Former champions duel in Spain: Kasparov beats Karpov in 12-game exhibition chess match, 9-3

Big chess rematch in Spain: Kasparov beats Karpov

MADRID — Garry Kasparov soundly defeated Anatoly Karpov on Thursday in an exhibition chess match marking the 25th anniversary of their first title bout.

On the last of three days of play that resumed a legendary rivalry, Kasparov won five games of speed chess, while Karpov took one game and two others ended in a draw.

That made a final score of 9-3 for Kasparov in the 12-game match in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia.

On Thursday the two grandmasters played eight blitz games in which each started with five minutes on the clock, with two seconds added after each move.

Karpov won the first game even though he was playing with the black pieces. But it was to be his only triumph of the evening.

The second game ended in a draw, then Kasparov won five in a row to clinch the win over his former archrival. The last game was also a draw.

The first four games Tuesday and Wednesday were played in the semi-rapid format, with each player starting with 25 minutes on the clock and adding five seconds after each move.

The two men waged one of the sporting world’s greatest rivalries when between 1984 and 1990 they met five times for the world championship and pretty much drew even: Kasparov won 21 games, Karpov took 19 and they drew 104 times.

The first title match started in September 1984 in Moscow and lasted nearly five months before it was halted, with no winner declared, on grounds that both were exhausted.

Kasparov won a rematch in 1985 and captured his first world title, at age 22, becoming the world’s youngest champion ever.

Kasparov is considered by some to have been the best player in chess history. He retired from top-level professional play in 2005, after dominating the game for two decades.

He is now a political opponent of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Karpov was champion when Kasparov first challenged him in 1984. He still plays and until recently was ranked among the world’s top 100 players.