Funnily enough, Kasparov copies the approach that Anand took in the previous game. Even though it's far from the computer best choice. So I guess that Kasparov was quite impressed with this setup by Anand!
I really like Anand's position already. His strong pawn center is going to allow his pieces to find good squares, and this kind of aggressive setup is ideal when he really needs to go hunting for his first win of the match.
Anand can even consider pushing his pawns further up the board right away. First, blocking the bishop, and then supporting with another central break.
A very natural choice, bringing his second knight into the game and further supporting an eventual push of the king's pawn.
A provocative move!
Kasparov develops his knight, but this allows Anand to push his pawn with an immediate strike on the knight. Let's see if he goes for it, as it definitely looks like a great way to push for a big edge out of the gates!
He's bumping up the aggression, and it's exactly what he needs given the match circumstances. Things have gone pear-shaped very early for Kasparov, as his knight is now hit and he's lacking easy moves to hold off the initiative.
Kasparov drops the knight back, pressuring the central pawn.
Anand goes into the tank, but comes up with the goods as he plays the strongest move on the board. The position is incredibly sharp now, but that huge space advantage in the center leaves Anand with far the better chances to come out ahead here in the complications.
Kasparov does grab the pawn, as he needs to try and collapse that strong pawn chain of Anand in the center.
Anand's idea is not the strongest in the position, but the better choices were counterintuitive (it was to develop the dark-squared bishop just one square, a very difficult move for a human to find).
All of a sudden, Kasparov is back in the game! The position still looks harder for him to play than for Anand, but at least he's got an extra pawn for his troubles.
Anand goes for a slow developing move. But this buys some time for Kasparov to kick the advanced knight backwards.
Kasparov quickly plays the natural choice, pushing back Anand's strong piece. Kasparov still has a fractured pawn chain, but at least he's largely repelled Anand's attack.
Kasparov is starting to find nice squares for his pieces, anchoring his knight on a well-supported square and also freeing up his light-squared bishop to enter the game soon.
Kasparov's structure has improved after the knight exchange, but he's not out of the woods just yet. His main problem is that his king is much less safe than Anand's.
Kasparov had 11 minutes before he started thinking, and by the time he played his move he left himself with 3. He's done this throughout the match, but surely this time it's going to come back to bite him?
Kasparov gets rid of Anand's strongest piece, but now he's got to be careful as in the absence of his bishop the dark squares around his king are especially weak.
Anand recaptures with the pawn, opening up the scope of his bishop and also creating a semi-open file against Kasparov's king.
Kasparov lands the knight on a well-supported square, though the issue is that Anand can kick it away from here by pushing his pawn at the right moment.
A really nice move, aiming to bring the queen towards the right hand side to target Kasparov's undefended pawns.
A great practical decision, giving up a pawn in order to force Anand to part ways with his very strong dark-squared bishop.
Brilliant play by Kasparov in the time scramble once again. Now his king is safe, and his piece coordination is starting to look really good.
Anand goes up a pawn, but Kasparov can quickly recover it by moving in with his queen into enemy territory.
Anand drops back to defend his rook.
Kasparov continues to find the best move on each turn! The safer choice was to trade queens and then win the other pawn with his bishop, but this is the better and more ambitious try. Looks like Kasparov wants to try and kill the match in this game!
In spite of material being level, Kasparov is the side with the more active pieces and the more dangerous pawn majority on the left hand side.
Kasparov throws away his advantage with this move, as he allows Anand to target the rook and hit the bishop behind it!
Uh-oh! Instead of this, Anand trades down into a worse endgame!
Anand's transition to this endgame was a huge mistake. Now Kasparov's pieces remain super strong, while his extra pawns on the left hand side are likely to start marching up the board very soon.
Anand's queen is pinned, meaning that Kasparov is threatening to take the pawn.
Offering the queen exchange is very strong here, since Anand cannot afford to swap them off because the bishop endgame would be lost.
He finds the best move...yet again! This has been truly incredible to see, not only in this game but throughout the match. Kasparov has been playing long stretches of each game like what you would expect from one of the current crop of top 5 grandmasters, not from a man who retired 20 years ago!
The key to break down Anand's defenses is to sacrifice the pawn.
Kasparov in no rush to push his pawn. Soon he can win that left-hand pawn if he wants, after he pushes the pawn.
Moving the queen forward is a winning threat, as it would force the winning bishop endgame.
Anand is blocking the immediate invasion, but Kasparov can give a check and then get his queen to the key square all the same!
Wow, what can you say?! The 13th World Champion takes the Clutch Chess Legends exhibition match in convincing fashion.
He wins $70,000 plus all the bonus money accumulated so far, but I imagine that this means far more to him than the money, as he overcomes the pioneering Indian former World Champion Vishwanathan Anand while suffering no defeats and needing just 10 games of the 12 in order to take the title.
His level of play in day 1 was enough to grab an early lead, but still looked shaky at times as he came close to defeat on more than one occasion. But in days 2 and 3, he raised the bar and Anand just had no answers for the most in-form version of Kasparov that the chess world has seen since he retired 20 years ago!
A huge congratulations to the 2025 Clutch Chess Legends champion: Garry Kasparov!
p.s. The games are not over for the day, with two bonus-money blitz games coming up shortly, so stay tuned!
Kasparov inches away from victory
Just three games to go in the match, and the 62-year old Garry Kasparov still remains undefeated as he looks to put the finishing touches on what has been an incredibly impressive outing in St.Louis.
In fact, if this weren't Clutch Chess, then Kasparov could largely relax now, as it would take a 3-0 whitewash over the remaining games for Anand to balance the score and take the match to tiebreaks.
As things stand, however, things are not so simple. Kasparov must stay on guard, as if Anand is able to secure a win in this game, then he would get 3 points and narrow the gap between the players down to just a margin of 2. And then Kasparov would be just one more defeat away from having his lead snatched from him!
On the other hand, if Kasparov finds a way to win here and now, then he can win the match on the spot. It'll be interesting to see if he tries to play things safe and 'draw out the match', or if he stays true to his style and goes for the throat!