Many consider Garry Kasparov to be the best chess player of all time. The world hasn’t seen much of his brilliance in the last decade, since his retirement. But he’s returning to the chess circuit to compete in the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz after this year’s Sinquefield Cup in August.
Tony Rich, executive director of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, says they “enticed” Kasparov to join the new speed chess event. Although, Rich adds, “It really didn’t take a whole lot to convince him.” (They just asked him—after softening him up by having him comment on a few rounds at another event.) Rich says it was clear that Kasparov just wanted to get back into the game.
Since retirement, Kasparov has devoted his time to writing, advancing human rights, and running for president of Russia. In 2015 he published a political book called Winter is Coming, which criticizes Vladimir Putin (whom Kasparov has compared to Game of Thrones' Tywin Lannister).
Six Grand Chess Tour players and four wildcard picks will fight for $150,000 in the speed chess competition. Kasparov's opponents include the current World Champion's challenger, Sergey Karjakin, and two top-ranked American players, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana.
For Rich, the Rapid and Blitz event’s lineup is one of the most exciting aspects of the Grand Chess Tour. “Chess players always want to know what would happen if a former world champion—somebody who’s retired from the game—faced off with the current generation of the best of the best,” he says. “This is a chance to really see what many players would’ve called the ‘old guard’ of chess competing against the young up-and-comers.”
The biggest question in today’s chess world is the influence of computers. In 1997, Kasparov famously lost a match to the artificial intelligence Deep Blue. For many, that marked a symbolic moment: artificial intelligence had beaten a human genius.
Since then, training against AI and using computers to develop strategies and hone skills has become a commonplace practice in the chess world. The theory of chess—staying updated with the right moves and positions—changes rapidly. Rich says that many believe that chess now favors younger players who are more accustomed to using computers as tools. Younger players also might hope that Kasparov won’t have the stamina to stay sharp and make the best moves for the whole event.
But, Rich says, “I think they’ll be surprised, because Garry brings a lot of fighting spirit to this game.”
Kasparov—who's known as a genius of offensive flair—also brings a few key things that computers lack: intuition and psychology. “He will know what the objectively best move is in a situation, almost every time,” says Rich. “And yet, he won’t always play what is objectively the best move. Because he also realizes he’s playing his opponent.” In other words, choosing a second-best move could create a strategic ambiguity that computers can’t quite emulate—at least not yet.
That kind of strategic subtlety is backed by decades of experience that the fresher-faced players lack. Many players might make mostly excellent moves and a few good ones, says Rich, but Kasparov often manages to make 100 percent excellent decisions. Rich says that's one of the traits that's made Kasparov a "chess god."
For younger players, his fame could even become a source of conflict. “He’s so venerated that the players have to set aside the fact that Garry is one of the chess greats and realize that he’s one of their competitors,” Rich says.
The competition certainly won’t be light: “Of all the players, he’s probably the one who loathes losing the most.”
The Sinquefield Cup runs from August 2–12; the Saint Louis Rapid Burn and Blitz runs from August 14–19. Both will be available for livestream.
