Gata Kamsky

2 World Championship Candidate

(199396)

Gata Kamsky (Tatar: ata Kamski; ;

Russian: ; born June 2, 1974) is an
American chess grandmaster, and a ve-time U.S. champion.

In 1993, the rival organisations FIDE and PCA each held

Interzonal tournaments. Kamsky played in both, and in
both cases qualied for the respective Candidates Tournaments. The Candidates tournaments were largely dominated by Kamsky and Viswanathan Anand.

Kamsky reached the nal of the FIDE World Chess

Championship 1996 at the age of 22, and reached a
ranking of fourth in the world rankings in 1995.[1] He
played almost no FIDE-rated games between 1997 and
late 2004.

In the rst round of the 199495 FIDE Candidates

matches, Kamsky beat Paul van der Sterren (+3=31).
Kamskys quarter-nal match against Anand, held in July
and August 1994 in Sanghi Nagar, India, was more dramatic. After draws in the rst two games, Anand won
the next two games to take an imposing 31 lead. Game
5 was drawn. Kamsky then scored 2 in the remaining three games to tie the match 44 (+2=42), then won
the two rapid chess playo games to win the match. In the
seminal, held in Sanghi Nagar in February 1995, Kamsky routed Valery Salov 51 (+4=30).

Kamsky won the Chess World Cup 2007. This earned

him a match against Veselin Topalov as a Candidates
Match which he lost.[2] Kamsky also competed at the
Candidates Tournament in 2011 losing to Boris Gelfand.

In the 199495 PCA Candidates matches, Kamsky beat

Vladimir Kramnik in the quarter-nals in New York in
June, 1994. In September, 1994 Kamsky beat Nigel
Short in the seminals in Linares, Spain. In the March
1995 nal against Anand in Las Palmas, the FIDE result
Kamsky was born in Novokuznetsk in Russia, in a Tatar was reversed, with Kamsky losing (+1=73).
family. Gatas last name, Kamsky, is derived from the
stage nickname of his grandfather Gataullah Kamsky In the September 1994 match against Short, there was a
Sabirov, the founder of the Tatar Drama Theater in highly publicized confrontation between Kamskys father,
Rustam Kamsky, and Short.[9][10]
Kazan.[3][4]

Early career

In 1996, Kamsky played a 20-game match against

Anatoly Karpov for the FIDE World Chess Championship 1996 title at Elista in Kalmykia, losing 710
(+3=96).

At age 12 he defeated veteran Grandmaster Mark

Taimanov in a tournament game. He also earned his
National Master title in that year. He won the Soviet
under-20 championship in 1987 and 1988.[5][6] In 1989
he moved to the United States with his father Rstm
(also spelled Rustam), a former boxer who dominated
Gata, made him study chess almost exclusively and acted
as his coach and manager. Businessman James Cayne
provided nancial support to the Kamskys.[7]

3 Inactivity (19962004)
After losing the match to Karpov, Kamsky gave up chess.
He graduated from Brooklyn College in 1999.[11] He then
attended and graduated from law school at Touro Law
Center in New York.

In 1989, Gata Kamsky won a tournament in New York to

earn the right to challenge Garry Kasparov to a two-game
match; he lost that match later that year 02.[7] In 1990,
while aged 16 and still untitled, he played in the 64-player
Interzonal tournament in Manila, the rst step towards the
World Chess Championship. He nished with 5 / 13.[8]

Kamskys next rated games after his loss to Karpov were

in 1999, when he returned to play in the FIDE Knockout World Championship event in Las Vegas, where he
In 1990, FIDE awarded Kamsky the grandmaster title. In played a rst-round, two-game match against the even1991, he won the U.S. Championship. Kamsky also did tual tournament winner, Alexander Khalifman. Kamsky
well at other prestigious chess tournaments, winning the won the rst game, lost the second game, and then lost
Las Palmas tournament in 1994.
the rapid play-o games.
1

Comeback (2004 onwards)

COMEBACK (2004 ONWARDS)

November. The U.S. team captured the bronze medals.

Kamsky participated in the Chess World Cup 2009 but
was upset in the third round by Wesley So.

Kamsky retired from the world of chess for eight years,

except for a two-game match in 1999. The rst sighting of In January 2010 Kamsky won the 52nd Reggio Emilia
Kamsky after that came in March 2004 when ChessBase chess tournament (he came equal rst with Zoltn
Almsi, defeating him in the last round, but had a better
reported that Sam Sloan had spoken to him.[12]
Buchholz tiebreak).[14] In May 2010 he tied for 1st3rd
Kamsky did not play another game in public until June with Vladimir Kramnik and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in
15, 2004, when he participated in the 106th New York the Presidents Cup in Baku.[15]
Masters,[13] playing four games in a day with a time control of 30 minutes for all his moves. His two wins and He became U.S. Champion on May 25, 2010, after wintwo draws were enough for him to tie for rst place with ning a rapid playo game with second-place nisher Yury
four others. He subsequently played in several other edi- Shulman. This championship, Kamskys second, came
tions of the weekly event with mixed success, before re- 19 years after he won his rst U.S. championship.
turning to regular chess in the 2005 U.S. Championship In August 2010, Kamsky won clear rst at the Open
held in NovemberDecember 2004 where he scored a re- Grenke Rapid World Championship (Mainz Chess Classpectable but unspectacular 53. He was rated num- sic), a Rapid Chess tournament, with 10/11, defeatber 19 in the world on the April 2005 FIDE Elo rating ing world No. 5 and defending champion Levon Arolist, at 2700. He retained this rating on the July 2005 list, nian, 2004 FIDE champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov, and
but moved up to number 18, after a good unbeaten re- Sergey Karjakin en route to the title ahead of Grischuk,
sult at the 2005 HB Global Challenge tournament, held Shirov and several other strong Grandmasters.[16]
in Minneapolis in May, 2005.
From August 23 through August 31, Kamsky participated
He has since returned to international chess, most no- in the Baku Open in Azerbaijan, where he was the top
tably nishing second behind Veselin Topalov at the M- seed. He won his nal three games to clinch clear rst
Tel Masters event. Soon after, Kamsky led the US team with 7/9.[17]
to the bronze medal at the 2006 Chess Olympiad in Turin.
On July 4, 2006, he tied for rst place with nine others From April 13 through April 18, 2011, Kamsky particiat the Philadelphia World Open, then won the play-o, pated in the United States Championship, where he was
winning about $7,000. A number of successes in 2007 the top seed. He won the tournament for the second conmarked his return to the playing level he had before his secutive year, becoming the rst player since Lev Alburt
retirement, hinting at the possibility of becoming again a in 1985 to win consecutive U.S. Championships; the title
challenger for the very top of the worlds chess hierarchy. was his third career United States Championship.
Kamsky played in the FIDE Chess World Cup 2005, and As a nalist of the 2010 world championship cycle, Kamqualied for the Candidates Tournament for the World sky was given direct entry to the eight player Candidates
Chess Championship 2007, in MayJune 2007. He won Tournament to determine the challenger for the World
his rst round match against tienne Bacrot (+30=1), Chess Championship 2012. The candidates tournament
but was eliminated when he lost his second round match began with best-of-four game match format in May 2011
in Kazan, with Kamsky facing Veselin Topalov in the
to Boris Gelfand +02=3.
quarternals.[18] With a win on the Black side of the
In NovemberDecember 2007, Kamsky participated in Gruenfeld defense in the second game, Kamsky held on
the Chess World Cup 2007. Seeded 11th, he won his to defeat the top-seeded Topalov 21 to advance to
rst three rounds and then defeated Peter Svidler, for- the seminals.[19][20] In the seminals, he faced the 2009
mer FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov and fu- Chess World Cup champion Boris Gelfand in a rematch
ture world number-one Magnus Carlsen to reach the - of their 2007 Candidates tournament meeting won by
nals. In the nal he defeated Alexei Shirov (+10=3) to Gelfand. After four games, the match was tied at 22,
win the title, shocking many in the chess world.
with rapid tiebreaks to decide the winner on May 16. In
Kamskys victory earned him a match against world the rapid tiebreaks, Kamsky won game 3 with black to
number-one Veselin Topalov in 2009 for the right to chal- take a 21 lead and needed only a draw with white in
lenge for the World Chess Championship 2010 against the nal rapid game to advance to the nal. However,
world champion Viswanathan Anand. The match was Gelfand won with black to force a blitz playo, which he
held in Soa, Bulgaria, in February 2009. Although Kam- won 20 to eliminate Kamsky and reach the Candidates
sky won game four to level the match 22, Topalov scored nal.
+2 in the nal 3 games (including an exciting last round In May 2012, Kamsky participated in the 2012 U.S.
victory on the White side of the French Defense) to win Championship, where he was seeded second behind dethe match 42.
fending champion Hikaru Nakamura. He scored 5/7 to
Kamsky played board one for the United States in the qualify for the round-robin stage against Nakamura, 2006
2008 Chess Olympiad, held in Dresden, Germany in champion Alexander Onischuk, and 2008 champion Yuri

3
Shulman. In the round-robin stage, he drew Nakamura
with black and then defeated Onischuk on the White side
of the Ruy Lopez.[21] In 2013 and 2014 he won the tournament, and the last title was his fth career United States
Championship.[22] In 2016 he placed third at the Chigorin
Memorial tournament in Saint Petersburg.[23]

6 World championship matches

and qualiers
FIDE WCC Candidates Match 1994, Wijk aan Zee,
Kamskyvan der Sterren (42)
FIDE WCC Candidates Match 1994, Sanghi Nagar,
KamskyAnand (64)

Notable tournament victories

Bualo Open, 1989

PCA WCC Candidates Match 1994, New York,

KamskyKramnik (41)
PCA WCC Candidates Match 1994, Linares,
KamskyShort (51)

Tilburg, 1990
World Open, 1991[24]

FIDE WCC Candidates Match 1995, Sanghi Nagar,

KamskySalov (51)

U.S. Championship, 1991

PCA WCC Candidates Match 1995, Las Palmas,

KamskyAnand (46)

Buenos Aires, 1993

FIDE World Chess Championship 1996, Elista,

KamskyKarpov (710)

Las Palmas, 1994

Dos Hermanas, 1995

FIDE WCC Knockout 1999 Second Round, Las Vegas, KamskyKhalifman (12)

New York, 2006

WCC Candidates Match 2007 Round 1, Elista,

KamskyBacrot (3)

World Open, 2006[24]

WCC Candidates Match 2007 Round 2, Elista,

KamskyGelfand (13)

Mashantucket, 2007
Chess World Cup, Khanty-Mansiysk, 2007
National Open, Las Vegas, 2008
Reggio Emilia, 2010
Philadelphia Open, 2010[25]
U.S. Championship, 2010

Chess World Cup 2007 Quarternals, Khanty

Mansiysk, KamskyPonomariov (10)
Chess World Cup 2007 Seminals, Khanty
Mansiysk, KamskyCarlsen (10)
Chess World Cup 2007 Championship Match,
KhantyMansiysk, KamskyShirov (21)
WCC Candidates Match 2009, Soa, Kamsky
Topalov (24)

Rapid World Championship, Mainz 2010[26]

WCC Candidates Match 2011 Quarternals, Kazan,

KamskyTopalov (21)

Baku Open, 2010

WCC Candidates Match 2011 Seminals, Kazan,

KamskyGelfand [22 (24)]

World Open, 2011[24]

U.S. Championship, 2011
U.S. Championship, 2013
Philadelphia Open, 2014

[25]

U.S. Championship, 2014

The 8th New York International, 2015
Cappelle la Grande, 2016

7 Illustrative game
Here Kamsky as Black defeats Kramnik en route to winning the 1994 Candidates match:
KramnikKamsky, World Championship
Quarter-Finals Match, New York 1994
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2
c5 6.0-0 Nc6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Qe7 9.Nc2
(White allows Black to ruin his pawn structure,

9
and soon sacrices one of his weak c-pawns.
He hopes that his two bishops will give him
sucient compensation, but will nd that he is
unable to use them eectively.) Bxc3 10.bxc3
Rd8 11.Ba3 d6 12.Rb1 Qc7 13.Nd4 Nxd4
14.cxd4 Qxc4 15.Qd2 Qa6 16.Rb3 Rb8
17.e4 Bd7 18.Rf3 (trying to get play on the
kingside, but Kamskys pieces now overrun the
queenside) Ba4! (disdaining 18...Nxe4 19.Qf4
f5 20.g4 opening lines for Whites pieces)
19.Re1 Rbc8 20.Bf1 Bb5 21.Bh3 Qa4 22.d5
Rc2 23.Qe3? exd5 (White is in deep trouble.
If now 24.exd5? Re8 wins) 24.e5 d4! 25.Qg5
Re2! (Exploiting Whites weak back rank.
Now White sacrices material for a fearsomelooking attack against g7, but Kamsky has
calculated exactly.) 26.exf6 Rxe1+ 27.Bf1
(27.Kg2?
Bf1+ 28.Kg1 Bxh3#) Rxf1+
28.Kg2 Rg1+! 29.Kh3 (29.Kxg1? Qd1+
30.Kg2 Qf1#) Bd7+ 30.Kh4 g6 31.Qh6 d3+
32.Rf4 (32.Kg5? Qg4#) Qxf4+! 33.Qxf4
(33.gxf4 Rg4+ 34.Kh3 Rg5+! 35.Kh4 Rh5+
wins the queen) Rh1! 34.g4 h6! (Now
Whites attack is over and Blacks pawns join
in attacking Whites king, threatening ...g5+.)
35.Kh3 (35.Qxh6? Rxh2+) g5! 36.Qd4 Rg1
37.f3 d2! 38.Qxd2 (38.Qxg1 Ba4 and Black
queens) Bb5! 01 (39...Bf1+ will win Whites
queen)

References

[1] FIDE Rankings 19701997. Chess.eusa.ed.ac.uk. Retrieved 2011-10-20.

[2] World Chess Challenge Soa 2009 Veselin Topalov vs
Gata Kamsky. World Chess Challenge 2009
[3] The Second Coming of Gata Kamsky. Sovietsky Sport,
30th May 2006
[4] Tatars in Chess, Tatarfact.ru

EXTERNAL LINKS

[12] Chess News Gata Kamsky for President of FIDE?!".

ChessBase.com. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
[13] 106th New York Masters Crosstable
[14] Crowther, Mark (2010-01-06). 52nd Reggio Emilia
2009-10 The Week in Chess. Chess.co.uk. Retrieved
6 July 2011.
[15] Kramnik wins Presidents Cup Baku on tiebreak.
Chessbase. 2010-02-05. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
[16] Chess Classic Mainz Kamsky wins with 10/11 points.
Chessbase.com. 2010-08-08. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
[17] Mark Crowther Monday 6th September 2010 (2010-0906). Baku Open 2010. Chess.co.uk. Retrieved 201110-20.
[18] mishanp on August 21, 2010 (2010-08-21). Kamsky on
the Candidates Matches. Chessintranslation.com. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
[19] FIDE Candidates: Caruana annotates game two. Chessbase.com. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
[20] FIDE Candidates Rd1: From Topa to bottom. Chessbase.com. 2011-05-27. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
[21] 56th
US
Chess
Championship;
graeme.50webs.com. Retrieved 2015-05-04.

2012.

[22] The US Chess Championships 1845 Results and

crosstables. graeme.50webs.com. Retrieved 2015-0504.
[23] nal results Chigorin Memorial tournament, Oct. 2016,
chess-results.com
[24] http://chessevents.com/worldopen/world-open-winners/
[25] http://www.philadelphiaopen.net/
[26] Kamsky Wins In Mainz. Chess.com. 2010-08-08. Retrieved 7 May 2011.

9 External links

[5] 36th USSR Junior Chess Championship, Kapsukas, January 518, 1987. RusBase. Retrieved 2009-07-31.

Gata Kamsky International Chess & Sports Foundation, Kamskys ocial website.

[6] 37th USSR Junior Chess Championship, Ivano

Frankovsk, January 518, 1988. Retrieved 2009-07-31.

Gata Kamsky player prole and games at

Chessgames.com

[7] Fred Waitzkin (May 13, 1990). A Fathers Pawn. New

York Times Magazine.

Gata Kamsky at 365Chess.com

[8] 1990 Interzonal, Mark Weeks Chess Pages

OlimpBase

[9] PCA Candidates Report, The Week in Chess, Issue 3, 1

Oct 1994

Kamsky biography at chessdom.com

[10] KamskyShort, 1994/2006, The Daily Dirt Chess Blog,

Mig Greengard, 10 Oct 2006. Includes a posted response
by Gata Kamsky
[11] Dylan Loeb McClain (January 27, 2008). A Chess Master
Returns Older, and Maybe Wiser. New York Times.

Gata Kamsky player prole at the Internet Chess

Club

10
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