Garry Kasparov on Garry Kasparov, Part 1 is the first book in a major
new three-volume series. This series will be unique by the fact that it
will record the greatest chess battles played by the greatest
chessplayer of all-time. The series in itself is a continuation of
Kasparov's mammoth history of chess, comprising My Great Predecessors
and Modern Chess. Kasparov's historical volumes have received great
critical and public acclaim for their rigorous analysis and
comprehensive detail regarding the developments in chess that occurred
both on and off the board.. This new volume and series continues in this
vein with Kasparov scrutinising his most fascinating encounters from the
period 1973-1985 whilst also charting his development away from the
board. This period opens with the emergence of a major new chess star
from Baku and ends with Kasparov's first clash with reigning world
champion Anatoly Karpov - a mammoth encounter that stretched out over
six months. It had been known in Russia for some time that Kasparov had
an extraordinary talent but the first time that this talent was
unleashed on the western world was in 1979. The Russian Chess Federation
had received an invitation for a player to participate in a tournament
at Banja Luka and, under the impression that this was a junior event,
sent along the fifteen year old Kasparov (as yet without even an
international rating!). Far from being a junior tournament, Banja Luka
was actually a major international event featuring numerous world class
grandmasters. Undeterred Kasparov stormed to first place, scoring
111/2/15 and finishing two points clear of the field. Over the next
decade this 'broad daylight' between Kasparov and the rest of the field
was to become a familiar sight in the world's leading tournaments.
