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New Delhi, Oct 7 (IANS) Two former world champions, Viswanathan Anand and Garry Kasparov, will turn back the clock as they go head-to-head in a special Clutch Chess: The Legends exhibition match, celebrating the legacy of a once-in-a-generation clash.

The two world champions once competed against each other on the 107th floor of the World Trade Centre’s South Tower, with the city of New York as a backdrop at the 1995 World Chess Championship.

The exhibition match will be the first event held at the Saint Luise Chess Club from October 7 to 11. The event will feature a USD 144,000 prize fund awarded across an exciting 12-game Chess960 (Fischer Random) match between the two icons, played at rapid and blitz time controls with an innovative scoring system designed to engage both players and fans.

Clutch Chess is a unique tournament format, devised by Grandmaster Maurice Ashley, where the stakes escalate each round with increasingly higher points and cash prizes available daily.

Unlike traditional chess tournaments, in Clutch Chess, no lead is ever safe, and every single game has meaning. Since point values for wins increase each day, players who start slowly can stage dramatic comebacks all the way to the very end.

On Day 1, each win is worth 1 point and USD 1,000. For Day 2, each win is worth 2 points and USD 2,000. And for day 3, each win is worth 3 points and USD 3,000.

In Clutch Chess: The Legends, the winner will receive USD 70,000, and the runner-up USD 50,000 (USD 60,000 each in the event of a tie). The players will compete in 12 games over 3 days in a Chess 960 format, with a new position drawn each day.

There will be an additional USD 24,000 in bonus money. If a game is drawn, the prize from that game will roll over to games 11 and 12, making the stakes grow larger and larger all the way to the very final game.

Theoretically, Game 12, which will be a Blitz game played with a 5-minute + 3-second time control, could be worth the entire bonus of USD 24,000.

--IANS

bc/vi