22.08.2017

Ilyumzhinov: "Kasparov lost the skill but playing in tournaments will improve his results"

After more than a 10-year break, 13th World Champion Garry Kasparov lost his tournament fighting skills, which was clearly seen at the competition in St. Louis but his continuation of playing chess will lead to better results, said Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

Recently, Kasparov took part in the Rapid and Blitz tournament finishing ninths (16 points). The winner was the Armenian Levon Aronian (24.5 points), the 2nd position was taken by the Russian Sergey Karyakin (21.5 points) and the third one was taken by the American Hikaru Nakamura (21.5 points).

"Chess is not like football. Grandmasters’ brains are always active. I think Kasparov often played on the internet, but it was noticeable that the tournament fighting skill had been lost a little during the time when he did not play chess. He showed that he can fight against the strongest chess players. He played to the best of his abilities now, and if he continues to participate in tournaments his results would be better and better," the head of FIDE said.
"I as FIDE President welcome participation of the World Champion in competitions. First, he does it publicly, drawing attention to chess and popularizing them. Secondly, it helps me to promote my programme "One billion chess players in the world". The more people will watch how he plays, the more they will be interested in chess and play it. I support Kasparov's participation in tournaments," Ilyumzhinov summed up.