cover image Unlimited Challenge: The Autobiography of Garry Kasparov, with Donald Trelford

Unlimited Challenge: The Autobiography of Garry Kasparov, with Donald Trelford

Garry Kasparov, G. K. Kasparov. Grove/Atlantic, $19.95 (273pp) ISBN 978-0-8021-1103-6

``Deep down inside I am a romantic,'' confesses Kasparov, the brash, supremely confident Soviet grand master who in 1985, at age 22, defeated fellow countryman Anatoly Karpov to become the youngest-ever world chess champion. In this articulate, witty, outspoken autobiography, written with Trelford, an editor of the British Observer , Kasparov recalls his Jewish-Armenian family background, his father's death when he was seven and his precocious entry into the tournament world. Focusing on key matches in a narrative chock-full of chess anecdotes and game analyses, the book highlights the grand master's running feud with a bureaucratic ``chess mafia'' and his gutsy attempt to democratize the sport as it is played in the Soviet Union. This sometimes rancorous tell-all offers a behind-the-scenes look at the intrigue and politics of top-level competition. Photos. (Nov.)