Clutch Chess Legends match: Kasparov grabs early lead against Anand

Garry Kasparov stole the eyeballs on the opening day as he defeated Viswanathan Anand in the third game and took a slender 2.5-1.5 lead in the Clutch Chess between the two legends underway here.

By consent, the best ever player in the Chess history, Kasparov at 62 showed there is still a lot of chess left in him after retiring 21 years back.

Anand had his chances but could not capitalised on them.

With the daily schedule having two rapid and two blitz games under the chess 960 format, the pieces are set randomly before the start of the game. It is through a drawing of lots that the position to be played is determined and the same position is played for the whole four games with two white and two black for both players.

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Interestingly, the first two games of the day were drawn and it was in the third game that Kasparov was able to break the deadlock as Anand walked in to a lost King and pawns endgame, possibly from a what could have been a probably draw.

It was in the first game that Anand had outplayed Kasparov and the former world No 1 survived thanks to some unforced error by the Indian ace.

The second game was drawn and so was the fourth, leaving a lot of room for both players to improve upon their chances in the USD 144,000 prize money contest.

It will have USD 70,000 reserved for the winner and USD 50,000 for the loser and another USD 24,000 are reserved for scoring victories with a roll over of money in case of draws.

The battle is only likely to get more exciting on the second day as each victory will be worth two points, meaning if Anand wins one and draws the remaining three games, he will have to lead in the match.

On the third day, each victory will be worth three points apiece.

Published on Oct 09, 2025