Kasparov rises and falls

 

At the St Louis Rapid and Blitz Tournament the chess world eagerly awaited the re-emergence of the former 13th world champion from Russia, Garry Kasparov. Disappointingly, much of the positive anticipation diminished as Kasparov struggled in the Rapid category of the tournament.

He finished, with another former world champion, Viswanathan Anand, at the bottom of the points table in the Rapids.

The Blitz section of the tournament was completed yesterday. At the halfway mark, however, at the time of writing, it was unlikely that Kasparov would make an impact to affect the overall standing of the Blitz games. He outplayed grandmaster David Navara in a positional encounter only to throw the game away as his time subsided.

Two world chess champions! Indian chess grandmaster Viswanathan Anand (left) and Russia’s Garry Kasparov share a moment during the St Louis, USA, Rapid and Blitz Chess Tournament which was played from August 14-19, 2017. Anand had challenged Kasparov for the world chess championship title in 1995 atop the World Trade Center and lost the match. He subsequently became world champion. (Photo: Lennart Ootes)
The Guyana Chess Federation utilized the August school vacation period to carry chess to kids at the National Aquatic Centre, Liliendaal. In this photo, chess tutors Roberto Neto (left) and Anthony Drayton (right) supervise separate tables with kids playing chess.