Gata Kamsky

About Gata Kamsky

Gata Kamsky is a Tatar descent Soviet-born American chess grandmaster, and a former World Rapid Chess Champion. As of May 2012, he was rated No. 2 in the United States and No. 14 in the world.

Career Highlights:

• Kamsky was a prodigy who reached the final of the FIDE World Chess Championship 1996 at the age of 22, and reached a ranking of fourth in the world rankings in 1995.He played almost no FIDE-rated games between 1997 and late 2004.
  
• Kamsky won the Chess World Cup 2007. This earned him a match against Veselin Topalov for the right to challenge for the World Chess Championship 2010, which he lost.Kamsky played in the Candidates Tournament to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2012, where he advanced to the semifinals before losing to Boris Gelfand. He is a five-time U.S. Champion.
  
• 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 0–2. In 1990, while aged 16 and still untitled, he played in the 64-player Interzonal tournament in Manila, the first step towards the World Chess Championship. He finished with 5½ / 13.
  
• In 1990, FIDE awarded Kamsky the grandmaster title. In 1991, he won the U.S. Championship. Kamsky also did well at other prestigious chess tournaments, winning the Las Palmas tournament in 1994.
  
• In 1993, the rival organisations FIDE and PCA each held Interzonal tournaments. Kamsky played in both, and in both cases qualified for the respective Candidates Tournaments. The Candidates tournaments were largely dominated by Kamsky and Viswanathan Anand.
  
• In November–December 2007, Kamsky participated in the Chess World Cup 2007. Seeded 11th, he won his first three rounds and then defeated Peter Svidler, former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov and future world number-one Magnus Carlsen to reach the finals. 
  
• He became U.S. Champion on May 25, 2010, after winning a rapid playoff game with second place finisher Yury Shulman. This championship, Kamsky's second, came 19 years after he won his first U.S. championship.
  

World championship matches and qualifiers:

• FIDE WCC Candidates Match 1994, Wijk aan Zee, Kamsky–van der Sterren (4½–2½)
  
• FIDE WCC Candidates Match 1994, Sanghi Nagar, Kamsky–Anand (6–4)
  
• PCA WCC Candidates Match 1994, New York, Kamsky–Kramnik (4½–1½)
  
• PCA WCC Candidates Match 1994, Linares, Kamsky–Short (5½–1½)
  
• FIDE WCC Candidates Match 1995, Sanghi Nagar, Kamsky–Salov (5½–1½)
  
• PCA WCC Candidates Match 1995, Las Palmas, Kamsky–Anand (4½–6½)
  
• FIDE World Chess Championship 1996, Elista, Kamsky–Karpov (7½–10½)
  
• FIDE WCC Knockout 1999 Second Round, Las Vegas, Kamsky–Khalifman (1½–2½)
  
• WCC Candidates Match 2007 Round 1, Elista, Kamsky–Bacrot (3½–½)
  
• WCC Candidates Match 2007 Round 2, Elista, Kamsky–Gelfand (1½–3½)
  
• Chess World Cup 2007 Quarterfinals, Khanty–Mansiysk, Kamsky–Ponomariov (1½–0½)
  
• Chess World Cup 2007 Semifinals, Khanty–Mansiysk, Kamsky–Carlsen (1½–0½)
  
• Chess World Cup 2007 Championship Match, Khanty–Mansiysk, Kamsky–Shirov (2½–1½)
  
• WCC Candidates Match 2009, Sofia, Kamsky–Topalov (2½–4½)
  
• WCC Candidates Match 2011 Quarterfinals, Kazan, Kamsky–Topalov (2½–1½)
  
• WCC Candidates Match 2011 Semifinals, Kazan, Kamsky–Gelfand [2–2 (2–4)]
  

Gata Kamsky Achievements

Notable Tournament Victories:

• Buffalo Open, 1989
  
• Tilburg, 1990
  
• World Open, 1991
  
• U.S. Championship, 1991
  
• Buenos Aires, 1993
  
• Las Palmas, 1994
  
• Dos Hermanas, 1995
  
• New York, 2006
  
• World Open, 2006
  
• Mashantucket, 2007
  
• Chess World Cup, Khanty-Mansiysk, 2007
  
• National Open, Las Vegas, 2008
  
• Reggio Emilia, 2010
  
• Philadelphia Open, 2010
  
• U.S. Championship, 2010
  
• Rapid World Championship, Mainz 2010
  
• Baku Open, 2010
  
• World Open, 2011
  
• U.S. Championship, 2011
  
• U.S. Championship, 2013
  
• Philadelphia Open, 2014
  
• U.S. Championship, 2014
  
• The 8th New York International, 2015