The 13th World Champion GM Garry Kasparov will face GM Veselin Topalov, the opponent who defeated him in the final rated classical game of his career, in a $144,000 Chess960 match in St. Louis.

The two former world champions will play 12 games over three days in Clutch Chess: The Legends, taking place September 11-13 at the Saint Louis Chess Club. The event was announced on the broadcast of the final day of the Grand Chess Tour Finals in St. Louis.

The Grand Chess Tour has wrapped up, bringing a month of great chess to a close. But if you're already missing the action, don't worry, there's another big matchup coming soon. ♟️

Garry Kasparov vs. Veselin Topalov

Two legendary players, meeting across the board once again.… pic.twitter.com/kZUO7dshLc

- Saint Louis Chess Club (@STLChessClub) August 28, 2026

Kasparov, 63, and Topalov, 51, will play four games per day, with two rapid games followed by two blitz games. The match will be played as Chess960, also known as Fischer Random or, as Saint Louis calls it, Chess9LX. A new starting position will be drawn for each day.

The match comes almost exactly one year after Kasparov faced another former rival, GM Viswanathan Anand, in the inaugural edition of Clutch Chess: The Legends. Kasparov impressively won that match 13-11, clinching victory with two games to spare after winning four games to Anand's none. The Indian legend then won the final two blitz games, collecting $16,000 in bonus money and narrowing the final score.

Garry Kasparov defeated Viswanathan Anand in last year's Clutch Chess: The Legends. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.

"It's my sacred duty to come here and entertain people," Kasparov joked afterward.

It's my sacred duty to come here and entertain people.
-Garry Kasparov on St. Louis

Kasparov hinted at his new match on X/Twitter.

Life is too short for chess, and too short to go without chess! https://t.co/JjzRzkuYx6

- Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) August 28, 2026

Topalov, meanwhile, considers himself more or less retired, having played only sporadically in recent years. However, he did make a classical appearance at the Clash of Generations III in Monaco in April against 14-year-old GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, a match the Turkish prodigy dominated by winning 5-1.

This time, Kasparov will seek revenge against a player who beat him in both their final classical encounter and their only previous Chess960 match.

Kasparov's last classical game took place in Linares, Spain, in 2005. He had already secured first place when he faced Topalov with black in the final round, but lost in just 30 moves after misplaying a pawn endgame.

The victory allowed Topalov to catch Kasparov on 8/12, although Kasparov still won the tournament on tiebreak, having scored more wins with the black pieces. Shortly afterward, Kasparov stunned the chess world by announcing his retirement.

Topalov went on to win the 2005 FIDE World Championship in San Luis, Argentina, later that year. He scored an incredible 6.5/7 in the first half before drawing all seven games in the second, finishing on 10/14 and winning by 1.5 points.

But their 2005 encounter wasn't their last competitive meeting. In 2018, Topalov defeated a rusty Kasparov 14.5-11.5 in Champions Showdown, a 20-game Chess960 match in St. Louis. It was Kasparov's first competitive experience in the variant, but since then he has regularly appeared in the U.S. chess capital to play, with mixed results.

Garry Kasparov and Veselin Topalov after their 2018 match in St. Louis. Photo: Lennart Ootes/St. Louis Chess Club.

His best result was at the 2021 Champions Showdown Chess9LX, where he finished fifth with 5/9, ahead of GMs Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Hikaru Nakamura, and Peter Svidler. Kasparov was just one point behind the winner, GM Leinier Dominguez.

The following year, at the Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX 2022, it did not go as well, to put it mildly: Kasparov scored only 0.5/9, after spoiling several promising positions.

The Clutch Chess format is designed by GM Maurice Ashley and gives more importance to games as the match progresses. A win is worth one point on day one, two points on day two, and three points on the final day.

The prize money follows the same structure, where each win is worth a $1,000 bonus on day one, $2,000 on day two, and $3,000 on day three. The winner of the match receives $70,000, while the runner-up receives $50,000. An additional $24,000 is available in game-by-game bonuses.

Saint Louis Chess Club has also revealed another edition of the Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown during October 27-29. The four-player rapid event will feature GM Javokhir Sindarov, in what looks set to be his last test before he heads to Geneva, Switzerland, to challenge GM Gukesh Dommaraju for the world championship title.

Sindarov will face GMs Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Fabiano Caruana, as well as Nakamura in a four-player rapid event, but additional details have not yet been announced.