Thirteenth World Champion Garry Kasparov dominated to win 2025 Clutch Chess: The Legends with two games to spare, 30 years to the day after clinching victory over GM Viswanathan Anand in the 1995 World Chess Championship match. Anand hadn’t won a single game, but he did then go on to win the last two blitz games, picking up $16,000 in bonus money and making the score a respectable 13-11.
Clutch Chess: The Legends, Day 3 Results
Going into the final day of Clutch Chess Kasparov led by five points, but with three points for a win “all” Vishy had to do to take the lead himself was win two games. The early signs were promising, as he played 1.b3 and then waited for over six minutes for Kasparov to respond in kind with 1…b6.
It was a tricky position with opening moves by both sides coming under withering computer criticism, but mid-game Anand seemed on the brink of taking complete control. Kasparov even said Anand had been completely winning, but that never seems to have been the case, with the instincts of the Beast from Baku helping him to find the only path to hold on and reach a drawable endgame a pawn down.
The draw meant the players shared 1.5 points each, and the available points had shrunk again. Anand still needed to win two games to take the lead, but the big change was that now a single win would clinch the match for Kasparov.
Early on, however, things again looked good for Anand, who played fast and well with the black pieces to seize the initiative.
Shortly afterward, however, Anand went astray by putting his knight on b4, making threats that were easily parried with gain of tempo. Kasparov turned the tables, later pounced on a blunder, and then powerfully converted to clinch victory in the match.
Garry Kasparov wins a 4th game to Anand’s 0 to clinch the Clutch Chess match with 2 games to spare! https://t.co/jhp1jGBayj pic.twitter.com/T4lwj4Wk3C
— chess24 (@chess24com) October 10, 2025
That’s our Game of the Day, which GM Dejan Bojkov will analyze below.
That meant that 30 years after a draw in game 18 on October 10, 1995 clinched a 10.5-7.5 victory in the world championship match, Kasparov had clinched victory in another match against the same opponent with an unassailable 13-5 lead. He’d also ensured himself the $70,000 winner’s prize, as well as $8,000 in bonus money.
It had been a remarkably dominant victory, with four wins for Kasparov to none for Anand, even if the scoreline didn’t tell the whole story. Kasparov noted he’d been extremely lucky, but added, “Luck is luck, but I tried—I tried to make sure luck would be with me!”
Kasparov noted, “I think I was more resilient than he expected,” pointed out he’d done surprisingly well when both players were low on time, and also felt Anand might have some “psychological discomfort.” He explained: “His score against me historically is bad, and I think it’s somehow probably the ghosts of the past visited him during the games.”
His score against me historically is bad, and I think it’s somehow probably the ghosts of the past visited him during the games.
—Garry Kasparov on Viswanathan Anand
The match wasn’t over, however, as there were still two final blitz games, which were worth the same three points as other games on day three, but also all the bonus money that had been collected for draws up to that point in the match—making $16,000 in total.
This was finally the moment when we got to see the real Anand, while Kasparov explained he struggled to keep his focus after clinching what he said was an unexpected victory:
When I won the match somehow it was just total relaxation, and maybe in the depths of my mind I thought it’s not fair. I tried! It’s not that I just lost on purpose.
In the first blitz game Anand built up an attack on the black king which Kasparov, for once, failed to defend under heavy pressure on the clock and the board. 25.f6! was a sweet breakthrough.
Vishy Anand finally grabs a win over Garry Kasparov! https://t.co/m95cAHH06m pic.twitter.com/ClQjQCiPBN
a— chess24 (@chess24com) October 10, 2025
That left one game for another $8,000, and it was spectacular, with both gladiators playing their full part. “I wanted some complications and it was a lot of fun!” said Kasparov, while Anand’s 15…Bxg3!? really set the board on fire.
At this point Kasparov was better, but wild swings would follow. Anand was soon on top but almost allowed his opponent to escape with perpetual check. In the end, however, Kasparov lost on time trying to make what was a losing move.
Vishy Anand wins the final game on time as Garry Kasparov flags! pic.twitter.com/KuwKpZ0X4k
— chess24 (@chess24com) October 10, 2025
So in a match where almost everything had gone against him, Anand managed to end on a high. He took the full $16,000 and six points on offer from the last two games, so that he finished with just two points, and $12,000, less than Kasparov.
Kasparov, meanwhile, summed up his mission: “It’s my sacred duty to come here and entertain people even though my chess abilities are a pale shadow of what they were before!”
It’s my sacred duty to come here and entertain people.
—Garry Kasparov on St. Louis
The entertainment in St. Louis now switches to the U.S. Chess Championship, which starts already this Sunday! GMs Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Levon Aronian, and Hans Niemann head a formidable field.
The Saint Louis Chess Club is celebrating the opening of its new premises with two special Clutch Chess events. The first, The Legends, ran October 8-10 and featured two former World Champions, Garry Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand. They battled 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 was worth one point on day one, two points on day two, and three points on day three. Drawn games saw prize money rolled over until the last two games.
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