Kasparov grabs early lead against Anand

St Louis: Garry Kasparov stole the eyeballs on the opening day as he defeated Viswanathan Anand in the third game and took a slender 2.5-1.5 lead in the Clutch Chess between the two legends underway here.

By consent, the best ever player in the Chess history, Kasparov at 62 showed there is still a lot of chess left in him after retiring 21 years back.

Anand had his chances but could not capitalised on them.

With the daily schedule having two rapid and two blitz games under the chess 960 format, the pieces are set randomly before the start of the game. It is through a drawing of lots that the position to be played is determined and the same position is played for the whole four games with two white and two black

for both players.

The first two games of the day were drawn and it was in the third game that Kasparov was able to break the deadlock as Anand walked in to a lost King and pawns endgame, possibly from a what could have been

a probably draw. The battle is likely to get more exciting on the second day as each win will be worth two points.