Caruana Leads 9LX With Perfect 3/3 As Kasparov Returns To Chess Arena

Just days after winning the U.S. Championship for the fourth time, GM Fabiano Caruana also started his 2024 Chess 9LX tournament very well. The St. Louis resident won his three games on the first day, including against GM Hikaru Nakamura, and leads by a point. Among the participants is the legendary GM Garry Kasparov, who began with 1.5/3.

The second day will start on Tuesday, October 29, at 1 p.m. CDT/2 p.m. ET/19:00 CEST.

Round 3 Standings

Chess960 (Fischer Random) is having a bit of a revival, or is it a new peak in popularity? The Freestyle tournament in February of this year, initiated by the German businessman Jan-Henric Buettner and GM Magnus Carlsen, will see a series of three events in 2025: again in Weissenhaus (Germany), in South Africa, and in the U.S. Chess960 is also being played this week in St. Louis at the annual 9LX event.

From interviews with the players beforehand, it became clear that most actually prefer 960 over classical chess, for the lack of opening preparation needed. That includes Kasparov: for him, it is a chance to compete "without getting overwhelmed in the opening," as he put it. GM Levon Aronian even called it "960 times more fun." GM Hikaru Nakamura, on the other hand, is one of the few who still prefers classical over a variant where you have to "start thinking from move one."

The added fun for most chess fans is, of course, the participation of Kasparov, now 61 years old. He could be seen behind the board earlier on Sunday, when the traditional Ultimate Moves event was held: a casual competition where the players are divided into two teams and have to play 10 blitz games, each making five moves before letting a team member take over.

This year's edition once again saw the participation of Rex Sinquefield, the billionaire responsible for supporting everything that's been happening in St. Louis for more than a decade now. There was also a very surprising name leading the other team: Mr. Monopoly—this was on the occasion of the recently published, special St. Louis edition of the board game. It certainly added to the fun atmosphere and as it turned out, Mr. Monopoly isn't such a bad player!

Congratulations on a well-deserved win for Mr. Monopoly’s team!👏 It was a fantastic Ultimate Moves day, and we cannot wait to see the players start Chess 9LX tomorrow!🔥🚀 Follow the action on the STLChessClub YouTube & Twitch Channels!♟️#Chess9LX #STLChessClub… pic.twitter.com/dfS2cZkyyo

— Saint Louis Chess Club (@STLChessClub) October 28, 2024

Round 1 Position

The 9LX tournament began on Monday, and the first position was revealed around 12:50 p.m. local time. The players got 10 minutes to analyze it with their partners. As Nakamura arrived several minutes late to the playing hall, GM Leinier Dominguez had to analyze alone for a while. That didn't seem to harm him too much until he went for a central pawn break prematurely. Kasparov countered strongly and started his tournament with an excellent win.

Childhood chess hero still going strong🔥 https://t.co/ZZFRIhtUiQ

— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) October 28, 2024

The first day of play saw a total of 10 decisive games (out of 15 played), which could be another argument in favor of this particular format. Even so, what follows is one of the few draws as it was hypersharp, mainly thanks to Aronian's creative and aggressive opening play. After the round, all players gathered around the board and started analyzing!

Round 2 Position

2023 winner GM Sam Sevian said that he liked this position the most of the three on Monday: "There's always this Qh6+ idea or Qh3+ for White, so immediate tactics!" That indeed happened in a few games including the following, but in this case, White's queen got sidelined too much, and Caruana won a strong game:

The 13th world champion basically plays just once a year, in this tournament, so we're definitely going to look at all of his games in these news reports. Although he started so nicely, Kasparov's second game was just bad, but bad in a way that is typical for Chess960. After missing an idea that would have given him a big advantage, somehow things went downhill surprisingly fast against GM Wesley So.

Round 3 Position

The third position was a bit more difficult to play, perhaps because it was harder to strive for positions similar to some in classical chess. Kasparov vs. GM Ray Robson was about equal for a while until things got very tactical, starting with an excellent exchange sac. The analysis revealed some beautiful stalemate ideas as well:

Both Caruana and Nakamura had started with two wins, so their mutual game in the third round was important for the tournament overall. Although Nakamura has lately had Caruana's number in classical chess, he didn't have much of a chance this time.

"He gave me such a space advantage," commented Caruana. "It was like a King’s Indian from some kind of dream, you never get this."

Here is the game, with annotations by GM Rafael Leitao:

The new US Champion continues his winning ways! Fabi’s currently leading the tournament on a perfect 3/3!❤️‍🔥🙌🔥#Chess9XL #STLChessClub #chess pic.twitter.com/KSnIB9T5OL

— Saint Louis Chess Club (@STLChessClub) October 28, 2024

Caruana further said that he didn't celebrate his latest U.S. title much but focused on recovering and getting ready for 9LX, which he really likes: "It’s very nice to see some creative approaches. I am trying to take a more general, solid approach because it’s also very easy to just lose from the opening, if you’re really going and trying to create, then you can easily lose, so I am trying to strike a balance between those two things."

The 2024 Chess 9LX tournament is an over-the-board Chess960 tournament featuring 10 star players including the legendary Kasparov taking place in the World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis. Three rounds are played each day with a 20+10 time control. The first prize is $30,000 with a bonus prize of $7,500 for sole first.

Previous Coverage

• Interview: Kasparov On Facing Deep Blue: 'I Was Part Of Something Really Unique'