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Journalism of Courage
Exactly 30 years after Garry Kasparov defeated Viswanathan Anand in the 1995 World Chess Championship at New York’s World Trade Centre, the Russian prevailed over the five-time world champion from India in an exhibition event called Clutch Chess: The Legends at St Louis. Kasparov and Anand squared off in 12 rapid and blitz battles over three days off in the freestyle format, where Kasparov defeated his former world chess championship rival Anand by a 13-11 scoreline. In an event played under a cascading points system—wins on day 1 counted for one point, day 2 counted for two and day 3 counted for three points—Kasparov sealed his victory with two games left. Anand then went on to win both those remaining games.
Kasparov said that Anand was in some “psychological discomfort” during the three days. “He had some psychological discomfort. It didn’t go well for him from day one and I think it’s just that his score against me historically is bad and somehow, probably just the ghosts of the past visited him during the game,” Kasparov said in an interview with St Louis Chess Club’s YouTube channel afterwards.
When it was pointed out to Kasparov that he had sealed his victory over Anand in the 1995 World Chess Championship on this exact date—October 10—Kasparov said he was not aware of that.
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Kasparov repeated that he had been lucky in some games. The Russian legend was losing in the first game of day 2 when Anand lost track of his time and flagged (losing after running out of time). Kasparov had even apologised to Anand after that win, explaining later that he did not want to win like that. On Friday, Kasparov had said that he “deserved to be punished” in that game.
“(Overall) it was a very difficult fight and I think that I was extremely lucky in many games. There were few moments where the tables could have turned. I actually played a few good games. It’s probably those I have not won. I would have preferred to lose game one (of day 2) or just to force a draw which I could do easily. I would rather win game two on day 2. So it’s probably a fair balance. Of course I just totally relaxed today after game two (winning the event),” Kasparov told grandmaster Maurice Ashley in the interview.
Kasparov went on to add: “I’m not a professional player. I had very little expectations before the match. I was quite surprised to find myself in this situation. When I won the match it was just somehow just total relaxation. In the depths of my mind I thought it’s not fair. I tried (to win the last two games). It’s not that I just lost on purpose.”
When Kasparov was asked what else besides luck had helped him win, Kasparov said: “I think I was more resilient than he expected. In time trouble, to my great surprise, I did better. But again luck is luck. I tried to make sure that luck would be with me.”
