Kasparov

On April 13th, 1963 Garry Kasparov was born Garik Kimovich Weinstein (Russian: Гарик Вайнштейн). He was born in Baku, Azerbaijan (former Soviet Republic) to Kim Moiseyevich Weinstein and Klara Shagenovna Kasparov.  Kasparov figured out how the chess pieces move simply by watching his parents play; Kim and Klara, both engineers, were astonished when their 5-year-old son offered them a solution to a chess problem published in the local newspaper. Garry’s father, who died two years later, did not see his son become the greatest prodigy in chess history. Klara Shagenovna dedicated her life to Garry’s chess career.

    

At 10, he began training at the Mikhail Botvinnik Soviet chess school. He was first coached by Vladimir Andreevich Makogonov and later by Alexander Shakarov.