Player Profile: Gata Kamsky

Full Name: Gata Kamsky

Peak FIDE Rating: 2763 achieved in 2013

Active Since: Gata Kamsky has been active in Chess since 1986. He took a break from 1996 but returned to the game in 2004. 

Federation: United States of America

Player description:

“I wanted to live the life of a normal kid,” these are the words of Gata Kamsky. Wondering why he said that? Gata did not take up Chess willingly. It was his father who threatened and beat him in his childhood to take up the game, and then he did not look back. Neither he nor his father, Rustom, knew anything about Chess, and they moved to the United States, where Gata could focus and become a better player at Chess. 

Talking about his life, Gata started his Chess career at the age of 12, and he learned the game out of compulsion from his father. That did not stop him from being so good at it. At the age of 12, he defeated veteran Grandmaster Mark Taimanov and earned the title of National Master, the same year. He won the Soviet Under-20 DChampionship in 1987 and 1988. 

He, along with his father, Rustom, moved to the USA in 1989. It was Allen Kaufman who arranged for their support, and Businessman James Cayne provided financial assistance. In the same year, he won a tournament in New York to challenge Garry Kasparov to a two-game match. 

In 1990, Kamsky was awarded the Grandmaster title by FIDE, and soon after that, he won the US Championship. Continuing his career, Kamsky played in both interzonal tournaments held by FIDE and PCA and qualified for the Candidates tournament in both matches. He dominated the Candidates tournament along with Vishwanathan Anand. He defeated the Indian Grandmaster in 1994 before losing to him in 1995. 

In 1996, Kamsky played a 20-match game against Anatoly Karpov for the World Championship title, but unfortunately, Karpov had the last laugh as he went on to win the game quite comfortably. 

For Gata Kamsky, studies were always on top of his mind, and that is why he left professional Chess and graduated from Brooklyn College with a B.A degree in 1999. Post that. He graduated from Law School at Touro Law centre in New York. He played in the FIDE Knockout World Championship in 1999 before going out in the wilderness yet again. 

Kamsky returned to the game in 2004 after Sam Sloan convinced him to come back. He returned to regular chess in the 2005 US Championship. In 2006, Gata led the US Team to a Bronze medal in the 2006 Chess Olympiad. Another one of his finest achievements was winning the Chess World Cup in 2007 after he defeated Alexei Shirov in the final. Kamsky’s rise continued as he became the US Champion in 2010. 

Career Scorecard:

Games Played: 1903

Games Played as White: 939, Won: 487. Lost: 78, Draw: 374

Games Played as Black: 964, Won: 344, Lost: 145, Draw: 475

World Championship Cycles Appearances:

FIDE World Cups and Championships: 1996 and 2007

National Championships: 

Kamsky won the US Championship in 1991, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2014.

Olympiad Medals:

Kamsky won two bronze medals with the USA team in the Chess Olympiad in 2006 and 2008:

Tournaments won:

• Buffalo Open, 1989

• Tilburg, 1990

• World Open, 1991

• US Championship, 1991

• Chess World Cup, 2007

• US Championship, 2010

• Rapid World Championship, 2010

• World Open, 2011

• US Championship, 2011

• US Championship, 2013

• US Championship, 2014

• The 8th New York International, 2015

• The 54th Biel Chess Festival Triathlon, 2021

Memorable Games: 

1: Gata Kamsy had many memorable games in his career, but his World Championship game against Anatoly Karpov in 1996 was the best among them all. He was the first American player since Bobby Fischer to compete for the FIDE World Championship. The match against Karpov was played in a best-of-20 format, with the first to reach 10.5 points winning the game. The first game was won by Karpov before Kamsky came storming back in the second. Both were going neck and neck, and it was a close game, but Karpov overtook Kamsky in the later stages to take the win. 

2: Gata Kamsky vs Magnus Carlsen in the 2007 Chess World Cup: Kamsky faced the future legend, Magnus Carlsen, in the semi-final and defeated him, but it was far from easy for the American. Kamsky handled the technical segment of the game beautifully and outmaneuvered Carlsen, which never allowed the Norwegian to mix up the position. Kamsky regained the advantage and never gave up. 

Who would have thought that a player who was forced to take up Chess by his father would become a legend of the game? Nobody did, but that is what Gata Kamsky became. He has etched his name among the legends of the game, and even though he wanted to live a normal life, he has achieved RESPECT. Apart from Chess, Kamsky also fulfilled his dream of finishing his studies, and he continued to pursue Chess despite being under so much duress. Hats off to Kamsky.