Garry Kasparov (b. 1963): playing style, games and openings

13th World Champion, 1985–2000. Dynamic initiative backed by the deepest opening preparation of his era: he fought for the initiative from the first moves.

b. 1963 · Known for: Dynamic initiative · 2,117 games in the collection

Explore Garry Kasparov's games in the analyzer Compare with your own games

Playing style: Solid / prophylactic

Keeps the king safe, avoids early adventures and is hard to beat, at the cost of more draws.

Aggression 42 / 100

Risk-taking 32 / 100

Endgame bias 35 / 100

Solidity 72 / 100

Simplification 39 / 100

These scores come from the 1,623 games used for the style profile (classical-length games), measured the same way the analyzer measures your own games.

Results

Garry Kasparov scored 756 wins, 748 draws and 119 losses (70% score) in 1623 games.

With White: 489 wins, 340 draws and 35 losses (76% score) in 864 games.
With Black: 267 wins, 408 draws and 84 losses (62% score) in 759 games.

Favourite openings

As White

Sicilian Defense: 110 games, 74% score
Queen's Gambit Declined: 88 games, 78% score
Ruy Lopez: 74 games, 68% score
English Opening: 67 games, 72% score
Nimzo-Indian Defense: 67 games, 76% score
Queen's Indian Defense: 66 games, 73% score

As Black

Sicilian Defense: 263 games, 63% score
King's Indian Defense: 124 games, 63% score
Grünfeld Defense: 91 games, 54% score
Queen's Gambit Declined: 68 games, 62% score
English Opening: 54 games, 67% score
Queen's Pawn Game: 22 games, 86% score

A famous game

Kasparov's Immortal (Topalov, Veselin vs Kasparov, Gary, 0-1, 1999) — replay it move by move and see Stockfish's verdict.