Kamsky Gata Rustamovich (02.06.1974)
U.S. Grandmaster born in Russia. U.S. Champion in 1991, 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014.
Kamsky learned to read at the age of two, by four he was interested in mathematics and when he was six he easily played complicated musical compositions. He fulfilled the norm of the first category at the age of eight and won the Youth USSR Championship at twelve. During Kamsky’s early childhood, his mother left and he was brought up by his father, Rustam, who was a boxer. His father was quoted as saying “Any child can become a World Champion. He has to work a lot, and someone has to work with him.
The coach has to put his soul into it. To give up his social life. Due to his poor eyesight, Kamsky’s father chose chess for his son as he was unsuitable for active sport. According to his father’s schedule, Kamsky trained and studied chess fourteen hours a day with thirty-five-minute jogs for a break in order to establish chess endurance. He forbade him to have any hobbies or friends.
In March 1989 he participated in the New York Open Tournament and settled there with his father to make chess his career. In 1989 he came equal first at the Long Beach Tournament with Larry Christiansen, Walter Browne, Nick de Firmian and Maxim Dlugy and he also shared second place at Palma de Mallorca. In 1990 Kamsky won the title of International Grandmaster and in June he was the eighth on the world rating list of top chess players, having played brilliantly in several Swiss system tournaments. At the Manila Interzonal 1990, he only came 51st but this was not a bad score for such a young player. That same year he achieved an outstanding result at Tilburg, with a shared win alongside Vasily Ivanchuk followed by Boris Gelfand and Nigel Short, he also came second in New York, third in Paris and he shared first place at the New Delhi Tournament 1990 with Viswanathan Anand. In 1991 he became the U.S. Champion, he also shared the first to fourth places in Philadelphia with Johann Hjartarson, Alex Yermolinsky and Abraham Palatnik, took second place in Belgrade and came last at Linares. In 1992 he came third at the Moscow Alekhine Memorial. In 1993 he was a challenger for the World Championship twice, having successfully qualified from the Biel Interzonal Tournament 1993 and the PCA Elimination Tournament in Groningen. In 1993 he also came equal first in Buenos Aires with Alexei Shirov and in Las Vegas with Sergey Kudrin, Alex Yermolinsky, and Max Dlugy. In 1994 he came first in Las Palmas and in 1995 he shared first place in Dos Hermanas with Anatoly Karpov and Michael Adams. Kamsky also played several matches: in 1994 he won FIDE WCC Candidates Match against Paul van der Sterren in Wijk aan Zee (4½:2½). In 1995, in the Shanghi Nagar he won FIDE WCC Candidates Match against Viswanathan Anand (6-4) and in 1995 he won FIDE WCC Candidates semi-final match against Valery Salov 5½:1½. For the PCA 1994-1995 cycle he beat Vladimir Kramnik (4.5-1.5), Nigel Short (5.5-1.5) then lost the PCA Candidates final match against Viswanathan Anand with the score 4½:6½. In 1996 he lost the World Championship final match in Elista against Anatoly Karpov with the score 7½:10½.
A few months later Kamsky announced he was going to give up being a chess professional and start studying medicine. In 
1999, he attempted another try at the World Championship KO in Las Vegas but was ousted in round two by Alexander Khalifman, who became World Champion two weeks later.
Four years later, in 2004, Kamsky made his second comeback. He qualified for the 2005 World Cup to the 2007 World Championship Candidates where, after beating Etienne Bacrot 1½:3½, he lost in the semi-final against Boris Gelfand 3½:1½. In 2007 Gata won the World Cup beating Alexei Shirov in final. The victory gave him the right to challenge Veselin Topalov for the Candidates final stage. A year and a few months later in Sofia, Kamsky lost the match against the former world champion 4½:2½. Qualified automatically to the 2011 Candidates, he took his revenge by beating Veselin Topalov 2½-1½ but was stop in the semi-finals by Boris Gelfand 2-2 (2-2 and 0-2).
Other victories: New York 2006, Philadelphia 2006, Foxwoods Open 2007, Las Vegas 2008 Open, Rapid World Championship, Mainz 2010, Reggio Emilia 2009/2010, Baku Open 2010, President Cup Baku 2010, World Open 2011, Philadelphia Open 2014, Washington Chess Congress 2015.
Kamsky is a chess player with natural talent, outstanding persistence and is always ready for hard work. He is always admired by spectators for his fighting spirit, universal style, and cultural behavior, Capelle La Grande 2016.
Peak rating: 2763 in 2013.
