A discussion with Garry Kasparov, Russian pro-democracy leader and former world chess champion
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Garry Kasparov is a Russian pro-democracy leader, global human-rights activist, business speaker and author, and former world chess champion.
Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, in the Soviet Union in 1963, Garry Kasparov became the under-18 chess champion of the USSR at the age of 12 and the world under-20 champion at 17. He came to international fame at the age of 22 as the youngest world chess champion in history in 1985. He defended his title five times, including a legendary series of matches against arch-rival Anatoly Karpov. Kasparov broke Bobby Fischer’s rating record in 1990 and his own peak rating record remained unbroken until 2013. His famous matches against the IBM super-computer Deep Blue in 1996-97 were key to bringing artificial intelligence, and chess, into the mainstream.
Kasparov was one of the first prominent Soviets to call for democratic and market reforms and was an early supporter of Boris Yeltsin’s push to break up the Soviet Union. In 1990, he and his family escaped ethnic violence in his native Baku as the USSR collapsed. In 2005, Kasparov, in his 20th year as the world’s top-rated player, retired from professional chess to join the vanguard of the Russian pro-democracy movement. In 2012, Kasparov was named chairman of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation, succeeding Vaclav Havel. HRF promotes individual liberty worldwide and organizes the Oslo Freedom Forum. Facing imminent arrest during Putin’s crackdown, Kasparov moved from Moscow to New York City in 2013.
The US-based Kasparov Chess Foundation non-profit promotes the teaching of chess in education systems around the world. Its program already in use in schools across the United States, KCF also has centers in Brussels, Johannesburg, Singapore, and Mexico City. Garry and his wife Daria travel frequently to promote the proven benefits of chess in education and have toured Africa extensively.
Kasparov has been a contributing editor to The Wall Street Journal since 1991 and is a regular commentator on politics and human rights. He speaks frequently to business and political audiences around the world on technology, strategy, politics, and achieving peak mental performance. He is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Oxford-Martin School with a focus on human-machine collaboration. He’s a member of the executive advisory board of the Foundation for Responsible Robotics and a Security Ambassador for Avast Software, where he discusses cyber security and the digital future. Kasparov’s book How Life Imitates Chess on strategy and decision-making is available in over 20 languages. He is the author of two acclaimed series of chess books, My Great Predecessors and Modern Chess. Kasparov’s 2015 book, Winter Is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped is a blend of history, memoire, and current events analysis.
Kasparov’s latest book is Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins. It details his matches against Deep Blue, his years of research and lectures on human and machine competition and collaboration, and his cooperation with the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford. He says,
“AI will transform everything we do and we must press forward ambitiously in the one area robots cannot compete with humans: in dreaming big dreams. Our machines will help us achieve them. Instead of worrying about what machines can do, we should worry more about what they still cannot do.”
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Kal Raustiala holds the Promise Institute Chair in Comparative and International Law at UCLA Law School and is a Professor at the UCLA International Institute, where he teaches in the Program on Global Studies. Since 2007 he has served as Director of the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations. From 2012-2015 he was UCLA’s Associate Vice Provost for International Studies and Faculty Director of the International Education Office. Professor Raustiala's research focuses on international law, international relations, and intellectual property. His most recent book The Absolutely Indispensable Man: Ralph Bunche, the United Nations, and the Fight to End Empire is a biography of the late UN diplomat, civil rights figure, and UCLA alum for Oxford University Press.
PARKING AND DIRECTIONS
Parking will be available in Lot 4. From the 405 Freeway, exit at Sunset Blvd East. Follow Sunset Blvd and take a right turn at Westwood Plaza. Go straight, past Charles. E Young Drive to arrive at the underground parking lot. Guests have two options for purchasing parking. Please park in the respective parking locations, or your car may be ticketed.
Using a pay station on the day of
Follow the signs in the parking lot to park your car in a pay-by-space location. Once parked, go to the nearest parking pay station (you find them next to pedestrian garage exits). Enter your license plate number in the machine. Pay by exact cash or credit card. Bring both, just in case. Pay stations only accept $1, $5, and $10 bills and DO NOT give change in the form of cash or credit. Parking is $3 per hour and $15 per day. Parking must purchased the day of.
Purchasing parking online in advance
Only full-day parking passes can be purchased online. Day passes are $15, but can be purchased in advance here. Search "Daniel Pearl" and enter your vehicle information. Follow the signs in the parking lot to park your car in a yellow permit parking location.
You may park in any location if you require accessible parking and have a placard.
GUIDELINES FOR ALL GUESTS
- Arrive early, registration starts at 3:45 pm and doors open at 4:00 pm.
- There will be a stand-by line on the day of the event.
- Visitor parking spaces are available (cash or credit card) in Lot 4. If you require accessible parking and have a placard, spaces are available in Lot 5. Please see the UCLA Visitor Parking website for rates.
- No bulky video equipment or flash photography permitted.
- No food or beverages permitted inside Korn Convocation Hall.
- Details for this event are subject to change.
- Please check our website for last minute details prior to the event.
- Please note that your event registration does not guarantee you a seat. Come early, seats are given out in order of arrivals.
ABOUT THE DANIEL PEARL MEMORIAL LECTURE SERIES
In sponsoring the Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture Series, the Burkle Center for International Relations celebrates the memory of Daniel Pearl as a prominent journalist who dedicated his life to bringing joy and understanding to the world. Past presenters have included David Remnick of The New Yorker, Leon Wieseltier of The New Republic, Christopher Hitchens, CNN's Anderson Cooper and Jake Tapper, David Brooks and Thomas Friedman of The New York Times, ABC’s Ted Koppel, CBS’s Jeff Greenfield, Daniel Schorr of NPR, CNN's Larry King, former Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice, CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Ambassador Samantha Power, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bret Stephens, CNN anchor Fareed Zakaria, and Bob Woodward, award-winning author and associate editor of the Washington Post.
To learn more and support this lecture series, visit:
https://www.international.ucla.edu/burkle/series/136027
CO-SPONSORS
This event is sponsored by the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations and co-sponsored by the Daniel Pearl Foundation and Hillel at UCLA.