Meet me in St Louis

Garry Kasparov retired from competitive chess in 2005, but has proved that at the age of 61 he remains competitive at the highest level. That is an extraordinary achievement in an time when just five of the world’s top 100 active players are older than 50. The former world champion joined a powerful field in St Louis for nine rounds of ‘Chess 9LX’ played at a rapid time control. Chess 9LX, in which the pieces on the back rank are shuffled at the start of the game, is an ideal format for Kasparov, who can count on pure chess skill, without worrying about his outdated knowledge of opening theory.

Three wins, three losses and three draws placed him in the middle of the final table, but his score could easily have been higher, given that he had an advantageous position against tournament winner Fabiano Caruana (see game below) as well as runner-up Hikaru Nakamura.