Early Career
Kamsky was born in Novokuznetsk in Russia, in a Tatar family. Gata's last name, Kamsky, is derived from the stage nickname of his grandparents who were members of the Tatar traveling theater group. The family's "real" name is Sabirov.
He won the Soviet under-20 championship twice before 1989, and at age 12, defeated veteran Grandmaster Mark Taimanov in a tournament game. At that time, he was possibly the youngest person to defeat a grandmaster. He also earned his National Master title in that year. In 1989 he moved to the United States with his father Röstäm (also spelled Rustam).
In 1990, while aged 16 and still untitled, he played in the 64-player Interzonal tournament, 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.
Read more about this topic: Gata Kamsky
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