GMGata Kamsky

Gata Kamsky was born in Novokuznetsk into a Tatar family. His grandfather's theatrical name provided the surname by which the chess player became known. As a youngster he defeated Mark Taimanov and won consecutive Soviet under-20 championships in 1987 and 1988. He moved to the United States with his father in 1989 and became a grandmaster the following year. His first U.S. championship followed in 1991. Kamsky reached the 1996 FIDE world championship match against Anatoly Karpov. After a long break from top-level competition, he returned and won the 2007 World Cup. That victory earned a qualifying match against Veselin Topalov for a chance to challenge Viswanathan Anand. He later returned to the Candidates in 2011. Across his career he won the U.S. championship five times.