Gata Kamsky
Encyclopedia
Gata Kamsky (born June 2, 1974) is a Soviet-born American chess
grandmaster, and the current World Rapid Chess Champion. He is also the current United States Chess Champion
. As of September 2011, he is rated No. 1 in the United States and No. 10 in the world.
Kamsky was a prodigy who reached the final of the FIDE World Chess Championship 1996
at the age of 22, and reached a ranking of fourth in the world rankings in 1996. He played almost no FIDE-rated games between 1997 and late 2004.
Kamsky won the Chess World Cup 2007
. This earned him a match against Veselin Topalov
for the right to challenge for the World Chess Championship 2010, which he lost. Kamsky played in the Candidates Tournament to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2012, where he advanced to the semifinals before losing to Boris Gelfand
.
in Russia, in a Tatar family. Gata's last name, Kamsky, is derived from the stage nickname of his grandparents who were members of the Tatar traveling theater group. The family's "real" name is Sabirov.
He won the Soviet under-20 championship twice before 1989, and at age 12, defeated veteran Grandmaster Mark Taimanov
in a tournament game. At that time, he was possibly the youngest person to defeat a grandmaster. He also earned his National Master title in that year. In 1989 he moved to the United States with his father Röstäm (also spelled Rustam).
In 1990, while aged 16 and still untitled, he played in the 64-player Interzonal
tournament, the first step towards the World Chess Championship
. He finished with 5½ / 13.
In 1990, FIDE awarded Kamsky the grandmaster title. In 1991, he won the U.S. Championship
.
Kamsky also did well at other prestigious chess tournaments, winning the Las Palmas tournament in 1994.
each held Interzonal tournaments. Kamsky played in both, and in both cases qualified for the respective Candidates Tournament
s. The Candidates tournaments were largely dominated by Kamsky and Viswanathan Anand
.
In the first round of the 1994-95 FIDE Candidates matches
, Kamsky beat Paul van der Sterren
(+3=3−1). Kamsky's quarter-final match against Anand, held in July and August 1994 in Sanghi Nagar
, India, was more dramatic. After draws in the first two games, Anand won the next two games to take an imposing 3–1 lead. Game 5 was drawn. Kamsky then scored 2½–½ in the remaining three games to tie the match 4–4 (+2=4−2), then won the two rapid chess playoff games to win the match. In the semi-final, held in Sanghi Nagar in February 1995, Kamsky routed Valery Salov
5½–1½ (+4=3−0).
In the 1994-95 PCA Candidates matches, Kamsky beat Vladimir Kramnik
in the quarter-finals in New York in June, 1994. In September, 1994 Kamsky beat Nigel Short
in the semi-finals in Linares, Spain. In the March 1995 final against Anand in Las Palmas, the FIDE result was reversed, with Kamsky losing (+1=7−3).
In the September 1994 match against Short, there was a highly publicized confrontation between Kamsky's father, Rustam Kamsky, and Short.
In 1996, Kamsky played a 20-game match against Anatoly Karpov
for the FIDE World Chess Championship 1996
title at Elista
in Kalmykia
, losing 7½–10½ (+3=9−6).
in 1999. Later he attended medical school for a year. He then attended and graduated from law school at Touro Law Center in New York.
Kamsky's next rated
games after his loss to Karpov were in 1999, when he returned to play in the FIDE Knockout World Championship event in Las Vegas
, where he played a first-round, two-game match against the eventual tournament winner, Alexander Khalifman
. Kamsky won the first game, lost the second game, and then lost the rapid play-off games.
reported that Sam Sloan had spoken to him.
Kamsky did not play another game in public until June 15, 2004, when he participated in the 106th New York Masters, playing four games in a day with a time control of 30 minutes for all his moves. His two wins and two draws were enough for him to tie for first place with four others. He subsequently played in several other editions of the weekly event with mixed success, before returning to regular chess in the 2005 U.S. Championship held in November–December 2004 where he scored a respectable but unspectacular 5½-3½. He was rated number 19 in the world on the April 2005 FIDE Elo rating list, at 2700. He retained this rating on the July 2005 list, but moved up to number 18, after a good unbeaten result at the 2005 HB Global Challenge tournament, held in Minneapolis in May, 2005.
He has since returned to international chess, most notably finishing second behind Veselin Topalov
at the M-Tel Masters
event. Soon after, Kamsky led the US team to the bronze medal at the 2006 Chess Olympiad in Turin. On July 4, 2006, he tied for first place with nine others at the Philadelphia World Open, then won the play-off, winning about $7,000. A number of successes in 2007 marked his return to the playing level he had before his retirement, hinting at the possibility of becoming again a challenger for the very top of the world's chess hierarchy.
Kamsky played in the FIDE Chess World Cup 2005
, and qualified for the Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship 2007
, in May–June 2007. He won his first round match against Étienne Bacrot
(+3-0=1), but was eliminated when he lost his second round match to Boris Gelfand
+0-2=3.
In November–December 2007, Kamsky participated in the Chess World Cup 2007
. Seeded 11th, he won his first three rounds and then defeated Peter Svidler
, former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov
and future world-number one Magnus Carlsen
to reach the finals. In the final he defeated Alexei Shirov
(+1-0=3) to win the title, shocking many in the chess world.
Kamsky's victory earned him a match against world number-one Veselin Topalov
in 2009 for the right to challenge for the World Chess Championship 2010 against world champion Viswanathan Anand
. The match was held in Sofia
, Bulgaria, in February 2009. Although Kamsky won game four to level the match 2-2, Topalov scored +2 in the final 3 games (including an exciting last round victory on the White side of the French Defense) to win the match 4½ - 2½.
Kamsky played board one for the United States in the 2008 Chess Olympiad, held in Dresden
, Germany in November. The U.S. team captured the bronze medals.
Kamsky participated in the Chess World Cup 2009
but was upset in the third round by Wesley So
.
In January 2010 Kamsky won the 52nd Reggio Emilia chess tournament
(he came equal first with Zoltán Almási
, defeating him in the last round, but had a better Buchholz tiebreak). In May 2010 he tied for 1st-3rd with Vladimir Kramnik
and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
in the President's Cup in Baku.
In May 2010, Kamsky participated in the 2010 U.S. Championship
, where he was seeded second behind defending champion Hikaru Nakamura
. He scored 5/7 to qualify for the round-robin stage against Nakamura, 2006 champion Alexander Onischuk
, and 2008 champion Yuri Shulman. In the round-robin stage, he drew Nakamura with black and then defeated Onischuk on the White side of the Ruy Lopez
. He became U.S. Champion on May 25, 2010, after winning a rapid playoff game with second place finisher Yury Shulman
. This championship, Kamsky's second, came 19 years after he won his first U.S. championship.
In August 2010, Kamsky won clear first at the World Rapid Chess Championship (Mainz Chess Classic), a Rapid Chess tournament with 10/11, defeating world No. 5 and defending champion Levon Aronian
, 2004 FIDE champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov
, and Sergey Karjakin
en route to the title ahead of Grischuk
, Shirov and several other strong Grandmasters.
From August 23 through August 31, Kamsky participated in the Baku Open in Azerbaijan, where he was the top seed. He won his final three games to clinch clear first with 7½/9.
From April 13 through April 18, 2011, Kamsky participated in the United States Championship, where he was the top seed. He won the tournament for the second consecutive year, becoming the first player since Lev Alburt
in 1985 to win consecutive U.S. Championships; the title was his third career United States Championship.
As a finalist of the 2010 world championship cycle, Kamsky was given direct entry to the eight player Candidates Tournament
to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2012. The candidates tournament began with best-of-four game match format in May 2011 in Kazan, with Kamsky facing Veselin Topalov
in the quarterfinals. With a win on the Black side of the Gruenfeld defense in the second game, Kamsky held on to defeat the top-seeded Topalov 2.5-1.5 to advance to the semifinals. In the semifinals, he faced the 2009 Chess World Cup champion Boris Gelfand
in a rematch of their 2007 Candidates tournament meeting won by Gelfand. After four games, the match was tied at 2-2, with rapid tiebreaks to decide the winner on May 16. In the rapid tiebreaks, Kamsky won game 3 with black to take a 2-1 lead and needed only a draw with white in the final rapid game to advance to the final. However, Gelfand won with black to force a blitz playoff, which he won 2-0 to eliminate Kamsky and reach the Candidates final.
Kramnik-Kamsky, World Championship Quarter-Finals Match, New York 1994
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.g3 O-O 5.Bg2 c5 6.O-O Nc6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Qe7 9.Nc2 (White allows Black to ruin his pawn structure, and soon sacrifices one of his weak c-pawns. He hopes that his two bishops will give him sufficient compensation, but will find that he is unable to use them effectively.) Bxc3 10.bxc3 Rd8 11.Ba3 d6 12.Rb1 Qc7 13.Nd4 Nxd4 14.cxd4 Qxc4 15.Qd2 Qa6 16.Rb3 Rb8 17.e4 Bd7 18.Rf3 (trying to get play on the king-side, but Kamsky's pieces now overrun the queen-side) Ba4! (disdaining 18...Nxe4 19.Qf4 f5 20.g4 opening lines for White's pieces) 19.Re1 Rbc8 20.Bf1 Bb5 21.Bh3 Qa4 22.d5 Rc2 23.Qe3? exd5 (White is in deep trouble. If now 24.exd5? Re8 wins) 24.e5 d4! 25.Qg5 Re2! (Exploiting White's weak back rank. Now White sacrifices material for a fearsome-looking attack against g7, but Kamsky has calculated exactly.) 26.exf6 Rxe1+ 27.Bf1 (27.Kg2? Bf1+ 28.Kg1 Bxh3#) Rxf1+ 28.Kg2 Rg1+! 29.Kh3 (29.Kxg1? Qd1+ 30.Kg2 Qf1#) Bd7+ 30.Kh4 g6 31.Qh6 d3+ 32.Rf4 (32.Kg5? Qg4#) Qxf4+! 33.Qxf4 (33.gxf4 Rg4+ 34.Kh3 Rg5+! 35.Kh4 Rh5+ wins the queen) Rh1! 34.g4 h6! (Now White's attack is over and Black's pawns join in attacking White's king, threatening ...g5+.) 35.Kh3 (35.Qxh6? Rxh2+) g5! 36.Qd4 Rg1 37.f3 d2! 38.Qxd2 (38.Qxg1 Ba4 and Black queens) Bb5! 0-1 (39...Bf1+ will win White's queen)
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
grandmaster, and the current World Rapid Chess Champion. He is also the current United States Chess Champion
U.S. Chess Championship
The U.S. Chess Championship is an invitational tournament held to determine the national chess champion of the United States. Since 1936, it has been held under the auspices of the U.S. Chess Federation. Until 1999, the event consisted of a round-robin tournament of varying size...
. As of September 2011, he is rated No. 1 in the United States and No. 10 in the world.
Kamsky was a prodigy who reached the final of the FIDE World Chess Championship 1996
FIDE World Chess Championship 1996
The FIDE World Chess Championship 1996 was a chess tournament held by FIDE to determine the World Chess Champion.-Background:At the time the World Chess Champion title was split....
at the age of 22, and reached a ranking of fourth in the world rankings in 1996. He played almost no FIDE-rated games between 1997 and late 2004.
Kamsky won the Chess World Cup 2007
Chess World Cup 2007
The Chess World Cup 2007 served as a qualification tournament for the World Chess Championship 2009. It was held as a 128-player single-elimination tournament, between 24 November and 16 December 2007, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia....
. This earned him a match against Veselin Topalov
Veselin Topalov
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He currently has the sixth highest rating in the world, and was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2010, losing the match 6½–5½....
for the right to challenge for the World Chess Championship 2010, which he lost. Kamsky played in the Candidates Tournament to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2012, where he advanced to the semifinals before losing to Boris Gelfand
Boris Gelfand
Boris Abramovich Gelfand is a Belarus-born Israeli chess Grandmaster. He won the 2011 Candidates Tournament and will challenge Viswanathan Anand for the World Chess Championship 2012.-Biography:...
.
Early career
Kamsky was born in NovokuznetskNovokuznetsk
Novokuznetsk is a city in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia. It serves as the administrative center of Novokuznetsky District, but it is not administratively a part of it...
in Russia, in a Tatar family. Gata's last name, Kamsky, is derived from the stage nickname of his grandparents who were members of the Tatar traveling theater group. The family's "real" name is Sabirov.
He won the Soviet under-20 championship twice before 1989, and at age 12, defeated veteran Grandmaster Mark Taimanov
Mark Taimanov
Mark Evgenievich Taimanov is a leading Soviet and Russian chess player and concert pianist.-Chess:He was awarded the International Grandmaster title in 1952 and played in the Candidates Tournament in Zurich in 1953, where he tied for eighth place. From 1946 to 1956, he was among the world's top...
in a tournament game. At that time, he was possibly the youngest person to defeat a grandmaster. He also earned his National Master title in that year. In 1989 he moved to the United States with his father Röstäm (also spelled Rustam).
In 1990, while aged 16 and still untitled, he played in the 64-player Interzonal
Interzonal
Interzonal chess tournaments were tournaments organized by FIDE, the World Chess Federation, and were a stage in the triennial World Chess Championship cycle.- Zonal tournaments :...
tournament, the first step towards the World Chess Championship
World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....
. He finished with 5½ / 13.
In 1990, FIDE awarded Kamsky the grandmaster title. In 1991, he won the U.S. Championship
U.S. Chess Championship
The U.S. Chess Championship is an invitational tournament held to determine the national chess champion of the United States. Since 1936, it has been held under the auspices of the U.S. Chess Federation. Until 1999, the event consisted of a round-robin tournament of varying size...
.
Kamsky also did well at other prestigious chess tournaments, winning the Las Palmas tournament in 1994.
World Championship Candidate (1993-96)
In 1993, the rival organisations FIDE and PCAProfessional Chess Association
The Professional Chess Association , which existed between 1993 and 1996, was a rival organisation to FIDE, the international chess organization...
each held Interzonal tournaments. Kamsky played in both, and in both cases qualified for the respective Candidates Tournament
Candidates Tournament
The Candidates Tournament is a chess tournament organized by the world chess federation FIDE since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship...
s. The Candidates tournaments were largely dominated by Kamsky and Viswanathan Anand
Viswanathan Anand
V. Anand or Anand Viswanathan, usually referred as Viswanathan Anand, is an Indian chess Grandmaster, the current World Chess Champion, and currently second highest rated player in the world....
.
In the first round of the 1994-95 FIDE Candidates matches
FIDE World Chess Championship 1996
The FIDE World Chess Championship 1996 was a chess tournament held by FIDE to determine the World Chess Champion.-Background:At the time the World Chess Champion title was split....
, Kamsky beat Paul van der Sterren
Paul van der Sterren
Paul van der Sterren is a Dutch chess grandmaster. He won the Dutch Chess Championship twice, in 1985 and 1993...
(+3=3−1). Kamsky's quarter-final match against Anand, held in July and August 1994 in Sanghi Nagar
Sanghi Nagar
Sanghi Nagar is suburb of Hyderabad, IndiaSanghi Nagar is an Industrial complex setup by the . The has been built around the heavenly temple over a hill. Industries belonging to the surround the temple as though it is being blessed by the Almighty. The temple is a treat to watch especially at...
, India, was more dramatic. After draws in the first two games, Anand won the next two games to take an imposing 3–1 lead. Game 5 was drawn. Kamsky then scored 2½–½ in the remaining three games to tie the match 4–4 (+2=4−2), then won the two rapid chess playoff games to win the match. In the semi-final, held in Sanghi Nagar in February 1995, Kamsky routed Valery Salov
Valery Salov
Valery Salov is a Russian chess grandmaster.Salov was awarded the International Master title in 1984 and the Grandmaster title in 1986. He was the World under-17 Champion in 1980 and European Junior Champion in 1983-84...
5½–1½ (+4=3−0).
In the 1994-95 PCA Candidates matches, Kamsky beat Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...
in the quarter-finals in New York in June, 1994. In September, 1994 Kamsky beat Nigel Short
Nigel Short
Nigel David Short MBE is an English chess grandmaster earning the title at the age of 19. Short is often regarded as the strongest English player of the 20th century as he was ranked third in the world, from January 1988 – July 1989 and in 1993, he challenged Garry Kasparov for the World Chess...
in the semi-finals in Linares, Spain. In the March 1995 final against Anand in Las Palmas, the FIDE result was reversed, with Kamsky losing (+1=7−3).
In the September 1994 match against Short, there was a highly publicized confrontation between Kamsky's father, Rustam Kamsky, and Short.
In 1996, Kamsky played a 20-game match against Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once...
for the FIDE World Chess Championship 1996
FIDE World Chess Championship 1996
The FIDE World Chess Championship 1996 was a chess tournament held by FIDE to determine the World Chess Champion.-Background:At the time the World Chess Champion title was split....
title at Elista
Elista
-Twin towns/sister cities:Elista is twinned with the following sister cities. Howell, New Jersey, United States Lhasa, Tibet, China. Ulan-Ude, Buryat Republic, Russia-See also:*Geden Sheddup Choikorling Monastery*Burkhan Bakshin Altan Sume-External links:...
in Kalmykia
Kalmykia
The Republic of Kalmykia is a federal subject of Russia . Population: It is the only Buddhist region in Europe. It has also become well-known as an international chess mecca because its former President, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, is the head of the International Chess Federation .-Geography:*Area:...
, losing 7½–10½ (+3=9−6).
Inactivity (1996–2004)
After losing the match to Karpov, Kamsky gave up chess. He graduated from Brooklyn CollegeBrooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
in 1999. Later he attended medical school for a year. He then attended and graduated from law school at Touro Law Center in New York.
Kamsky's next rated
Elo rating system
The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in two-player games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-born American physics professor....
games after his loss to Karpov were in 1999, when he returned to play in the FIDE Knockout World Championship event in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
, where he played a first-round, two-game match against the eventual tournament winner, Alexander Khalifman
Alexander Khalifman
Alexander Valeryevich Khalifman is a Soviet and Russian chess Grandmaster of Jewish descent; he is also a former FIDE champion.When Khalifman was 6 years old, he was taught chess by his father....
. Kamsky won the first game, lost the second game, and then lost the rapid play-off games.
Comeback (2004 onwards)
Kamsky disappeared from the world of chess for eight years, except for a two game match in 1999. The first sighting of Kamsky after that came in March 2004 when ChessBaseChessBase
ChessBase GmbH is a German company that markets chess software, maintains a chess news site, and operates a server for online chess. Set up in 1998, it maintains and sells massive databases, containing most historic games, that permit analysis that had not been possible prior to computing...
reported that Sam Sloan had spoken to him.
Kamsky did not play another game in public until June 15, 2004, when he participated in the 106th New York Masters, playing four games in a day with a time control of 30 minutes for all his moves. His two wins and two draws were enough for him to tie for first place with four others. He subsequently played in several other editions of the weekly event with mixed success, before returning to regular chess in the 2005 U.S. Championship held in November–December 2004 where he scored a respectable but unspectacular 5½-3½. He was rated number 19 in the world on the April 2005 FIDE Elo rating list, at 2700. He retained this rating on the July 2005 list, but moved up to number 18, after a good unbeaten result at the 2005 HB Global Challenge tournament, held in Minneapolis in May, 2005.
He has since returned to international chess, most notably finishing second behind Veselin Topalov
Veselin Topalov
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He currently has the sixth highest rating in the world, and was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2010, losing the match 6½–5½....
at the M-Tel Masters
M-tel Masters
M-Tel Masters is an annual super-GM chess tournament held since 2005 in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, sponsored and organized by the leading Bulgarian mobile network operator, M-Tel. According to the regulations, each of the six participants plays two games against every other, thus making it a...
event. Soon after, Kamsky led the US team to the bronze medal at the 2006 Chess Olympiad in Turin. On July 4, 2006, he tied for first place with nine others at the Philadelphia World Open, then won the play-off, winning about $7,000. A number of successes in 2007 marked his return to the playing level he had before his retirement, hinting at the possibility of becoming again a challenger for the very top of the world's chess hierarchy.
Kamsky played in the FIDE Chess World Cup 2005
Chess World Cup 2005
The Chess World Cup 2005 served as a qualification tournament for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2007. It was held as a 128-player tournament, between 27 November and 17 December 2005, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia....
, and qualified for the Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship 2007
World Chess Championship 2007
The World Chess Championship 2007 was held in Mexico City, from September 12, 2007 to September 30, 2007 to decide the world champion in the board game chess. It was an eight-player, double round robin tournament....
, in May–June 2007. He won his first round match against Étienne Bacrot
Étienne Bacrot
Étienne Bacrot is a French chess grandmaster and currently ranked number one in France.He started playing at 4; by 10 young Bacrot was already winning junior competitions and in 1996, at 13 years of age, he won against Vasily Smyslov...
(+3-0=1), but was eliminated when he lost his second round match to Boris Gelfand
Boris Gelfand
Boris Abramovich Gelfand is a Belarus-born Israeli chess Grandmaster. He won the 2011 Candidates Tournament and will challenge Viswanathan Anand for the World Chess Championship 2012.-Biography:...
+0-2=3.
In November–December 2007, Kamsky participated in the Chess World Cup 2007
Chess World Cup 2007
The Chess World Cup 2007 served as a qualification tournament for the World Chess Championship 2009. It was held as a 128-player single-elimination tournament, between 24 November and 16 December 2007, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia....
. Seeded 11th, he won his first three rounds and then defeated Peter Svidler
Peter Svidler
Peter Veniaminovich Svidler is a Russian chess grandmaster.He is six-time Russian champion ....
, former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov
Ruslan Ponomariov
Ruslan Olegovich Ponomariov is a Ukrainian chess player and former FIDE World Champion.-Early career:Ponomariov was born in Horlivka in Ukraine. In 1994 he placed third in the World Under-12 Championship at the age of ten. In 1996 he won the European Under-18 Championship at the age of just...
and future world-number one Magnus Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess Grandmaster and chess prodigy who is currently the number-one ranked player in the world. In January 2010 he became the seventh player ranked number one in the world on the official FIDE rating list...
to reach the finals. In the final he defeated Alexei Shirov
Alexei Shirov
Alexei Dmitrievich Shirov is a Soviet-born Latvian chess grandmaster. He has consistently ranked among the world's top players since the early 1990s, and reached a ranking as high as number four in 1998...
(+1-0=3) to win the title, shocking many in the chess world.
Kamsky's victory earned him a match against world number-one Veselin Topalov
Veselin Topalov
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He currently has the sixth highest rating in the world, and was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2010, losing the match 6½–5½....
in 2009 for the right to challenge for the World Chess Championship 2010 against world champion Viswanathan Anand
Viswanathan Anand
V. Anand or Anand Viswanathan, usually referred as Viswanathan Anand, is an Indian chess Grandmaster, the current World Chess Champion, and currently second highest rated player in the world....
. The match was held in Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, Bulgaria, in February 2009. Although Kamsky won game four to level the match 2-2, Topalov scored +2 in the final 3 games (including an exciting last round victory on the White side of the French Defense) to win the match 4½ - 2½.
Kamsky played board one for the United States in the 2008 Chess Olympiad, held in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, Germany in November. The U.S. team captured the bronze medals.
Kamsky participated in the Chess World Cup 2009
Chess World Cup 2009
The Chess World Cup 2009 was a 128-player single-elimination tournament, played between 20 November and 14 December 2009, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The Cup winner qualified for the Candidates stage of the World Chess Championship 2011. Boris Gelfand defeated Ruslan Ponomariov in the...
but was upset in the third round by Wesley So
Wesley So
Wesley So is a Filipino chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he achieved the GM title at the age of 14 years, 1 month and 28 days, making him the 8th youngest person to achieve the Grandmaster title in the history of chess. Before becoming a Grandmaster, So had become the youngest Filipino...
.
In January 2010 Kamsky won the 52nd Reggio Emilia chess tournament
Reggio Emilia chess tournament
The Reggio Emilia chess tournament is a chess tournament played in Reggio Emilia, Italy. In Italian the tournament is called Torneo di Capodanno , as it starts just after Christmas and ends on the day of Epiphany...
(he came equal first with Zoltán Almási
Zoltan Almasi
Zoltán Almási is a Grandmaster of chess from Hungary. He is a seven-time Hungarian Chess Champion, winning in 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2008...
, defeating him in the last round, but had a better Buchholz tiebreak). In May 2010 he tied for 1st-3rd with Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...
and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Shakhriyar Hamid oglu Mammadyarov , also known for his Shah nickname, is a chess Grandmaster. On the September 2010 FIDE rating list he was ranked number nine in the world with an Elo rating of 2756....
in the President's Cup in Baku.
In May 2010, Kamsky participated in the 2010 U.S. Championship
U.S. Chess Championship
The U.S. Chess Championship is an invitational tournament held to determine the national chess champion of the United States. Since 1936, it has been held under the auspices of the U.S. Chess Federation. Until 1999, the event consisted of a round-robin tournament of varying size...
, where he was seeded second behind defending champion Hikaru Nakamura
Hikaru Nakamura
Hikaru Nakamura is an American chess Grandmaster . He has been ranked among the top six players in the world by FIDE....
. He scored 5/7 to qualify for the round-robin stage against Nakamura, 2006 champion Alexander Onischuk
Alexander Onischuk
Alexander Onischuk is an American chess grandmaster. Originally from Ukraine, he immigrated to the US in 2001 and currently lives in Northern Virginia. He was the 2006 U.S. Chess Champion...
, and 2008 champion Yuri Shulman. In the round-robin stage, he drew Nakamura with black and then defeated Onischuk on the White side of the Ruy Lopez
Ruy Lopez
The Ruy Lopez, also called the Spanish Opening or Spanish Game, is a chess opening characterised by the moves:-History:The opening is named after the 16th century Spanish priest Ruy López de Segura, who made a systematic study of this and other openings in the 150-page book on chess Libro del...
. He became U.S. Champion on May 25, 2010, after winning a rapid playoff game with second place finisher Yury Shulman
Yury Shulman
Yuri Shulman is a Belarusian American chess grandmaster. He also goes by the alternate spelling of "Yury Shulman."-Chess career:Shulman started formal chess lessons with coach Tamara Golovey when he was six years old. He went on to study under International Master Albert Kapengut at age 12, and...
. This championship, Kamsky's second, came 19 years after he won his first U.S. championship.
In August 2010, Kamsky won clear first at the World Rapid Chess Championship (Mainz Chess Classic), a Rapid Chess tournament with 10/11, defeating world No. 5 and defending champion Levon Aronian
Levon Aronian
Levon Grigor Aronian is an Armenian chess Grandmaster and the reigning World Blitz Chess Champion. On the September 2011 FIDE list, he has an Elo rating of 2807, making him number three in the world and Armenia's number one...
, 2004 FIDE champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov
Rustam Kasimdzhanov
Rustam Kasimdzhanov is an Uzbekistani chess Grandmaster, best known for winning the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004. He was born in Tashkent, in the former Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic...
, and Sergey Karjakin
Sergey Karjakin
Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was a chess prodigy and holds the record for both the youngest International Master, eleven years and eleven months, and grandmaster in history, at the age of twelve years and seven months...
en route to the title ahead of Grischuk
Alexander Grischuk
Alexander Igorevich Grischuk is a Russian chess grandmaster and Russian Champion in 2009.-Chess career:In the FIDE World Chess Championship 2000, Grischuk he made it to the semifinals, losing to Alexei Shirov....
, Shirov and several other strong Grandmasters.
From August 23 through August 31, Kamsky participated in the Baku Open in Azerbaijan, where he was the top seed. He won his final three games to clinch clear first with 7½/9.
From April 13 through April 18, 2011, Kamsky participated in the United States Championship, where he was the top seed. He won the tournament for the second consecutive year, becoming the first player since Lev Alburt
Lev Alburt
Lev Osipovich Alburt is a chess Grandmaster and a well-respected chess writer. He was three-time Ukrainian Champion, and after defecting to the United States in 1979, became three-time U.S. Champion.-Career:...
in 1985 to win consecutive U.S. Championships; the title was his third career United States Championship.
As a finalist of the 2010 world championship cycle, Kamsky was given direct entry to the eight player Candidates Tournament
Candidates Tournament
The Candidates Tournament is a chess tournament organized by the world chess federation FIDE since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship...
to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2012. The candidates tournament began with best-of-four game match format in May 2011 in Kazan, with Kamsky facing Veselin Topalov
Veselin Topalov
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He currently has the sixth highest rating in the world, and was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2010, losing the match 6½–5½....
in the quarterfinals. With a win on the Black side of the Gruenfeld defense in the second game, Kamsky held on to defeat the top-seeded Topalov 2.5-1.5 to advance to the semifinals. In the semifinals, he faced the 2009 Chess World Cup champion Boris Gelfand
Boris Gelfand
Boris Abramovich Gelfand is a Belarus-born Israeli chess Grandmaster. He won the 2011 Candidates Tournament and will challenge Viswanathan Anand for the World Chess Championship 2012.-Biography:...
in a rematch of their 2007 Candidates tournament meeting won by Gelfand. After four games, the match was tied at 2-2, with rapid tiebreaks to decide the winner on May 16. In the rapid tiebreaks, Kamsky won game 3 with black to take a 2-1 lead and needed only a draw with white in the final rapid game to advance to the final. However, Gelfand won with black to force a blitz playoff, which he won 2-0 to eliminate Kamsky and reach the Candidates final.
Notable tournament victories
- Buffalo Open 1989
- Tilburg 1990
- U.S. Championship, 1991
- Philadelphia 1991
- Buenos Aires 1993
- Las Palmas 1994
- Dos Hermanas 1995
- New York 2006
- Philadelphia 2006
- Mashantucket 2007
- Khanty-Mansiysk 2007 World CupChess World Cup 2007The Chess World Cup 2007 served as a qualification tournament for the World Chess Championship 2009. It was held as a 128-player single-elimination tournament, between 24 November and 16 December 2007, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia....
- Las Vegas 2008 Open
- Reggio EmiliaReggio Emilia chess tournamentThe Reggio Emilia chess tournament is a chess tournament played in Reggio Emilia, Italy. In Italian the tournament is called Torneo di Capodanno , as it starts just after Christmas and ends on the day of Epiphany...
2010 - U.S. Championship, 2010
- Rapid World Championship, Mainz 2010
- Baku Open, 2010
- U.S. Championship, 2011
- Philadelphia 2011
World championship matches and qualifiers
- FIDE WCC Candidates Match 1994, Wijk aan Zee, Kamsky-van der Sterren (4½-2½)
- FIDE WCC Candidates Match 1994, Sanghi Nagar, Kamsky-Anand (6-4)
- PCA WCC Candidates Match 1994, New York, Kamsky-Kramnik (4½-1½)
- PCA WCC Candidates Match 1994, Linares, Kamsky-Short (5½-1½)
- FIDE WCC Candidates Match 1995, Sanghi Nagar, Kamsky-Salov (5½-1½)
- PCA WCC Candidates Match 1995, Las Palmas, Kamsky-Anand (4½-6½)
- FIDE World Chess Championship 1996FIDE World Chess Championship 1996The FIDE World Chess Championship 1996 was a chess tournament held by FIDE to determine the World Chess Champion.-Background:At the time the World Chess Champion title was split....
, Elista, Kamsky-Karpov (7½-10½) - FIDE WCC Knockout 1999 Second Round, Las Vegas, Kamsky-Khalifman (1½-2½)
- WCC Candidates Match 2007 Round 1, Elista, Kamsky-Bacrot (3½-½)
- WCC Candidates Match 2007 Round 2, Elista, Kamsky-Gelfand (1½-3½)
- Chess World Cup 2007Chess World Cup 2007The Chess World Cup 2007 served as a qualification tournament for the World Chess Championship 2009. It was held as a 128-player single-elimination tournament, between 24 November and 16 December 2007, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia....
Quarterfinals, Khanty-Mansiysk, Kamsky-Ponomariov (1½-0½) - Chess World Cup 2007 Semifinals, Khanty-Mansiysk, Kamsky-Carlsen (1½-0½)
- Chess World Cup 2007 Championship Match, Khanty-Mansiysk, Kamsky-Shirov (2½-1½)
- WCC Candidates Match 2009, Sofia, Kamsky-Topalov (2½-4½)
- WCC Candidates Match 2011 Quarterfinals, Kazan, Kamsky-Topalov (2½-1½)
- WCC Candidates Match 2011 Semifinals, Kazan, Kamsky-Gelfand [2-2 (2-4)]
Illustrative game
Here Kamsky, as Black, crushes future World Champion Kramnik en route to winning their 1994 Candidates match:Kramnik-Kamsky, World Championship Quarter-Finals Match, New York 1994
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.g3 O-O 5.Bg2 c5 6.O-O Nc6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Qe7 9.Nc2 (White allows Black to ruin his pawn structure, and soon sacrifices one of his weak c-pawns. He hopes that his two bishops will give him sufficient compensation, but will find that he is unable to use them effectively.) Bxc3 10.bxc3 Rd8 11.Ba3 d6 12.Rb1 Qc7 13.Nd4 Nxd4 14.cxd4 Qxc4 15.Qd2 Qa6 16.Rb3 Rb8 17.e4 Bd7 18.Rf3 (trying to get play on the king-side, but Kamsky's pieces now overrun the queen-side) Ba4! (disdaining 18...Nxe4 19.Qf4 f5 20.g4 opening lines for White's pieces) 19.Re1 Rbc8 20.Bf1 Bb5 21.Bh3 Qa4 22.d5 Rc2 23.Qe3? exd5 (White is in deep trouble. If now 24.exd5? Re8 wins) 24.e5 d4! 25.Qg5 Re2! (Exploiting White's weak back rank. Now White sacrifices material for a fearsome-looking attack against g7, but Kamsky has calculated exactly.) 26.exf6 Rxe1+ 27.Bf1 (27.Kg2? Bf1+ 28.Kg1 Bxh3#) Rxf1+ 28.Kg2 Rg1+! 29.Kh3 (29.Kxg1? Qd1+ 30.Kg2 Qf1#) Bd7+ 30.Kh4 g6 31.Qh6 d3+ 32.Rf4 (32.Kg5? Qg4#) Qxf4+! 33.Qxf4 (33.gxf4 Rg4+ 34.Kh3 Rg5+! 35.Kh4 Rh5+ wins the queen) Rh1! 34.g4 h6! (Now White's attack is over and Black's pawns join in attacking White's king, threatening ...g5+.) 35.Kh3 (35.Qxh6? Rxh2+) g5! 36.Qd4 Rg1 37.f3 d2! 38.Qxd2 (38.Qxg1 Ba4 and Black queens) Bb5! 0-1 (39...Bf1+ will win White's queen)
External links
- Gata Kamsky International Chess & Sports Foundation, Kamsky's official website.
- Gata Kamsky at 365Chess.com
- OlimpBase
- Kamsky biography at chessdom.com
- A Father's Pawn, Article by Fred Waitzkin about Kamsky . Dated 13 May 1990.