New Delhi: Former world champions Viswanathan Anand and Garry Kasparov are set to reignite their rivalry after a big gap of 30 years when they face-off in the Clutch Chess: The legends tournament in the USA from Wednesday, October 8.
Both the legends of chess last met at the Classical World Championship match way back in 1995 on the 107th floor of the World Trade Centre in New York. They will once again battle it out in the famous rapid and blitz format that was recently christened Freestyle Chess. The 12-game Chess 960 match carries a total prize pool of USD 144000 and is set to be held at the upgraded St. Louis Chess Club.
Kasparov dominates in the last meeting
Ex-world champions Kasparov dominated in the last meeting against Anand winning the 20-games contest 10.5-7.5. Post his retirement in 2004, the Russian chess grandmaster has played in only exhibitions or blitz events while the Indian chess grandmaster is semi-retired and plays occasionally in just higher events.
Kasparov has been involved in the sport of chess deeply as he runs a world-wide training program under his name while Anand has limited himself to training the new generation of Indian chess players. The Indian is also an inspiration behind WACA – Westbridge Anand Chess Academy – that has already produced one world champion in D Gukesh.
Meanwhile, the winner will take home USD 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 USD 24,000 (approximately Rs 21 lakh) for 12 games. Each game is set to fetch three points for a win.
(With PTI inputs)