The Saint Louis Chess Club will reopen its doors in October following a major renovation and expansion, featuring a clash between none other than former world champions, GMs Garry Kasparov and Vishwanathan Anand. The match is followed by a rapid event featuring GMs Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana, and reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju.
The club has now expanded into a 30,000-square-foot facility and includes a chess-inspired restaurant, a larger tournament hall, and upgraded broadcast studios, the club announced on Tuesday.
“Our expansion is the realization of a long-held dream—to create the greatest chess club in the world, right here in Saint Louis,” said Rex Sinquefield, co-founder of the Saint Louis Chess Club. “It’s about investing in the future of the game, inspiring the next generation, and making chess accessible to everyone.”
The milestone will be celebrated in October with two spectacular events. A treat for many chess fans will undoubtedly be the $144,000 Clutch Chess: The Legends, featuring Kasparov and Anand, which will take place from October 7 to 11. The former world champions will go head-to-head in a 12-game Chess960 exhibition match, featuring a mix of rapid and blitz games.
“St. Louis has become the beating heart of global chess,” said Kasparov. “It’s an honor to return and play in a city that has redefined what it means to support and grow the chess community.”
The duel will take place exactly 30 years after their 1995 World Chess Championship match in New York, which Kasparov won 10.5-7.5. After his retirement in 2005, Kasparov has sporadically appeared in exhibition events, while the semi-retired Anand has taken on an active role as a mentor for the rising generation of Indian talents, as well as his position as FIDE Deputy President.
The two legends last faced each other in the 2021 Zagreb Grand Chess Tour Blitz, where Anand won both games in an event where Kasparov finished clear last, scoring only 2.5/18.
The event will be followed by the 2025 U.S. & U.S. Women’s Championship, taking place from October 12 to 25, with each field featuring 12 players competing for a total prize fund of more than $400,000.
The month will conclude with another edition of Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown, taking place from October 25 to 30. The field can hardly get any better, with the world’s top three highest-ranked players, Carlsen, Nakamura, and Caruana, along with world champion Gukesh, making it set to become the highest-rated tournament of the year. They will play a total of 18 games in a rapid double round-robin with a time control of 10 minutes plus five seconds added per move.
With $412,000 at stake, including daily win bonuses and what the organizers refer to as a “Champion’s Jackpot,” the format will also see escalating point values (1, 2, and 3 points per win across three days) to ensure “a comeback-friendly format.”
For Carlsen, this will mark his first appearance in St. Louis since his shocking withdrawal after a loss to GM Hans Niemann in the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, which ignited one of the biggest scandals in chess history.
