IMAGE: Viswanthan Anand in action during his fourth round match against Garry Kasparov at the Croatia Grand Chess Tour in Zagreb on July 10, 2021. Photograph: Kind courtesy Lennart Ootes/Croatia Grand Chess Tour
Former world champions Viswanathan Anand and Garry Kasparov will reignite their once fierce rivalry when they face off in the Clutch Chess: The Legends tournament in St. Louis, USA, from Wednesday.
The 12-game Chess 960 match will carry a total prize pool of US$144000 and will be held in the upgraded St. Louis Chess Club.
Having played a Classical World Championship match in 1995 on the 107th floor of the the World Trade Centre in New York, the two legends of the game will battle it out again in the famous rapid and blitz format that was recently christened Freestyle Chess.
Kasparov dominated that match against Anand and won the 20-games contest 10.5-7.5.
Anand and Kasparov last duelled in 2021, at the Zagreb Grand Chess Tour Blitz, where Anand won both their games.
The format at St. Louis is interesting and the stakes will go up each day. There will be four games everyday in the three-day contest with two rapid and two blitz games. While there will be four points at stake on the first day, on the second day it will double as each win will be worth two points and on the third day, each game will fetch three points for a win.
The winner will take home US$70000 (approximately Rs 62 lakh) while USD 50000 (approximately Rs 44 lakh) is reserved for the one ending on the losing side of this match.
If the match is tied after 12 games, the prize will be split 50-50, where each player receives USD 60,000 (approximately Rs 53 lakh).
There will be bonus money of US$24,000 (approximately Rs 21 lakh) for 12 games.
After retiring in 2004 Kasparov has played only in exhibitions or blitz events while Anand is semi-retired and plays occasionally in higher events.
While Kasparov runs a world-wide training program under his name, Anand has limited himself to mentoring younger Indian players and has been the inspiration behind WACA — Westbridge Anand Chess Academy — that has already produced a world champion in D Gukesh.
