number of radio shows, it has become tradition for Jim Marrs to be the guest of the season premier of Binnall of America Audio

Binnall of America Season 1 Premier - Part 1 and Part 2 - September 10, 2005

Binnall of America Season 2 Premier - Part 1 and Part 2 - September 30, 2006

Binnall of America Season 3 Premier - Part 1 and Part 2 - October 20, 2007

Binnall of America Season 4 Premier - Part 1 and Part 2 - October 26, 2008

Binnall of America Season 5 Premier - Part 1 and Part 2 - November 24, 2009

Binnall of America Season 6 Premier - Part 1 and Part 2 - November 29, 2010

See also

Conspiracy theories

Mark Dice

James Fetzer

David Ray Griffin

Steven E. Jones

Jeff Rense

Aaron Russo

Webster Tarpley

Loose Change

David Icke

Alex Jones

References

External links

Jim Marrs - Homepage

Jim Marrs - Biography

Category:1943 births Category:Living people Category:American UFO writers Category:American libertarians Category:Conspiracy theorists Category:Pseudohistorians Category:Researchers of the John F. Kennedy assassination Category:Ufologists Category:People from Fort Worth, Texas Category:Texas Tech University alumni Category:Writers from Texas

de:Jim Marrs et:Jim Marrs es:Jim Marrs fr:Jim Marrs is:Jim Marrs nl:Jim Marrs pl:Jim Marrs sv:Jim Marrs

Name	Vilyam Genrikhovich Fisher
Allegiance
Rank	Colonel
Operation	World War IISoviet Cold War spy(1948 – 1957)
Award	Order of the Red Banner
Codename1	Andrew Yurgesovich Kayotis
Codename2	Emil Robert Goldfus
Codename3	Mark Collins
Codename4	MARK
Codename5	Milton
Codename6	Rudolf Ivanovich Abel
Birth date	July 11, 1903
Birth place	Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Death date	November 16, 1971
Death cause	lung cancer
Buried	Moscow, Soviet Union
Nationality
Spouse	Elena
Children	Evelyn
Signature	}}

Vilyam "Willie" Genrikhovich Fisher () (July 11, 1903 – November 16, 1971) was a Soviet intelligence officer. Fisher is generally better known by the alias Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, which he adopted when arrested on charges of conspiracy by FBI agents in 1957.

Born in the United Kingdom to Russian émigré parents, after moving to Russia in the 1920s, Fisher served in the Soviet military before undertaking foreign service as a radio operator in Soviet intelligence in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He later served in an instructional role before taking part in intelligence operations against the Germans during World War II. After the war, Fisher began working for the KGB, which sent him to the United States where he worked as part of a spy ring based in New York.

In 1957, for his involvement in what became known as the Hollow Nickel Case, the U.S. Federal Court in New York convicted Fisher on three counts of conspiracy as a Soviet spy and sentenced him to 45 years' imprisonment at Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, Georgia. However, Fisher had only served just over four years of his sentence when, on February 10, 1962, he was exchanged for captured American U-2 pilot Gary Powers. Upon his return to the Soviet Union Fisher was reunited with his family and lectured on his experiences before dying in 1971 at the age of 68.

Early life

Fisher was born on July 11, 1903, in Benwell, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom. His parents, ethnic Germans from Russia, were revolutionaries of the Tsarist era, and had fled to the United Kingdom in 1901. His father, Heinrich, a keen Bolshevik, whilst living in England took part in gunrunning, shipping arms from the North East coast to the Baltic states to help the proletariat.

In 1918, at the age of 15, Fisher became an apprentice draughtsman at Swan Hunter Wallsend, and attended evening classes at Rutherford College before being accepted into London University in 1919. The Fisher family left Newcastle upon Tyne in 1921, to return to Moscow, following the 1917 Russian revolution.

Early career

After the family's return to Russia in 1921, Fisher worked for Comintern as a translator, as his lingual fluencies included English, Russian, German, Polish and Yiddish. During his military service in the Red Army, 1925–1926, he was trained as a radio operator. He worked briefly in GRU and was then recruited by the OGPU, a predecessor of the KGB, in 1927. He worked for them as a radio operator in Norway, Turkey, Britain, and France then returned to Russia in 1936, as head of a school which trained radio operators destined for duty in illegal residences. One of these students was the British-born Russian spy Kitty Harris, who was later more widely known as "''The Spy With Seventeen Names''".

Despite being born in the United Kingdom, and the accusation that his brother-in-law was a Trotskyite, Fisher narrowly escaped the Great Purge, which took place during 1936–1938. He escaped prosecution but was dismissed from the NKVD in 1938. During World War II he again trained radio operators for clandestine work behind German lines. Having been adopted as a protégé of Pavel Sudoplatov, Fisher was involved in August 1944 in Operation Scherhorn (). Sudoplatov later described this operation as "the most successful radio deception game of the war." In the view of Fisher's bosses in the KGB, his part in this operation was rewarded with the most important posting in Russian foreign intelligence, this being the United States.

In the Secret service

In 1946, Fisher again entered the KGB, and was trained as a spy for entry into the United States. In October 1948, using a Soviet passport, he travelled from Leningradsky Station to Warsaw, Poland. He then travelled, via Czechoslovakia and Switzerland to Paris, France. His passport bore the name Andrew Kayotis, the first of Fisher's fake identities. The real Andrew Kayotis () was Lithuanian born, and had become an American citizen after migrating to the U.S. Kayotis conveniently disappeared while visiting relatives in Europe. Fisher then boarded the SS ''Scythia'' from Le Havre, France to Quebec, Canada. Fisher, having arrived in Quebec, then travelled to Montreal, Canada (still using Kayotis' passport) and crossed into the United States on November 17.

On November 26, Fisher met with Soviet illegal J.R. Grigulevich (codenamed "MAKS"). Grigulevich gave Fisher a genuine birth certificate, a forged draft card and a forged tax certificate, all under the name of Emil Robert Goldfus, along with one thousand dollars. Fisher then handed back Kayotis's passport and documents, and assumed the name Goldfus. His codename was "MARK".

Fisher spent most of his first year organizing his network. Whilst it is not known for certain where Fisher went or what he did, it is believed one place he travelled to was Santa Fe, New Mexico, the collection point for stolen diagrams from the Manhattan Project. Kitty Harris, a former pupil of Fisher's, had spent a year in Santa Fe during the war, where she passed secrets from physicists to couriers.

On his return to New York in late 1949, Fisher registered at the Hotel Latham on East 28th Street in Manhattan, under the name of Martin Collins. He also rented a small photographer's studio at 252 Fulton Street in Brooklyn. Being an artist and photographer nobody questioned his irregular working hours and frequent disappearances. Over time his artistic technique improved and he became a competent painter, though he disliked abstract painting preferring conventional. He mingled with New York artists though he surprised them with his admiration for the Russian painter Isaak Levitan, but was careful not to mention Stalinist "socialist realism". The only visitors to Fisher's studio were artist friends with whom he felt safe from suspicion. Fisher would sometimes relate made-up stories of previous lives, as a Boston accountant and a lumberjack in the Pacific Northwest.

In July 1949, Fisher met with a "legal" KGB officer from the Soviet consulate general. Shortly afterwards Fisher was ordered to reactivate the "Volunteer" network, that was responsible for smuggling atomic secrets to Russia. Members of the network stopped cooperating, due to the tightening in security at Los Alamos, after the war. Lona Cohen (codenamed "LESLE") and her husband Morris Cohen (codenamed "LUIS" and "VOLUNTEER") had run the Volunteer network and were seasoned couriers. Theodore "Ted" Hall (codenamed "MLAD"), a physicist, was the most important agent in the network in 1945, passing atomic secrets from Los Alamos. The Volunteer network grew and included three other agents: Aden, Serb and Silver, two of the former were believed to be nuclear physicists contacted by Hall. During this period, Fisher received the Order of the Red Banner, an important Soviet medal, normally reserved for military heroes.

In 1950, Fisher's illegal residency was endangered by the arrest of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, for whom Lona Cohen had been a courier. The Cohens were quickly spirited to Mexico before moving onto Moscow. They were to resurface in the United Kingdom using the identities of Peter and Helen Kroger. Fisher was relieved the Rosenbergs did not disclose any information about him to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was safe but it heralded a bleak outlook for his new spy network. However on October 21, 1952, a white thumbtack was left on a signpost in New York's Central Park.

The white thumbtack signaled to Fisher the arrival of his new assistant, Reino Häyhänen. Codenamed "VIK", Häyhänen arrived in New York on the RMS ''Queen Mary'', under the alias Eugene Nikolai Maki. The real Maki was born in 1919, in the U.S. to a Finnish-American father and a New York mother. In 1927, the family migrated to Estonia. In 1948, the KGB called Häyhänen to Moscow where they issued him a new assignment. In 1949, Häyhänen freely obtained Maki's birth certificate. He was then to spend three years in Finland taking over Maki's identity.

On his arrival in New York Häyhänen spent the next two years establishing his identity. During that time he received money from his superiors left in dead letter-boxes in the Bronx and Manhattan. It is known he occasionally drew attention to himself by indulging in heavy drinking sessions and heated arguments with his Finnish wife Hannah. For six months Häyhänen checked the white thumbtack and no one had made contact. He also checked a dead drop location he had memorized. There he found a hollowed-out nickel. Häyhänen prior to opening the coin misplaced it, either buying a newspaper or using it as a subway token. For the next seven months the hollow nickel travelled around the New York City economy, unopened. The trail of the hollow nickel ended when a thirteen year old newsboy was collecting for his weekly deliveries. The newsboy accidentally dropped the nickel and it broke in half, revealing a small piece of paper containing a series of numbers. The newsboy handed the nickel to a New York detective, who in turn forwarded it to the FBI. From 1953 to 1957, though every effort was made to decipher the microphotograph, the FBI was unable to solve the mystery.

In 1954, Häyhänen began as Fisher's assistant. He was to deliver a report from a Soviet agent at the United Nations secretariat, to a dead letter-box for collection. However the report never arrived. Fisher was disturbed by Häyhänen's lack of work ethics and his obsession for alcohol. In the spring of 1955, Fisher and Häyhänen visited Bear Mountain Park, and buried five thousand dollars, destined for the wife of Morton Sobell, a convicted Soviet spy sentenced to thirty years in jail.

In 1955, Fisher, exhausted by the constant pressure returned to Moscow for six months of rest and recuperation, leaving Häyhänen in charge. Whilst in Moscow Fisher expressed to his superiors his dissatisfaction with Häyhänen. Upon his return to New York in 1956, he found that his carefully constructed network had been left to disintegrate in his absence. Fisher checked his drop points only to find messages several months old, while Häyhänen's radio transmissions had routinely been sent from the same location and using wrong radio frequencies. The money Häyhänen received from the KGB to support the network was instead spent on his debauchery and prostitutes.

By early 1957, Fisher had run out of patience with Häyhänen and demanded that Moscow recall his deputy. In January 1957, upon hearing he was due to return to Moscow, Häyhänen was afraid to go fearing he would be severely disciplined or even executed. Häyhänen fabricated stories to justify his delay, claiming to Fisher that the FBI had taken him off the RMS ''Queen Mary''. Fisher, unsuspecting, advised Häyhänen to leave the U.S. immediately to avoid FBI surveillance, and handed him two hundred dollars for travel expenses. Prior to his departure, Häyhänen, returned to Bear Mountain Park and retrieved the buried five thousand dollars, for his own use. Häyhänen arrived in Paris on May Day, having sailed from the U.S. aboard ''La Liberté''. Firstly he made contact with the KGB residency, receiving another two hundred dollars for his journey to Moscow. Four days later, instead of continuing his journey to Russia he entered the American embassy in Paris announcing he was a KGB officer and asked for asylum.

When he announced himself at the embassy on May 4, he appeared drunk. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officials at the Paris embassy suspected Häyhänen was delusional and a psychiatric assessment confirmed he was an unstable alcoholic. Nevertheless, the CIA returned him to the United States on May 11, and handed him over to the FBI. As a Soviet spy ring was operating on U.S. soil Häyhänen came under the FBI's jurisdiction and they began checking out his story.

Häyhänen, upon his arrival in the U.S., was grilled by the FBI and proved very cooperative. He admitted his first Soviet contact in New York had been "MIKHAIL" and upon being shown a series of photographs of Soviet officials identified "MIKHAIL" as Mikhail Svirin. Svirin, however had returned to Moscow two years previously. The FBI then turned their attention to Svirin's replacement. Häyhänen was able to only provide Fisher's codename "MARK", and a description. He was, however, able to tell the FBI about Fisher's studio and location. Häyhänen was also able to solve the mystery of the "hollow nickel", which the FBI had been unable to decipher for four years.

The KGB did not discover Häyhänen's defection until August though it more than likely notified Fisher earlier when Häyhänen failed to arrive in Moscow. As a precaution Fisher was ordered to leave the U.S. Escape was complicated as, if "MARK" had been compromised by Häyhänen, Fisher's other identities could have as well. Fisher could not leave the country as Martin Collins, Emil Goldfus, or even the long forgotten Andrew Kayotis. The KGB Center, with the help of KGB's Ottawa resident, set about procuring two new passports for Fisher in the names of Robert Callan and Vasili Dzogol. However this process would take time. The Canadian Communist Party succeeded in obtaining a new passport for Fisher in the name of Robert Callan. However, Fisher was arrested before he could adopt his new identity and leave the U.S.

Capture and later

In April 1957, Fisher told his artist friends he was going south on a seven week vacation. Less than three weeks later acting on Häyhänen's information, surveillance was established near Fisher's photo studio. On May 28, 1957, FBI agents observed a man resembling "MARK" on a park bench opposite the entrance to 252 Fulton Street. The surveillance continued on "MARK" and on the night June 13, 1957, a light was seen to go on in Fisher's studio at 10:00 pm.

On June 15, Häyhänen was shown a photograph of Fisher which the FBI had taken with a hidden camera. Häyhänen exclaimed "You've found him, that's ''MARK''". Once the FBI had a positive identification, they stepped up surveillance, even following Fisher from his studio to the Hotel Latham. Fisher was aware of the "tail", but as he had no passport to leave the country he devised a plan to be used upon his capture. Fisher decided that would not turn traitor as Häyhänen had done because he still trusted the KGB and he knew that if he cooperated with the FBI, he would not see his wife and daughter again.

Before 7:00 am on the morning of June 21, 1957, Fisher answered a knock on the door to his room, Room 839. Upon opening the door, he was confronted by FBI agents who addressed him as "colonel" and stated that they had "information concerning [his] involvement in espionage." Fisher knew that the FBI's use of his rank could have only come from Häyhänen. Fisher said nothing to the FBI and, after twenty-three minutes staring at Fisher, the FBI agents called in the waiting Immigration and Nationality Service men who arrested Fisher and detained him under section 242 of Immigration and Nationality Act.

Fisher was then flown to the Federal Alien Detention Facility in McAllen, Texas, and held there for six weeks. During this period Fisher stated that his real name was Rudolph Ivanovich Abel () and that he was a Russian citizen, although he refused to discuss his intelligence activities. By stating that his real name was Rudolph Ivanovich Abel, Fisher was trying to send a covert signal to Moscow to let them know that he had been captured.

During Fisher's detainment at the Federal Alien Detention Facility the FBI had been busy searching his hotel room and photo studio, where they discovered espionage equipment including shortwave radios, cipher pads, cameras and film for producing microdots, a hollow shaving brush, cuff links and numerous "trick" containers including hollowed out bolts. In Fisher's New York hotel room the FBI had found four thousand dollars a hollow ebony block containing a 250-page Russian codebook; a hollow pencil containing encrypted messages on microfilm and a key to a safe-deposit box containing another fifteen thousand dollars in cash. Also discovered were photographs of the Cohens, and recognition phrases to establish contact between agents who had never met.

As Fisher was no longer considered an alleged illegal alien, but rather an alleged spy, he was flown from Texas to New York on August 7, to answer the indictment. Indicted as a Russian spy, Fisher was tried in Federal Court at New York City during October 1957, on three counts:

:* Conspiracy to transmit defense information to the Soviet Union; :* Conspiracy to obtain defense information; and :* Conspiracy to act in the United States as an agent of a foreign government without notification to the Secretary of State.

Häyhänen, his former trusted espionage assistant, testified against Fisher at the trial. The prosecution failed to find any other alleged members of Fisher's spy network, if there were any. The jury retired for three and half hours and returned on the afternoon of October 25, 1957, finding Fisher guilty on all three counts. On November 15, 1957, Judge Mortimer W. Byers sentenced Fisher to concurrent terms of imprisonment of thirty, ten and five years on the three counts and fined him a total of three thousand dollars.

Fisher, "Rudolf Ivanovich Abel", was to serve his sentence (as prisoner 80016–A) at Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, Georgia. Fisher tried to busy himself with his painting, learning silk-screening, playing chess, and writing logarithmic tables for the fun of it. He became friends with two other convicted Soviet spies. One of these was Morton Sobell, whose wife had failed to receive the five thousand dollars embezzled by Häyhänen. The other prisoner was Kurt Ponger, an Austrian who had been sentenced for conspiracy to commit espionage.

However, Fisher would only serve just over four years of his sentence. On February 10, 1962, he was exchanged for the shot-down American U-2 pilot Gary Powers. The exchange took place on the Glienicke Bridge that links West Berlin with Potsdam. The Glienicke Bridge became famous during the Cold War as the "Bridge of Spies". At precisely the same time, at Checkpoint Charlie, Frederic Pryor was released by the East German Stasi into the waiting arms of his father. A few days later Fisher, reunited with his wife, Elena and daughter, Evelyn, flew home. It suited the KGB, for the sake of its own reputation, to portray "Abel's" nine years of being an undetected agent in the U.S., as a triumph by a dedicated NKVD member. The myth of the master spy Rudolf Abel replaced the reality of Fisher's illegal residency. The party hierarchy was well aware that Fisher had achieved nothing of real significance. During his eight years as an illegal resident he appears not to have recruited, or even identified, a single potential agent.

After his return to Moscow, he was employed by FCD Illegals Directorate, he gave speeches and lectured school children on intelligence work, but became increasingly disillusioned. Fisher died of lung cancer on November 16, 1971. His ashes were interred at the Donskoy Cemetery under his real name, and a few Western correspondents were invited there to view for themselves the true identity of the spy who never broke.

References

Bibliography

Andrew, Christopher. (1999). ''The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB''. Basic Books. New York. ISBN 0-4650-0310-9.

Arthey, Vin. (2004). ''Like Father Like Son: A Dynasty of Spies''. St. Ermin's Press in association with Little Brown. United Kingdom. ISBN 1-9036-0807-4.

Bernikow, Louise. (1970). ''Abel''. Introduction by Burt Silverman. Hodder and Stoughton. London, Sydney, Auckland, Toronto. ISBN 0-340-12593-4.

Damaskin, Igor with Elliott, Geoffrey. (2001). ''Kitty Harris: The Spy With Seventeen Names''. St. Ermin's Press. London. ISBN 1-9036-0806-6.

Haynes, John Earl and Klehr, Harvey. (1999). ''Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America''. Yale University Press. New Haven. ISBN 0-3000-7771-8.

Hearn, Chester G. (2006). ''Spies & Espionage: A Directory''. Thunder Bay Press. San Diego, California. ISBN 978-1-5922-3508-7.

Romerstein, Herbert. (2001). ''The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors''. Regnery Publishing Ltd. Washington, D.C. ISBN 978-0-8952-6225-7.

Whittell, Giles. (2010). ''A True Story of the Cold War: Bridge of Spies''. Broadway Books. New York. ISBN 978-0-7679-3107-6.

Further reading

Sudoplatov, Pavel; Sudoplatov, Anatoli; Schecter, Jerrold L. and Schecter, Leona. (1994). ''Special Tasks: The Memoirs of an Unwanted Witness, a Soviet Spymaster''. Little Brown. Canada. ISBN 0-3167-7352-2.

West, Nigel. (1990). ''Games of Intelligence: The classified Conflict of International Espionage''. Coronet Books. Hodder and Stoughton. Great Britain. ISBN 0-3405-3026-X.

External links

Biography at the website of Russian Foreign Intelligence Service

''TIME Magazine: Artist in Brooklyn'' August 19, 1957. Retrieved: March, 7, 2008.

''TIME Magazine: Pudgy Finger Points'' October, 10, 1957. Retrieved: March, 7, 2008.

''Washington Times: "U.S. intel braces for Kremlin blowback as result of spy case"'' by Bill Gertz. Posted: June 30, 2010. Retrieved: December 29, 2010.

''FBI: Rudolph Ivanovich Abel (Hollow Nickel Case)'' Retrieved: January 4, 2012.

Category:Soviet Cold War spymasters Category:People from Newcastle upon Tyne Category:Russian and Soviet-German people Category:Soviet people imprisoned abroad Category:English people of German descent Category:1903 births Category:1971 deaths Category:Deaths from lung cancer Category:Cancer deaths in the Soviet Union Category:Soviet spies against the United States Category:KGB officers Category:GRU officers Category:British emigrants to the Soviet Union

ar:رودولف آبل bg:Рудолф Абел cv:Вильям Фишер cs:Viljam Genrichovič Fišer de:Rudolf Iwanowitsch Abel es:Rudolf Abel fr:William Fischer id:Rudolf Abel nl:Rudolf Abel ja:ルドルフ・アベル no:Rudolf Abel pl:William Fisher pt:Vilyam Genrikhovich Fisher ro:Rudolf Ivanovici Abel ru:Рудольф Абель sk:Rudoľf Ivanovič Abeľ sl:Viljam Genrihovič Fisher fi:Rudolf Abel sv:Rudolf Abel uk:Абель Рудольф Іванович

Name	Garry Kasparov(Гарри Кимович Каспаров)
Birth name	Garry Kimovich Weinstein
Country	Russia
Birth date	April 13, 1963
Birth place	Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union
Title	Grandmaster
Career	1976–2005
Worldchampion	1985–93 (Undisputed)1993–2000 (Classical)
Rating	(inactive)
Peakrating	2851 (July 1999, January 2000)
Fideid	4100018 }}

Garry Kimovich Kasparov (, ; born Garik Kimovich Weinstein, 13 April 1963, Baku, Azerbaijan) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, widely regarded as the greatest chess player of all time.

Kasparov became the youngest ever undisputed World Chess Champion in 1985 at the age of 22 by defeating then-champion Anatoly Karpov. He held the official FIDE world title until 1993, when a dispute with FIDE led him to set up a rival organization, the Professional Chess Association. He continued to hold the "Classical" World Chess Championship until his defeat by Vladimir Kramnik in 2000. He is also widely known for being the first world chess champion to lose a match to a computer under standard time controls, when he lost to Deep Blue in 1997.

Kasparov's ratings achievements include being rated world No. 1 according to Elo rating almost continuously from 1986 until his retirement in 2005 and holding the all-time highest rating of 2851. He was the world No. 1 ranked player for 255 months, by far the most of all-time and nearly three times as long as his closest rival, Anatoly Karpov. With that said it must be concluded that Kasparov played less frequently towards the end of his career and that if chess would have had a rating similar to tennis, a system which premiers both results and activity, Kasparov would not have dominated the ELO list for such an extended period of time. Kasparov also holds records for consecutive tournament victories and Chess Oscars.

Kasparov announced his retirement from professional chess on 10 March 2005, to devote his time to politics and writing. He formed the United Civil Front movement, and joined as a member of The Other Russia, a coalition opposing the administration of Vladimir Putin. He was considered to become a candidate for the 2008 Russian presidential race, but later withdrew. Although he is widely regarded in the West as a symbol of opposition to Putin, support for him in Russia is low.

Early career

Garry Kasparov was born Garik Kimovich Weinstein (Russian: Гарик Вайнштейн) in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union; now Azerbaijan, to an Armenian mother and Jewish father. He first began the serious study of chess after he came across a chess problem set up by his parents and proposed a solution. His father died of leukemia when he was seven years old. At the age of twelve, he adopted his mother's Armenian surname, Gasparyan, modifying it to a more Russified version, Kasparov.

From age 7, Kasparov attended the Young Pioneer Palace in Baku and, at 10 began training at Mikhail Botvinnik's chess school under noted coach Vladimir Makogonov. Makogonov helped develop Kasparov's positional skills and taught him to play the Caro-Kann Defence and the Tartakower System of the Queen's Gambit Declined. Kasparov won the Soviet Junior Championship in Tbilisi in 1976, scoring 7 points of 9, at age 13. He repeated the feat the following year, winning with a score of 8½ of 9. He was being trained by Alexander Shakarov during this time.

In 1978, Kasparov participated in the Sokolsky Memorial tournament in Minsk. He had been invited as an exception but took first place and became a chess master. Kasparov has repeatedly said that this event was a turning point in his life, and that it convinced him to choose chess as his career. "I will remember the Sokolsky Memorial as long as I live", he wrote. He has also said that after the victory, he thought he had a very good shot at the World Championship.

He first qualified for the Soviet Chess Championship at age 15 in 1978, the youngest ever player at that level. He won the 64-player Swiss system tournament at Daugavpils over tiebreak from Igor V. Ivanov, to capture the sole qualifying place.

Kasparov rose quickly through the FIDE (World Chess Federation) rankings. Starting with an oversight by the Russian Chess Federation, he participated in a Grandmaster tournament in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina (then part of Yugoslavia), in 1979 while still unrated (He was a replacement for Viktor Korchnoi who was originally invited but withdrew due to threat of boycott from the Soviet). He won this high-class tournament, emerging with a provisional rating of 2595, enough to catapult him to the top group of chess players (at the time, number 15 in the World). The next year, 1980, he won the World Junior Chess Championship in Dortmund, West Germany. Later that year, he made his debut as second reserve for the Soviet Union at the Chess Olympiad at La Valletta, Malta, and became a Grandmaster.

Toward the top

As a teenager, Kasparov twice tied for first place in the USSR Chess Championship, in 1980–81 and 1981–82. His first win in a superclass-level international tournament was scored at Bugojno, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1982. He earned a place in the 1982 Moscow Interzonal tournament, which he won, to qualify for the Candidates Tournament. At age 19, he was the youngest Candidate since Bobby Fischer, who was 15 when he qualified in 1958. At this stage, he was already the No. 2-rated player in the world, trailing only World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov on the January 1983 list.

Kasparov's first (quarter-final) Candidates match was against Alexander Beliavsky, whom he defeated 6–3 (four wins, one loss). Politics threatened Kasparov's semi-final against Viktor Korchnoi, which was scheduled to be played in Pasadena, California. Korchnoi had defected from the Soviet Union in 1976, and was at that time the strongest active non-Soviet player. Various political maneuvers prevented Kasparov from playing Korchnoi, and Kasparov forfeited the match. This was resolved by Korchnoi allowing the match to be replayed in London, along with the previously scheduled match between Vasily Smyslov and Zoltán Ribli. The Kasparov-Korchnoi match was put together on short notice by Raymond Keene. Kasparov lost the first game but won the match 7–4 (four wins, one loss).

In January 1984, Kasparov became the No. 1 ranked player in the world, with a FIDE rating of 2710. He became the youngest ever world No. 1, a record that lasted 12 years until being broken by Vladimir Kramnik in January 1996; the record is currently held by his former pupil, Magnus Carlsen.

Later in 1984, he won the Candidates' final 8½–4½ (four wins, no losses) against the resurgent former world champion Vasily Smyslov, at Vilnius, thus qualifying to play Anatoly Karpov for the World Championship. That year he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), as a member of which he was elected to the Central Committee of Komsomol in 1987.

1984 World Championship

The World Chess Championship 1984 match between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov had many ups and downs, and a very controversial finish. Karpov started in very good form, and after nine games Kasparov was down 4–0 in a "first to six wins" match. Fellow players predicted he would be whitewashed 6–0 within 18 games.

In a strange period, there followed a series of 17 successive draws, some relatively short, and others drawn in unsettled positions. He lost game 27, then fought back with another series of draws until game 32, his first-ever win against the World Champion. Another 15 successive draws followed, through game 46; the previous record length for a world title match had been 34 games, the match of José Raúl Capablanca vs. Alexander Alekhine in 1927.

Kasparov won games 47 and 48 to bring the scores to 5–3 in Karpov's favour. Then the match was ended without result by Florencio Campomanes, the President of Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), and a new match was announced to start a few months later. The termination was controversial, as both players stated that they preferred the match to continue. Announcing his decision at a press conference, Campomanes cited the health of the players, which had been strained by the length of the match.

The match became the first, and so far only, world championship match to be abandoned without result. Kasparov's relations with Campomanes and FIDE were greatly strained, and the feud between them eventually came to a head in 1993 with Kasparov's complete break-away from FIDE.

World Champion

The second Karpov-Kasparov match in 1985 was organized in Moscow as the best of 24 games where the first player to win 12½ points would claim the World Champion title. The scores from the terminated match would not carry over. But in the event of a 12–12 draw, the title would remain with Karpov. On 9 November 1985, Kasparov secured the title by a score of 13–11, winning the 24th game with Black, using a Sicilian defence. He was 22 years old at the time, making him the youngest ever World Champion, and breaking the record held by Mikhail Tal for over 20 years. Kasparov's win as Black in the 16th game has been recognized as one of the all-time masterpieces in chess history.

As part of the arrangements following the aborted 1984 match, Karpov had been granted (in the event of his defeat) a right to rematch. Another match took place in 1986, hosted jointly in London and Leningrad, with each city hosting 12 games. At one point in the match, Kasparov opened a three-point lead and looked well on his way to a decisive match victory. But Karpov fought back by winning three consecutive games to level the score late in the match. At this point, Kasparov dismissed one of his seconds, Grandmaster Evgeny Vladimirov, accusing him of selling his opening preparation to the Karpov team (as described in Kasparov's autobiography ''Unlimited Challenge'', chapter Stab in the Back). Kasparov scored one more win and kept his title by a final score of 12½–11½.

A fourth match for the world title took place in 1987 in Seville, as Karpov had qualified through the Candidates' Matches to again become the official challenger. This match was very close, with neither player holding more than a one-point lead at any time during the contest. Kasparov was down one full point at the time of the final game, and needed a win to draw the match and retain his title. A long tense game ensued in which Karpov blundered away a pawn just before the first time control, and Kasparov eventually won a long ending. Kasparov retained his title as the match was drawn by a score of 12–12. (All this meant that Kasparov had played Karpov four times in the period 1984–87, a statistic unprecedented in chess. Matches organised by FIDE had taken place every three years since 1948, and only Botvinnik had a right to a rematch before Karpov.)

A fifth match between Kasparov and Karpov was held in New York and Lyon in 1990, with each city hosting 12 games. Again, the result was a close one with Kasparov winning by a margin of 12½–11½. In their five world championship matches, Kasparov had 21 wins, 19 losses, and 104 draws in 144 games.

Break with and ejection from FIDE

With the World Champion title in hand, Kasparov began fighting against FIDE—as Bobby Fischer had done 20 years earlier but this time from within FIDE. Beginning in 1986, he created the Grandmasters Association (GMA), an organization to represent professional chess players and give them more say in FIDE's activities. Kasparov assumed a leadership role. GMA's major achievement was in organizing a series of six World Cup tournaments for the world's top players. A somewhat uneasy relationship developed with FIDE, and a sort of truce was brokered by Bessel Kok, a Dutch businessman.

This stand-off lasted until 1993, by which time a new challenger had qualified through the Candidates cycle for Kasparov's next World Championship defense: Nigel Short, a British Grandmaster who had defeated Anatoly Karpov in a qualifying match, and then Jan Timman in the finals held in early 1993. After a confusing and compressed bidding process produced lower financial estimates than expected, the world champion and his challenger decided to play outside FIDE's jurisdiction, under another organization created by Kasparov called the Professional Chess Association (PCA). This is where a great fracture in the lineage of World Champions began.

In an interview in 2007, Kasparov would call the break with FIDE the worst mistake of his career, as it hurt the game in the long run.

Kasparov and Short were ejected from FIDE, and played their well-sponsored match in London. Kasparov won convincingly by a score of 12½–7½. The match considerably raised the profile of chess in the UK, with an unprecedented level of coverage on Channel 4. Meanwhile, FIDE organized a World Championship match between Jan Timman (the defeated Candidates finalist) and former World Champion Karpov (a defeated Candidates semifinalist), which Karpov won.

There were now two World Champions: PCA champion Kasparov, and FIDE champion Karpov. The title would remain split for 13 years.

Kasparov defended his title in a 1995 match against Viswanathan Anand at the World Trade Center in New York City. Kasparov won the match by four wins to one, with thirteen draws. It was the last World Championship to be held under the auspices of the PCA, which collapsed when Intel, one of its major backers, withdrew its sponsorship in retaliation for Kasparov's choice to play a 1996 match against Deep Blue, which augmented the profile of IBM, one of Intel's chief rivals.

Kasparov tried to organize another World Championship match, under another organization, the World Chess Association (WCA) with Linares organizer Luis Rentero. Alexei Shirov and Vladimir Kramnik played a candidates match to decide the challenger, which Shirov won in a surprising upset. But when Rentero admitted that the funds required and promised had never materialized, the WCA collapsed.

This left Kasparov stranded, and yet another organization stepped in—BrainGames.com, headed by Raymond Keene. No match against Shirov was arranged, and talks with Anand collapsed, so a match was instead arranged against Kramnik.

During this period, Kasparov was approached by Oakham School in the United Kingdom, at the time the only school in the country with a full-time chess coach, and developed an interest in the use of chess in education. In 1997, Kasparov supported a scholarship programme at the school. Kasparov also won the Marca Leyenda trophy that year.

Losing the title and aftermath

The Kasparov-Kramnik match took place in London during the latter half of 2000. Kramnik had been a student of Kasparov's at the legendary Botvinnik/Kasparov chess school in Russia, and had served on Kasparov's team for the 1995 match against Viswanathan Anand.

The better-prepared Kramnik won Game 2 against Kasparov's Grünfeld Defence and achieved winning positions in Games 4 and 6. Kasparov made a critical error in Game 10 with the Nimzo-Indian Defence, which Kramnik exploited to win in 25 moves. As White, Kasparov could not crack the passive but solid Berlin Defence in the Ruy Lopez, and Kramnik successfully drew all his games as Black. Kramnik won the match 8½–6½, and for the first time in 15 years Kasparov had no world championship title. He became the first player to lose a world championship match without winning a game since Emanuel Lasker lost to Capablanca in 1921.

After losing the title, Kasparov won a series of major tournaments, and remained the top rated player in the world, ahead of both Kramnik and the FIDE World Champions. In 2001 he refused an invitation to the 2002 Dortmund Candidates Tournament for the Classical title, claiming his results had earned him a rematch with Kramnik.

Kasparov and Karpov played a four game match with rapid time controls over two days in December 2002 in New York City. Karpov surprised the experts and emerged victoriously, winning two games and drawing one.

Due to Kasparov's continuing strong results, and status as world No. 1 in much of the public eye, he was included in the so-called "Prague Agreement", masterminded by Yasser Seirawan and intended to reunite the two World Championships. Kasparov was to play a match against the FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov in September 2003. But this match was called off after Ponomariov refused to sign his contract for it without reservation. In its place, there were plans for a match against Rustam Kasimdzhanov, winner of the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004, to be held in January 2005 in the United Arab Emirates. These also fell through due to lack of funding. Plans to hold the match in Turkey instead came too late. Kasparov announced in January 2005 that he was tired of waiting for FIDE to organize a match and so had decided to stop all efforts to regain the World Championship title.

Retirement from chess

After winning the prestigious Linares tournament for the ninth time, Kasparov announced on 10 March 2005 that he would retire from serious competitive chess. He cited as the reason a lack of personal goals in the chess world (he commented when winning the Russian championship in 2004 that it had been the last major title he had never won outright) and expressed frustration at the failure to reunify the world championship.

Kasparov said he may play in some rapid chess events for fun, but intends to spend more time on his books, including both the ''My Great Predecessors'' series (see below) and a work on the links between decision-making in chess and in other areas of life, and will continue to involve himself in Russian politics, which he views as "headed down the wrong path".

Kasparov has been married three times: to Masha, with whom he had a daughter before divorcing; to Yulia, with whom he had a son before their 2005 divorce; and to Daria, with whom he also has a child.

Post-retirement chess

On 22 August 2006, in his first public chess games since his retirement, Kasparov played in the Lichthof Chess Champions Tournament, a blitz event played at the time control of 5 minutes per side and 3 second increments per move. Kasparov tied for first with Anatoly Karpov, scoring 4½/6.

Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov played a 12-game match from 21–24 September 2009, in Valencia, Spain. It consisted of four rapid (or semi rapid) games, in which Kasparov won 3–1 and eight blitz games, in which Kasparov also won 6–2, winning the match with total result 9–3. The event took place exactly 25 years after the two players' legendary encounter at World Chess Championship 1984.

Kasparov actively coached Magnus Carlsen for approximately one year beginning in February 2009. The collaboration remained secret until September 2009. Under Kasparov's tutelage, Carlsen in October 2009 became the youngest ever to achieve a FIDE rating higher than 2800, and has risen from world number four to world number one. While the pair initially planned to work together throughout 2010, in March of that year it was announced that Carlsen had split from Kasparov and would no longer be using him as a trainer. According to an interview with the German magazine ''Der Spiegel'', Carlsen indicated that he would remain in contact and that he would continue to attend training sessions with Kasparov, but in fact no further training sessions were held and the cooperation gradually fizzled over the course of the Spring.

In May 2010 it was revealed that Kasparov had aided Viswanathan Anand in preparation for the World Chess Championship 2010 against challenger Veselin Topalov. Anand won the match 6½–5½ to retain the title.

Also in May 2010 he played 30 games simultaneously, winning each one, against players at Tel-Aviv University in Israel.

In January 2011, Kasparov began training the American Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura. The first of several training sessions was held in New York just prior to Nakamura's participation in the Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands. In December 2011, it was announced that the cooperation had come to an end.

Kasparov played two blitz exhibition matches in the Fall of 2011. The first, in September against French grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, in Clichy (France), which Kasparov won 1½-½. The second was a longer match consisting of eight blitz games played on October 9, against English grandmaster Nigel Short. Kasparov won again by a score of 4½-3½.

Politics

Kasparov joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in 1984 and in 1987 was elected to the Central Committee of Komsomol. But in 1990 he left the party and in May took part in the creation of the Democratic Party of Russia. In 1991, Kasparov received the Keeper of the Flame award from the Center for Security Policy (a US think tank) for his contributions "to the defence of the United States and American values around the world". Kasparov was in June 1993 involved with the creation of the "Choice of Russia" bloc of parties and in 1996 took part in the election campaign of Boris Yeltsin. In 2001 he voiced his support for the Russian television channel NTV.

In April 2007, it was asserted that Kasparov was a board member of the National Security Advisory Council of Center for Security Policy, a "non-profit, non-partisan national security organization that specializes in identifying policies, actions, and resource needs that are vital to American security". Kasparov confirmed this and added that he was removed shortly after he became aware of it. He noted that he did not know about the membership and suggested he was included in the board by an accident because he received the 1991 Keeper of the Flame award from this organization. He has vowed to "restore democracy" to Russia by toppling the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, of whom he is an outspoken critic.

Kasparov was instrumental in setting up The Other Russia, a coalition which opposes Putin's government. The Other Russia has been boycotted by the leaders of Russia's mainstream opposition parties, Yabloko and Union of Rightist Forces as they are concerned about its inclusion of radical nationalist and left-wing groups such as the National Bolshevik Party and former members of the Rodina party including Viktor Gerashchenko, a potential presidential candidate. But regional branches of Yabloko and the Union of Rightist Forces have opted to take part in the coalition. Kasparov says that leaders of these parties are controlled by the Kremlin, despite the fact that they both publicly oppose to the president's policies.

On 10 April 2005, Kasparov was in Moscow at a promotional event when he was struck over the head with a chessboard he had just signed. The assailant was reported to have said "I admired you as a chess player, but you gave that up for politics" immediately before the attack. Kasparov has been the subject of a number of other episodes since.

Kasparov helped organize the Saint Petersburg Dissenters' March on 3 March 2007 and The March of the Dissenters on 24 March 2007, both involving several thousand people rallying against Putin and Saint Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko's policies. On 14 April, he was briefly arrested by the Moscow police while heading for a demonstration, following warnings by the prosecution office on the eve of the march, stating that anyone participating risked being detained. He was held for some 10 hours and then fined and released.

He was summoned by FSB for questioning, allegedly for violations of Russian anti-extremism laws. This law was previously applied for the conviction of Boris Stomakhin.

Speaking about Kasparov, former KGB general Oleg Kalugin in 2007 remarked: "I do not talk in details—people who knew them are all dead now because they were vocal, they were open. I am quiet. There is only one man who is vocal and he may be in trouble: [former] world chess champion [Garry] Kasparov. He has been very outspoken in his attacks on Putin and I believe that he is probably next on the list."

On 30 September 2007, Kasparov entered the Russian Presidential race, receiving 379 of 498 votes at a congress held in Moscow by The Other Russia.

In October 2007, Kasparov announced his intention of standing for the Russian presidency as the candidate of the "Other Russia" coalition and vowed to fight for a "democratic and just Russia". Later that month he traveled to the United States, where he appeared on several popular television programs, which were hosted by Stephen Colbert, Wolf Blitzer, Bill Maher, and Chris Matthews.

On 24 November 2007, Kasparov and other protesters were detained by police at an Other Russia rally in Moscow. This followed an attempt by about 100 protesters to break through police lines and march on the electoral commission, which had barred Other Russia candidates from parliamentary elections. He was subsequently charged with resisting arrest and organising an unauthorized protest and given a jail sentence of five days. He was released from jail on 29 November. Putin spoke briefly about the incident in an interview with ''Time'' magazine later that year, saying: "Why did Mr. Kasparov, when arrested, speak out in English rather than Russian? When a politician works the crowd of other nations rather than the Russian nation, it tells you something."

On 12 December 2007, Kasparov announced that he had to withdraw his presidential candidacy due to inability to rent a meeting hall where at least 500 of his supporters could assemble to endorse his candidacy, as is legally required. With the deadline expiring on that date, he explained it was impossible for him to run. Kasparov's spokeswoman accused the government of using pressure to deter anyone from renting a hall for the gathering and said that the electoral commission had rejected a proposal that separate smaller gatherings be held at the same time instead of one large gathering at a meeting hall.

Kasparov was among the 34 first signatories and a key organiser of the online anti-Putin campaign "Putin must go", started on 10 March 2010.

On January 31, 2012 Kasparov hosted a meeting of opposition leaders planning a mass march on February 4, 2012, the third major opposition rally held since the disputed State Duma elections of December 2011. Among other opposition leaders attending were Alexey Navalny and Yevgenia Chirikova.

Chess ratings achievements

Kasparov holds the record for the longest time as the No. 1 rated player.

Kasparov had the highest Elo rating in the world continuously from 1986 to 2005. However, Vladimir Kramnik did ''equal'' him in the January 1996 FIDE ratings list. He was also briefly ejected from the list following his split from FIDE in 1993, but during that time he headed the rating list of the rival PCA. At the time of his retirement, he was still ranked No. 1 in the world, with a rating of 2812. His rating has fallen inactive since the January 2006 rating list. In January 1990 Kasparov achieved the (then) highest FIDE rating ever, passing 2800 and breaking Bobby Fischer's old record of 2785. He has held the record for the highest rating ever achieved, ever since (as of 2012). On the July 1999 and January 2000 FIDE rating lists Kasparov reached a 2851 Elo rating, the highest rating ever achieved.

There was a time in the early 90s when Kasparov was over 2800 and the only person in the 2700s was Anatoly Karpov.

According to the unofficial Chessmetrics calculations, Kasparov was the highest rated player in the world continuously from February 1985 until October 2004. He also holds the highest all-time average rating over a 2 (2877) to 20 (2856) year period and is second to only Bobby Fischer's (2881 vs 2879) over a one-year period.

Olympiads and other major team events

Kasparov played in a total of eight Chess Olympiads. He represented the Soviet Union four times and Russia four times, following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. In his 1980 Olympiad debut, he became, at age 17, the youngest player to represent the Soviet Union or Russia at that level, a record which was broken by Vladimir Kramnik in 1992. In 82 games, he has scored (+50 −3 =29), for 78.7% and won a total of 19 medals, including team gold medals all eight times he competed. For the 1994 Moscow Olympiad, he had a significant organizational role, in helping to put together the event on short notice, after Thessaloniki canceled its offer to host, a few weeks before the scheduled dates. Kasparov's detailed Olympiad record, from, follows.

Valletta 1980, USSR 2nd reserve, 9½/12 (+8 −1 =3), team gold, board bronze;

Lucerne 1982, USSR 2nd board, 8½/11 (+6 −0 =5), team gold, board bronze;

Dubai 1986, USSR 1st board, 8½/11 (+7 −1 =3), team gold, board gold, performance gold;

Thessaloniki 1988, USSR 1st board, 8½/10 (+7 −0 =3), team gold, board gold, performance gold;

Manila 1992, Russia board 1, 8½/10 (+7 −0 =3), team gold, board gold, performance silver;

Moscow 1994, Russia board 1, 6½/10 (+4 −1 =5), team gold;

Yerevan 1996, Russia board 1, 7/9 (+5 −0 =4), team gold, board gold, performance silver;

Bled 2002, Russia board 1, 7½/9 (+6 −0 =3), team gold, board gold.

Kasparov made his international teams debut for the USSR at age 16 in the 1980 European Team Championship and played for Russia in the 1992 edition of that championship. He won a total of five medals. His detailed Euroteams record, from, follows.

Skara 1980, USSR 2nd reserve, 5½/6 (+5 −0 =1), team gold, board gold;

Debrecen 1992, Russia board 1, 6/8 (+4 −0 =4), team gold, board gold, performance silver.

Kasparov also represented the USSR once in Youth Olympiad competition, but the detailed data is incomplete at http://www.olimpbase.org/1981k/1981in.html; the site http://www.chessmetrics.com, the Garry Kasparov player file, has his individual score from that event.

Graz 1981, USSR board 1, 9/10 (+8 −0 =2), team gold.

Other records

Kasparov holds the record for most consecutive professional tournament victories, placing first or equal first in 15 individual tournaments from 1981 to 1990. The streak was broken by Vasily Ivanchuk at Linares 1991, where Kasparov placed 2nd, half a point behind him. The details of this record winning streak follow:

Frunze 1981, USSR Championship, 12½/17, tie for 1st;

Bugojno 1982, 9½/13, 1st;

Moscow 1982, Interzonal, 10/13, 1st;

Nikšić 1983, 11/14, 1st;

Brussels OHRA 1986, 7½/10, 1st;

Brussels 1987, 8½/11, tie for 1st;

Amsterdam Optiebeurs 1988, 9/12, 1st;

Belfort (World Cup) 1988, 11½/15, 1st;

Moscow 1988, USSR Championship, 11½/17, tie for 1st;

Reykjavik (World Cup) 1988, 11/17, 1st;

Barcelona (World Cup) 1989, 11/16, tie for 1st;

Skelleftea (World Cup) 1989, 9½/15, tie for 1st;

Tilburg 1989, 12/14, 1st;

Belgrade (Investbank) 1989, 9½/11, 1st;

Linares 1990, 8/11, 1st.

Kasparov won the Chess Oscar a record eleven times.

Books and other writings

Early writings

Kasparov has written a number of books on chess. He published a somewhat controversial autobiography when still in his early 20s, originally titled ''Child of Change'', later retitled ''Unlimited Challenge''. This book was subsequently updated several times after he became World Champion. Its content is mainly literary, with a small chess component of key unannotated games. He published an annotated games collection in 1985: ''Fighting Chess: My Games and Career'' and this book has also been updated several times in further editions. He also wrote a book annotating the games from his World Chess Championship 1985 victory, ''World Chess Championship Match: Moscow, 1985''.

He has annotated his own games extensively for the Yugoslav ''Chess Informant'' series and for other chess publications. In 1982, he co-authored ''Batsford Chess Openings'' with British Grandmaster Raymond Keene and this book was an enormous seller. It was updated into a second edition in 1989. He also co-authored two opening books with his trainer Alexander Nikitin in the 1980s for British publisher Batsford—on the Classical Variation of the Caro-Kann Defence and on the Scheveningen Variation of the Sicilian Defence. Kasparov has also contributed extensively to the five-volume openings series ''Encyclopedia of Chess Openings''.

In 2000, Kasparov co-authored ''Kasparov Against the World: The Story of the Greatest Online Challenge'' with grandmaster Daniel King. The 202-page book analyzes the 1999 Kasparov versus the World game, and holds the record for the longest analysis devoted to a single chess game.

''My Great Predecessors'' series

In 2003, the first volume of his five-volume work ''Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors'' was published. This volume, which deals with the world chess champions Wilhelm Steinitz, Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, and some of their strong contemporaries, has received lavish praise from some reviewers (including Nigel Short), while attracting criticism from others for historical inaccuracies and analysis of games directly copied from unattributed sources. Through suggestions on the book's website, most of these shortcomings were corrected in following editions and translations. Despite this, the first volume won the British Chess Federation's Book of the Year award in 2003. Volume two, covering Max Euwe, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov and Mikhail Tal appeared later in 2003. Volume three, covering Tigran Petrosian and Boris Spassky appeared in early 2004. In December 2004, Kasparov released volume four, which covers Samuel Reshevsky, Miguel Najdorf, and Bent Larsen (none of these three were World Champions), but focuses primarily on Bobby Fischer. The fifth volume, devoted to the chess careers of World Champion Anatoly Karpov and challenger Viktor Korchnoi, was published in March 2006.

''Modern Chess'' series

His book ''Revolution in the 70s'' (published in March 2007) covers "the openings revolution of the 1970s–1980s" and is the first book in a new series called "Modern Chess Series", which intends to cover his matches with Karpov and selected games. The book "Revolution in the 70s" concerns the revolution in opening theory that was witnessed in that decade. Such systems as the controversial (at the time) "Hedgehog" opening plan of passively developing the pieces no further than the first three ranks are examined in great detail. Kasparov also analyzes some of the most notable games played in that period. In a section at the end of the book, top opening theoreticians provide their own "take" on the progress made in opening theory in the 1980s.

''Garry Kasparov on Garry Kasparov'' series

Kasparov is publishing three volumes of his games.

Other post-retirement writing

In 2007 he wrote ''How Life Imitates Chess'', an examination of the parallels between decision-making in chess and in the business world.

In 2008 Kasparov published a sympathetic obituary for Bobby Fischer, writing "I am often asked if I ever met or played Bobby Fischer. The answer is no, I never had that opportunity. But even though he saw me as a member of the evil chess establishment that he felt had robbed and cheated him, I am sorry I never had a chance to thank him personally for what he did for our sport."

He is the chief advisor for the book publisher Everyman Chess.

Kasparov works closely with Mig Greengard and his comments can often be found on Greengard's blog (apparently no longer active).

Kasparov is currently collaborating with Max Levchin and Peter Thiel on ''The Blueprint'', a book calling for a revival of world innovation, due out in February 2012 from W. W. Norton & Company.

Chess against computers

Deep Thought, 1989

Kasparov defeated the chess computer Deep Thought in both games of a two-game match in 1989.

Deep Blue, 1996

In February 1996, IBM's chess computer Deep Blue defeated Kasparov in one game using normal time controls, in Deep Blue - Kasparov, 1996, Game 1. However, Kasparov was still able to gain three wins and two draws and win the match.

Deep Blue, 1997

In May 1997, an updated version of Deep Blue defeated Kasparov 3½–2½ in a highly publicised six-game match. The match was even after five games but Kasparov was crushed in Game 6. This was the first time a computer had ever defeated a world champion in match play. A documentary film was made about this famous match-up entitled ''Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine''.

Kasparov claimed that several factors weighed against him in this match. In particular, he was denied access to Deep Blue's recent games, in contrast to the computer's team that could study hundreds of Kasparov's.

After the loss Kasparov said that he sometimes saw deep intelligence and creativity in the machine's moves, suggesting that during the second game, human chess players, in contravention of the rules, intervened. IBM denied that it cheated, saying the only human intervention occurred between games. The rules provided for the developers to modify the program between games, an opportunity they said they used to shore up weaknesses in the computer's play revealed during the course of the match. Kasparov requested printouts of the machine's log files but IBM refused, although the company later published the logs on the Internet.

Kasparov's loss to Deep Blue inspired the creation of a new game called Arimaa.

Deep Junior, 2003

In January 2003, he engaged in a six game classical time control match with a $1 million prize fund which was billed as the FIDE "Man vs. Machine" World Championship, against Deep Junior. The engine evaluated three million positions per second. After one win each and three draws, it was all up to the final game. After reaching a decent position Kasparov offered a draw, which was soon accepted by the Deep Junior team. Asked why he offered the draw, Kasparov said he feared making a blunder. Originally planned as an annual event, the match was not repeated.

X3D Fritz, 2003

In November 2003, he engaged in a four-game match against the computer program X3D Fritz, using a virtual board, 3D glasses and a speech recognition system. After two draws and one win apiece, the X3D Man-Machine match ended in a draw. Kasparov received $175,000 for the result and took home the golden trophy. Kasparov continued to criticize the blunder in the second game that cost him a crucial point. He felt that he had outplayed the machine overall and played well. "I only made one mistake but unfortunately that one mistake lost the game."

Books

''The Test of Time (Russian Chess)'', (1986, Pergamon Pr)

''World Chess Championship Match: Moscow, 1985'' (1986, Everyman Chess)

''Child of Change: An Autobiography'' (1987, Hutchinson)

''London–Leningrad Championship Games'' (1987, Everyman Chess)

''Unlimited Challenge'' (1990, Grove Pr)

''The Sicilian Scheveningen'' (1991, B.T. Batsford Ltd)

''The Queen's Indian Defence: Kasparov System'' (1991, B.T. Batsford Ltd)

''Kasparov Versus Karpov, 1990'' (1991, Everyman Chess)

''Kasparov on the King's Indian'' (1993, B.T. Batsford Ltd)

''Garry Kasparov's Chess Challenge'' (1996, Everyman Chess)

''Lessons in Chess'' (1997, Everyman Chess)

''Kasparov Against the World: The Story of the Greatest Online Challenge'' (2000, KasparovChess Online)

''My Great Predecessors Part I'' (2003, Everyman Chess)

''My Great Predecessors Part II'' (2003, Everyman Chess)

''Checkmate!: My First Chess Book'' (2004, Everyman Mindsports)

''My Great Predecessors Part III'' (2004, Everyman Chess)

''My Great Predecessors Part IV'' (2004, Everyman Chess)

''My Great Predecessors Part V'' (2006, Everyman Chess)

''How Life Imitates Chess'', (2007, William Heinemann Ltd)

''Garry Kasparov on Modern Chess, Part 1: Revolution in the 70s'', (2007, Everyman Chess)

''Garry Kasparov on Modern Chess, Part 2: Kasparov vs Karpov 1975–1985'', (2008, Everyman Chess)

''Garry Kasparov on Modern Chess, Part 3: Kasparov vs Karpov 1986–1987'', (2009, Everyman Chess)

''Garry Kasparov on Modern Chess, Part 4: Kasparov vs Karpov 1988–2009'', (2010, Everyman Chess)

''Garry Kasparov on Garry Kasparov, part I''; (2011, Everyman Chess)

''The Blueprint: Reviving Innovation, Rediscovering Risk, and Rescuing the Free Market''; (2013, W. W. Norton & Co)

See also

Kasparov versus the World

List of people who have beaten Garry Kasparov in chess

List of chess games between Kasparov and Kramnik

Committee 2008

Notes

Further reading

External links

Grandmaster Games Database – Garry Kasparov

The Other Russia, Civic Coalition for Democracy – Official site

Другая Россия – Official site Сайт «Марш несогласных» – March of the Discontented Итоговое заявление участников конференции «Другая Россия» Concluding statement by the participants, kasparov.ru

United Civil Front, a civic political movement to ensure Democracy in the Russian Federation, initiated by Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov, "Man of the Year?", ''OpinionJournal'', 23 December 2007

Edward Winter, List of Books About Fischer and Kasparov

Garry Kasparov's LiveJournal

The Chess Master and the Computer article by Kasparov from ''The New York Review of Books''

{{s-ttl| title = FIDE World Chess Champion | years = 1985–93 }} {{s-ttl| title = Classical World Chess Champion | years = 1985–2000 }}

Category:1963 births Category:Living people Category:Chess coaches Category:Chess grandmasters Category:Chess Olympiad competitors Category:People from Baku Category:Russian chess players Category:Russian chess writers Category:Russian people of Armenian descent Category:Russian people of Jewish descent Category:Russian politicians Category:Russian sportsperson–politicians Category:Soviet chess players Category:Soviet chess writers Category:World chess champions Category:World Junior Chess Champions

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