Chess

WORLD CHAMPION for 15 years, World No 1 for 20 years and widely considered to be Bobby Fischer’s only realistic rival as greatest chess player ever, Garry Kasparov set a standard nearly impossible to equal.

After his retirement in 2005, Kasparov indicated that he might play exhibition speed chess for fun occasionally, or indeed to help a worthy cause he’s associated with. His most notable outing in retirement came in 2009 with a rapid match against his old foe, Anatoly Karpov, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of their epic first world championship match of 1984. And last month Kasparov again resurfaced to beat the young French Champion Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in a two-game blitz challenge match.

On Sunday in Leuven, Belgium, he again popped up to take on another former title challenger, England’s Nigel Short, this time in a eight-game blitz match as part of the Your Next Move’s (www.yournextmove.be) fifth anniversary celebrations, an initiative that supports chess as a sport and aims to create engagement of young people.

It proved an enthralling and exciting battle – including the romantics of a King’s gambit, Evans gambit, and a Two Knight’s defence – between the two former title contestants of 1993, with Kasparov, by a narrow scoreline of 4.5-3.5, winning the match.

N Short - G Kasparov

Your Next Move Blitz, (8)

Two Knight’s Defence

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 Ng5 d5 5 exd5 Na5 6 Bb5+ c6 7 dxc6 bxc6 8 Bd3 Nd5 9 Nf3 Bd6 10 0–0 Nf4 11 Re1 Nxd3 12 cxd3 0–0 13 Nc3 Re8 14 h3 c5 15 b3 Ba6 16 Ba3 Bxd3 17 Ne4 Bxe4 18 Rxe4 f5 19 Ra4 e4 20 Nh2 Nc6 21 Rc1 Ne5 22 d4 Nd3 23 dxc5 Bf4 24 Rc2 e3 25 f3 Bg3 26 Nf1 Bf2+ 27 Kh1 Nf4! 28 Qxd8 Raxd8 29 Rxf4 Rd1 30 Re2 Bg3 31 Kg1 Bxf4 32 g4 Red8 33 Bb4 R8d4 34 Ba5 Rd5 35 Bb4 a5 36 Bxa5 Rxc5 37 Bb6 Rcc1 38 Bxe3 Rxf1+ 39 Kg2 Bxe3 40 Rxe3 Rfe1 41 Rd3 f4 0–1