Kasparov, Short To Play 2-Day Match In St. Louis
At the end of the month GM Garry Kasparov will be playing chess again. His opponent will be GM Nigel Short, in a two-day exhibition match of rapid and blitz chess in St. Louis.
Hosted by the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (CCSCSL), the match will consist of two rapid games and eight blitz games, played April 25-26.
On each day, one rapid game and four blitz games will be played. The time control for the rapid games is 25 minutes, with a 10-second delay; the blitz will be played at 5 minutes, with a 3-second delay.
The games won't be rated for FIDE rapid or blitz ratings, and there will no tiebreaks in case of a drawn match.
The entire event will be broadcast live on www.uschesschamps.com, and so the chess fans can expect live commentary and analysis at the usual high level, known from the Sinquefield Cup and the U.S. Championship that is currently under way in St. Louis.
“Rapid and blitz chess are — as the name suggests, fast and furious. The smallest mistake can ruin a strategy quickly,” Kasparov was quoted in the press release. “It’s not often that I get to play Nigel and relive that moment on the chess world stage in 1993.”
Kasparov defeated Short 12.5-7.5 in a controversial world championship match in 1993, after splitting from FIDE and creating the Professional Chess Association.
Kasparov and Short have played several quickplay matches before, for instance in 1987 and 1993 in London. The last time they met at the board was three-and-a-half years ago.
The YourNextMove blitz match, held on October 9, 2011 in Leuven, Belgium, was won 4.5-3.5 by Kasparov who had a 2-point lead after five games. Short then leveled the score with two consecutive wins, but Kasparov then won the last game, and the match.
Below is the video registration of that match, with commentary by GM Genna Sosonko.
“We’re honored to host two of the chess greats for this exhibition match,” said Tony Rich, Executive Director of the CCSCSL. “Our work at the club is focused on raising awareness of chess and we can’t think of a more distinguished match-up to do just that than Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short.”
The event is described as “the first Battle of the Legends exhibition match” in the press release, suggesting similar matches will be held in the future.
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms.
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