Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov (born 1963) dominated world chess from 1985 to 2005, holding the number one ranking for 225 of 228 consecutive months — the most commanding reign in FIDE rating history. He became the youngest undisputed World Chess Champion at age 22, defeating Anatoly Karpov in a grinding 1985 title match, and went on to defend his title five times against the world's strongest challengers. His peak rating of 2851 stood as the all-time record for fifteen years, and his 1997 match against IBM's Deep Blue — the first time a reigning champion lost a match to a computer — remains one of the defining moments in both chess and technology history.