Anand kicks off the game, but doesn't take control of the center with any of his pawns. Instead, his focus is on immediately activating his queen along the main diagonal.
Kasparov finally replies, and decides to mirror Anand! The big thing however is not the move itself, but the time it took to play. This could shape the outcome of the game down the line...
Anand pushes his pawn out, likely focused not just on taking over the center but also on bringing his corner knight into the game.
Kasparov has a similar idea of bringing his own knight into the game, but he only pushes his pawn up one square. Likely, that's because he wants to blunt the vision of Anand's queen.
Anand follows through on his plan, bringing the knight closer to the center. But Kasparov has no problems here whatsoever, and he could even grab the biggest slice of the center now and - if anything - have the better position.
Kasparov also focuses on piece development. Anand could punish this slight inaccuracy though by grabbing the center himself now. But for some reason, neither player has been too interested in expanding in the most valuable part of the board for now!
Anand still developing pieces! Though it should be noted that now he is definitely threatening to push in the center, so Kasparov will have to figure out the best way of handling that plan.
Kasparov goes for a safe move, activating his dark-squared bishop.
Anand continues to play a little too cagey here. He could have taken over the center by pushing the same pawn up two squares instead of one. If he plays too timidly, Kasparov might be able to seize the initiative.
Kasparov brings his most passive piece into the game. Knights on the corner are famously terrible, as they only have two squares to jump to, so chess grandmasters will almost always feel an itch to move such knights sooner rather than later!
Anand sets up a battery between his queen and his dark-squared bishop, though it's more than a little blunted by Kasparov's pawn on the opposite side of the board. What Anand might be thinking about though is to get ready to castle to the left hand side, where his king is likely to be safer.
Kasparov jumps his knight out
The structure is looking a bit strange, it's like none of the minor pieces are really able to spring to life for either side because of the way the pawns are arranged. It could make the game quite tricky over the next dozen or so moves.
Both sides take some time to bring their king to safety.
Anand's pieces and pawns in sync!
Kasparov has perhaps been a little too relaxed these past few moves. Instead of castling, it might have been a good idea to push the pawn on the right in order to stop precisely this move. Now, Anand wants to blast things open with his pawns, and that would get his queen and bishop on the other flank into the action.
Kasparov is trying to take the sting out of the pawn push, bringing his pawn and bishop to bear down on that square.
Hmm, it's a little surprising to see Anand switch to the other flank. Now Kasparov could take the opportunity to shut down the pawn advance for good by pushing himself (green arrow).
Kasparov is the first to establish a pawn on the core of the center, and the momentum feels like it's moving ever so slightly in his direction. Or at least the playability, it's become harder to suggest a plan for Anand now that the pawn push on the right hand flank is not so easy to play.
Kasparov slides his rook over to guard against the attack.
By pressuring the knight and opening up the vision of his bishop and queen, you get the feeling that what Anand is looking for is to play the pawn break (blue arrow) in the best circumstances possible.
This move is surprising to see, as Kasparov weakens his control over a key part of the board. This means that Anand could just go for his intended pawn break right away!
This was clearly Kasparov's intention behind his recent bishop move. He likely felt that so long as he can cover the center with enough pieces and expand in this way, then the pressure that Anand has on the right hand side won't be a big issue.
Anand goes after the base of the pawn chain. Kasparov might have to make a sharp decision soon, like pushing the pawn in the center in order to disrupt Anand's piece coordination. That's a tough move to play though with just minutes on the clock.
Kasparov finds the best path as he ticks down to about one minute on the clock. The point is that if Anand plays pawn takes pawn, then Kasparov will take the other pawn!
Anand chops off the central pawn first, probably setting up a second pawn capture next.
Again the best move!
Kasparov has been incredible this match, especially the last 3 or 4 games.
Anand has found a pretty steady configuration so that he's not at risk of giving up his extra pawn any time soon. But still very hard to make something of it.
Kasparov is looking to force a double rook endgame (or a single rook, depending). As these are considered drawn even when down a pawn.
In theory, it's a drawn ending. But will Kasparov be able to hold with just seconds on the clock?
Perhaps Kasparov will try to pressure the base pawn, which would make it hard for Anand to make any kind of progress.
Looks like Kasparov wants to place his rook here, where it can not just pressure the enemy pawn but also defend his own.
Pawn trades tend to help the defending side, so Kasparov remains in great shape here.
Kasparov offers a trade of rooks, which would make the practical task of defending that bit more straightforward.
Kasparov threatens mate!
Kasparov renews the same threat of mate as a couple of moves ago!
Anand doesn't repeat the position, suggesting he's still going to try and win from here!
This makes it hard for Anand to stop one pair of rooks getting traded off. If that happens, the chances of a win drop to close to zero.
Kasparov goes for the forced trade of rooks.
Now, short of falling into some tactic, Kasparov will hold the draw.
Anand pressed for a very long time in this game, but Kasparov continues to display fine form and remains undefeated after 9 of a total of 12 games in this exhibition match.
The Indian former World Champion probably won't feel too terrible about his play. He put the pressure on, built up an initiative, and tested Kasparov on a number of occasions. But his opponent rose to the occasion and handled the complications extremely well, even with just seconds on his clock for several of the critical moves.
Overall, a hard-fought draw that will leave Kasparov as the happier of the two. Just three games to go now, and Anand is going to have to score at least two wins and one draw in order to stage a comeback. Time is running out...
5 minutes and counting!
That's quite the think that Kasparov is having, as he tries to figure out the best way of dealing with Anand's opening move. And that's despite the fact that he spent time looking at this move with his training partner Fabiano Caruana before sitting down at the board!
Kasparov in command!
It's been a fun match to follow in St.Louis, as two of the greatest chess players of all time have rekindled their age-old rivalry to battle it out in a 12-game match of Chess960.
The twist to this one, however, is that it's Clutch Chess, meaning that as each day passes by, victories count for an increasing number of points. It's 1 point for wins on day 1, 2 points for day 2, and for today's final day it's 3 points per win!
This system, designed to keep the match exciting from beginning to end, represents a lifeline for Anand, as he finds himself trailing by a 3-game margin against the in-form Garry Kasparov, who has been merciless and is yet to suffer his first defeat!
Right now, it's a 5-point lead for Garry built up over 3 wins, but Anand can overcome this and snatch the lead by winning 'just' two games.
It'll be a tall order for Anand, but certainly within reach against a Kasparov who may indeed be playing strong chess, but who is nevertheless long past his prime.
The first game kicks off just a few minutes from now. Anand must strike if he is to keep realistic chances of winning the match. Let's see what happens!