Vishy Anand to face Garry Kasparov in 12-game exhibition match in October; Magnus Carlsen vs Gukesh on cards too at Saint Louis

“Saint Louis has become the beating heart of global chess. The vision, the commitment, and the passion for the game here are unmatched anywhere in the world. It’s an honor to return and play in a city that has redefined what it means to support and grow the chess community,” Kasparov was quoted as saying in a press release from the St Louis Chess Club.

Viswanathan Anand takes on Garry Kasparov at the Saint Louis Chess Club. (PHOTO: Grand Chess Tour via lennart Ootes)

The St Louis Chess Club will also host players like World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, World No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura, World No. 3 Fabiano Caruana and World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju in what will be the highest-rated chess tournament of the year. The event will have $4,12,000 in prize money, including daily win bonuses and a Champion’s Jackpot. The event’s 18-game rapid double round-robin format (10 minutes plus a 5-second increment) will feature escalating point values each day: Wins are worth one point on Day 1, two points on Day 2 and three points on Day 3–a comeback-friendly format that cultivates increased tension and fan excitement into the very last round.

Anand vs Kasparov in 1995

Anand and Kasparov had famously faced off in the 1995 classical World Chess Championship in New York’s World Trade Center. The 20-game match had given the world some iconic photos of Kasparov and Anand playing chess on the 107th floor of the South Tower with the city of New York playing backdrop to the clash. The games had also featured some intense moments of action.

In fact, Kasparov and Anand actually played the first game of their match on the Observation Deck of the WTC on September 11, which was the date when the twin towers were hit by airplanes in a terror attack in 2001.

The match was organised by the Professional Chess Association and was won by Kasparov. The Professional Chess Association (PCA) was a breakaway organisation created by Kasparov, who was up in arms against the corruption in FIDE, which is the global governing body of chess.

When Anand faced Kasparov on World Trade Centre

The Anand vs Kasparov clash was the second world championship that the PCA was organising after it hosted the 1993 World Championship where Kasparov beat Nigel Short 12½-7½ to become the PCA world chess champion.

Anand had qualified for the PCA World Championship against defending champion Kasparov after an arduous qualification process. This included playing in a 54-player Qualifying Tournament held in Groningen in 1993, from where the top seven finishers would join the losing world championship contender from 1993, Nigel Short, in a eight-player Candidates tournament. The winner of this tournament in June 1994 would then secure a spot in the PCA World Championship.

Michael Adams and Anand were the top scorers in Groningen, with 7½ points.

In the Candidates, the quarterfinal matches were best of 8 games; the semifinals best of 10 games; and the final best of 12 games. Anand beat Gata Kamsky in the final to secure a shot against Kasparov.

The Kasparov vs Anand match started with eight straight draws at the start, which was, at that point, a record for draws at the start of a World Championship match.

Anand finally broke the deadlock in Game 9. But the Russian bounced back in style from that defeat, taking a three-point lead by the 14th game. Kasparov went on to win the world championship easily.