Kasparov Leads Anand As Legends Clash In New Saint Louis Chess Club

Thirteenth World Champion Garry Kasparov leads 15th World Champion Viswanathan Anand 2.5-1.5 after day one of the 2025 Clutch Chess Legends, a three-day clash taking place 30 years after their world championship match. After two draws in rapid chess, Kasparov won the first blitz game in a stunning finish when Anand overpressed. The Indian star looked sure to level the scores when he won a piece on move eight of the final game, but Kasparov escaped, commenting, "I was industrious—that’s probably what’s being rewarded by Caissa!"

Day two, featuring two more rapid and blitz games, is on Thursday, October 9, starting at 1 p.m. ET / 19:00 CEST / 10:30 p.m. IST.

Clutch Chess: The Legends, Day 1 Results

Four years after work began, the Saint Louis Chess Club has just opened new, expanded premises.

The grand reopening of the newly renovated Saint Louis Chess Club took place in the presence of the co-founders of the club, Dr. Jeanne Cairns and Rex Sinquefield, legendary World Champions Garry Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand, and Grandmaster Maurice Ashley. Rex and Jeanne… pic.twitter.com/8GNrJUPIVe

— Saint Louis Chess Club (@STLChessClub) October 8, 2025

The club is celebrating with a month of top-level chess. That includes the U.S. Championships on October 12-24, which is sandwiched between two Clutch Chess events, where the stakes rise each day. The second of those events is the Champions Showdown on October 27-29, when World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju and the world top-three of GMs Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, and Fabiano Caruana will compete in a rapid double round-robin.

First, however, we have the clash of two true legends of the game, 62-year-old Kasparov and 55-year-old Anand, who played a world championship match on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center in New York in 1995. That match began with eight draws before Anand won the ninth game, but four wins in the next five games saw Kasparov retain his title 10.5-7.5.

In St. Louis they play Chess960, where the pieces are shuffled semi-randomly on the back rank, and will compete in six 25+10 rapid games and six 5+3 blitz games. The twist is that wins are worth one point on the first day, but then two on the second and three on the third.

There's $70,000 for the winner and $50,000 for the loser, but also another twist—another $24,000 will be available as a bonus for winning individual games.

On day one Kasparov won $1,000 for his win in game three, while three draws meant $3,000 went into the pot for the final two blitz games of the match. That pot is set to grow.

Now let's get to the games.

Game 1, Anand ½-½ Kasparov: A Rollercoaster Draw Gives Garry Hope

Both players competed to play down their chances in the match, with Kasparov, who had to skip the opening ceremony and signing session due to feeling unwell, commenting:

I started this match with very little expectation. My goal was at least to play and just not to lose all the games, because last time I played chess at the board was one year ago, against GM Sam Sevian, that was my last game. And now I’m facing Vishy.

Kasparov had competed in Chess960 (or Chess9LX) and finished in a respectable fourth place on 50 percent, while Anand pointed out this was his first Chess960 event in almost 20 years. Asked to sum up the day in one word, he used five: "Jumping in the deep end."

A curiosity of the Clutch Chess match is that instead of picking a new position each game, we get one position a day, with position number-635 selected. Key features included a bishop on h1 and the potential to castle queenside fast, with only the knight and queen needing to be moved.

The players were able to get some help in a 15-minute window at the start of the day, with GM Liem Le working with Anand and none other than Caruana helping out Kasparov.

Anand commented, "The first game was very exciting—it might have flipped even a couple of times," and, up to a point, everything was going his way, both on the board and on the clock.

The pawn storm was strong, but here Kasparov found the best defense 15...f5!, Anand reacted badly, and for the remainder of the game the evaluation continued to oscillate between fine for Black and winning for White. In the end we got a fair result—a draw by repetition.

Vishy Anand and Garry Kasparov make a draw by repetition after an incredibly topsy-turvy 1st game of the match! https://t.co/OoNTlNisdz pic.twitter.com/oBAQWaSEwI

— chess24 (@chess24com) October 8, 2025

That back-and-forth struggle is our Game of the Day, that GM Dejan Bojkov analyzes below:

Kasparov said that game offered him a lot of optimism, since, "I think Vishy celebrated prematurely and to my surprise he played much slower than I expected and I did better in time trouble."

Game 2, Kasparov ½-½ Anand: A Missed Chance?

Anand called the second game "the most stable," while Kasparov commented, "I could smell the win!," and both had a point. The game began as a King's Gambit, of sorts.

It is a very philosophical question! Is it a King‘s Gambit if there is no king?! https://t.co/8bd7oE8AtW

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) October 9, 2025

This time it was Anand who came under heavy pressure, but for the most part he parried it well and kept White's edge within manageable limits. Perhaps only 22...Qd7?! was an inaccuracy that could have been punished.

The next game would see the first blood spilled.

Game 3, Anand 0-1 Kasparov: 'The So-Called Trousers' 

The first blitz game was a wild ride, with Anand's 13.Ne5!? and 14.Qe4? inviting trouble.

Kasparov gladly accepted the invitation to put a pawn on f5 and a rook on d4 and correctly assessed that he had "a huge advantage."

He was kicking himself for later allowing d4, however, when Anand took over until a dramatic conclusion. Kasparov confessed he wanted to resign when Anand later threatened checkmate with 43.d5, before spotting he had one defense. It also happened to be a trap, since when Anand captured Black's rook he was suddenly losing to two split passed pawns that couldn't be stopped, or as Kasparov put it, "It's classic, the so-called trousers!" 

Kasparov still has it as he finds a brilliant win when Anand overpushes in the 1st blitz game! https://t.co/hHn7uKBUB0 pic.twitter.com/Rh5hceXN1u

— chess24 (@chess24com) October 8, 2025

Here are the closing stages of that game.

Kasparov had again been given a boost:

I expected him to be much quicker in the time trouble, and I think when we reached the critical moment of the game, there was basically a minute left, I did a better job. 

I expected him to be much quicker in the time trouble!

—Garry Kasparov on Viswanathan Anand

"In the blitz I was actually playing very badly," said Anand, who for most of his career has been an absolute beast at fast time limits.

Game 4, Kasparov ½-½ Anand: A Miracle Escape For Garry

So the momentum was on Kasparov's side, but it looked as though that would change fast! He said he'd wanted "to play something crazy" in the final blitz game of the day, but he only ended up lost on move eight, asking himself, "Should I resign?"

The problem for White is that the queen must retreat and leave the c5-knight undefended, when Qg5+ forks the knight and king and wins a piece. Anand remarked: "Normally I should win this quite easily. I was playing just too fast. I think I was upset by the third game."

I think I was upset by the third game.

—Viswanathan Anand  

Kasparov played on, and although Anand's choice to give back the piece to enter a winning endgame was sound, things gradually slipped away, until after getting to play 25.Re5!, Kasparov felt, "Wow, I think I can probably just survive!" 

Kasparov later commented:

I think he expected me to resign and I resisted, and then I think he still had some winning chances, but I could read in his mind that he’d lost any hope. 

I think he expected me to resign, and I resisted.

—Garry Kasparov

Kasparov was buoyed up by outplaying his opponent in a technical endgame, but Anand at least stopped the downward spiral by holding a draw.

Kasparov reflected on how lucky he'd been, though he also felt Caissa was rewarding his industriousness.

Kasparov: "I think I have to watch my back on the street now, with this kind of luck, it's really dangerous!" pic.twitter.com/lonhrvX82X

— chess24 (@chess24com) October 8, 2025

The good news for Anand's legion of fans, however, is that the one-point gap is even less significant than in a normal match. The Clutch-Chess format means that on Thursday wins will be worth two points, so that a single win would see Anand take the lead. "Tomorrow is another day!" as Kasparov noted. 

The Saint Louis Chess Club is celebrating the opening of its new premises with two special Clutch Chess events. The first, The Legends, runs October 8-10 and features two former World Champions, Garry Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand. They will battle it out in Chess960 (Fischer Random) over six 25+10 rapid and six 5+3 blitz games for $144,000, with escalating stakes—a win will be worth one point on day one, two points on day two, and three points on day three. Drawn games see prize money rolled over until the last two games, which could be for huge stakes.    

Previous coverage:

• Kasparov, Anand To Face Off In St. Louis Match; Carlsen, Gukesh Headline Rapid Event