THE 13th world chess champion Garry Kasparov had the most humbling and painful experience of his colorful chess career when he finished an unheard of and embarrassing last place at the blitz stage of the recently-concluded third leg of the 2021 Grand Chess Tour in Zagreb, Croatia.
Kasparov, now 58 years old, was world champion from 1985 to 1993 and retired from active chess competition in 2005. Grand Chess Tour organizers were able to book him, along with another former world chess champion, Viswanathan Anand, to play in the Tourâs third leg in Zagreb. Unlike Anand, though, Kasparov only played in the blitz phase with teammate Ivan Saric playing the rapid stage.
It was truly a mortifying experience for Garry that shocked the world chess community. He won only one game in 18 rounds of blitz chess (five minutes plus two seconds increment), losing 14 and drawing three. Many GMs and non-players tagged his position at the tournament cross-table as Garryâs âpotato farmâ or âHen houseâ for the many zeroes that dot. Potato in European chess parlance means zero, and hen house denotes egg or zero in the Americas and elsewhere. A GM friend at Facebook even said that when one retires, one should stay retired,
âSorry I couldnât do better for the fans who gave me so much support at #CroatiaRapidBlitz. But time is undefeated, and Caissa is a jealous mistress who punishes anyone who ignores her as much as I do!â Garry posted in his Twitter page. Age, indeed, has overtaken the former world chess champ. In the games below, youâll see how he seems to be no-match to the young breed of grandmasters.
The final blitz standings: 1. Vachier-Lagrave, 13; 2. Anand, 12; 3. Giiri, 10½; 4-6. Grischuk, Duda, Mamedyarov, 10; 7. Nepomniachtchi, 9; 8. Korobov, 8½; 9. Van Foreest, 4½; 10. Kasparov, 2½.
Van Foreest, J (2688)-Kasparov, G (2812) [B96]
Zagreb (1.4) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qc7 8.Bxf6 gxf6 9.Qf3 b5 10.a3 Nc6 11.Nxc6 Qxc6 12.f5 Qc5 13.Be2 Ra7 14.0-0-0 Qe5 15.Rhf1 Rc7 16.Kb1 h5 17.h4 Be7 18.Qe3 Qc5 19.Qg3 Kf8 20.fe6 fe6 21.Qg6 Qe5 22.Rd3 Bd8 23.Rg3 Rf7 24.Rg5 Qd4 25.Bh5 1-0
Duda, J-K (2738)-Kasparov, G (2812) [B96]
Zagreb (3.5) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qc7 8.Bxf6 gxf6 9.Qf3 b5 10.a3 Nc6 11.0-0-0 Nxd4 12.Rxd4 Rb8 13.Be2 Bd7 14.f5 Qc5 15.Rhd1 Qe5 16.Qh5 Be7 17.fxe6 Bxe6 18.Nd5 Qxh5 19.Bxh5 Rg8 20.Nc7+ Kd8 21.Nxa6 Rb6 22.Nb4 Rxg2 23.R4d2 Rxd2 24.Kxd2 f5 25.exf5 Bg5+ 26.Ke2 1-0
Anand, V (2753)-Kasparov, G (2812) [B96]
Zagreb (4.1) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qc7 8.Bxf6 gxf6 9.Qf3 b5 10.a3 Nc6 11.0-0-0 Nxd4 12.Rxd4 Qc5 13.Rd3 Rb8 14.b4 Qa7 15.f5 a5 16.Na2 Be7 17.Be2 h5 18.Kb1 Bd7 19.Rhd1 h4 20.bxa5 Qxa5 21.Nb4 Rc8 22.Qg4 Kf8 23.fxe6 Bxe6 24.Qf3 Rc5 25.Qe3 f5 26.Bf3 fxe4 27.Bxe4 Rc4 28.Bd5 Bf6 29.Bxc4 bxc4 30.Rxd6 1-0
Kasparov, G (2812)-Korobov, A (2683) [D30]
Zagreb (5.5) 2021
1.c4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Be7 5.Bd3 0-0 6.b3 b6 7.0-0 Bb7 8.Bb2 Nbd7 9.Nc3 a6 10.Rc1 Bd6 11.cxd5 exd5 12.Ne2 Re8 13.Ng3 Ne4 14.Qc2 Nxg3 15.hxg3 Nf6 16.Ne5 Qe7 17.b4 Ne4 18.b5 axb5 19.Bxb5 Rec8 20.Nc6 Qg5 21.a4 h5 22.Qe2 h4 23.gxh4 Qxh4 24.g3 Qg5 25.Rc2 Re8 26.Kg2 Re6 0-1
Kasparov, G (2812)-Giri, A (2776) [A22]
Zagreb (7.4) 2021
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.e3 Nc6 4.a3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Qc2 Nxc3 7.bxc3 Qd6 8.Bd3 Be6 9.Rb1 0-0-0 10.Be2 g5 11.Nf3 Be7 12.d4 Kb8 13.0-0 g4 14.Nd2 f5 15.Nc4 Qd7 16.Rd1 Bd5 17.Bd3 Rhf8 18.a4 Qe6 19.Nd2 exd4 20.exd4 f4 21.Ne4 g3 22.hxg3 fxg3 23.fxg3 h5 24.Bf4 h4 25.Re1 Qd7 26.Qb2 b6 27.Nc5 Bxc5 28.dxc5 Rxf4 29.cxb6 axb6 30.gxf4 h3 31.a5 Rg8 32.Bf1 hxg2 0-1
Kasparov, G (2812)-Mamedyarov, S (2782) [D61]
Zagreb CRO (15.2) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Nbd7 5.e3 Be7 6.Nf3 0-0 7.Qc2 a6 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Bd3 h6 10.Bf4 c5 11.0-0 c4 12.Bf5 b5 13.Ne5 Bb7 14.a3 Re8 15.Rad1 Nf8 16.Bg3 Qb6 17.Bh4 Rad8 18.f4 a5 19.Kh1 b4 20.Na4 Qb5 21.Bxf6 gxf6 22.Ng4 h5 23.Qe2 Kg7 24.Rf3 Qxa4 25.Rh3 Ng6 26.Rxh5 Rh8 0-1
Kasparov, G (2812)-Van Foreest, J (2688) [C45]
Zagreb (10.4) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Qb4+ 9.Nd2 Nf4 10.Qe3 Ng6 11.Bd3 Bc5 12.Qg3 0-0 13.0-0 d6 14.Nb3 Nxe5 15.a3 Qb6 16.Nxc5 Qxc5 17.Be3 Qa5 18.b4 Qa4 19.Bd4 f6 20.Bxe5 fxe5 21.f4 Bf5 22.fxe5 Bxd3 23.Qxd3 dxe5 24.Qd7 Qb3 25.Qxc6 Qe3+ 26.Kh1 Kh8 27.Rfe1 Qc3 28.Qxc7 Rac8 29.Qxa7 Rxc4 30.h3 Rcf4 31.Qc5 Qb2 32.Qxe5 Qb3 33.Qe3 Qc4 34.Rac1 Qf7 35.Qg3 h6 36.b5 Qd5 37.a4 Rxa4 38.Rb1 Rf5 39.b6 Rg5 40.b7 Qxb7 41.Qxg5 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ne6!, and Blackâs futile options are: 1…Rc8 2.Nxf4#; 1…Be3 2.Nec7#;; 1…Bd6 2.Rd2#./PN
