 "Garry Kasparov and Vishy Anand are currently engaged in a 12-game battle at the Clutch Chess: Legends 2025. Image: ChessBase India")
Russian chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov, making a pre-move against Indian legend Viswanathan Anand during a Clutch Chess: Legends 2025 game, is going viral. Kasparov, who is considered by many as the greatest chess player of all time, played the eye-popping move against five-time world champion Anand in their second blitz game on Day 1 of the exhibition event.
The Clutch Chess: Legends 2025 is an exhibition 12-game match between two of chess’ greatest players , Kasparov and Anand. The tournament is being played at the Saint Louis Chess Club from 8-10 October.
What is Clutch Chess: Legends 2025?
This is the first time Kasparov and Anand are playing against each other since 2021, when the Indian Grandmaster outwitted the Russian great in both games of the Zagreb Grand Chess Tour Blitz.
During the exhibition event, Anand and Kasparov would be playing 12 games in Chess960 (Fischer Random) format in rapid and blitz time controls with a unique scoring system where the points for winning a game would increase as the tournament progresses.
Each day of the tournament will feature two rapid and two blitz games. The rapid games will have a time control of 25 minutes + 10 seconds increment, while blitz will be played in a time control of 5 minutes + 3 seconds increment.
On Day 1, the two rapid games ended in a draw with both players on 1 point each; however, it was the first blitz game that proved to be the only decisive affair on Wednesday.
What is a pre-move in chess?
Kasparov secured the first win of the event in an intense Rook endgame after a tightly contested chess match to take a 2-1 lead.
Then came the pre-move in the second and final blitz game of the day.
Watch video here:
Famous chess content creator Sagar Shah, who was on commentary, could not keep calm as Kasparov stunned Anand with his quick move.
“He went before Vishy played his move. Did you see that? He didn’t even let Vishy finish his move,” Shah exclaimed.
A pre-move in chess is a move that you can play during your opponent’s turn, which becomes legal when your turn comes, given that it was a legal move. Players opt for pre-move to save time in fast-paced games like blitz or bullet matches.
Kasparov currently leads Anand 2.5-1.5 after Day 1 of the Clutch Chess: Legends 2025. The legends will be back on Thursday for four more games.