After 12 years, former champion and a Kremlin critic, Garry Kasparov is all set to make one-time return to the game and will be playing in the Rapid and Blitz Competition at Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis, Missouri.

Kasparov, who had dominated the area of professional chess from 1985 to 2000, has received a wild card entry for the tournament, which will be occurring from August 14 to 19 and will be including biggest names of the game such as Sergei Karjakin of Russia.

Born in Baku in the then Soviet Russia, 54-year-old Kasparov, retired from professional Chess in 2005 to participate in the movement called The Other Russia against the President Vladimir Putin.

Kasparov had vowed that he would never return to Russia in 2013 and received the citizenship of Croatia. However, he spent a lot of his time in New York.

In a statement released on August 13, Kasparov had made clear that his return does not mean end to his retirement but “only a five-day hiatus”.

However, the legend’s return to the chess field has attracted the fans of the game from India as well as China have reached to him play, stated AFP News Agency.

The award price of the tournament is $150,000. Kasparov, however, has cleared that he would be donating any prize money to promote chess in Africa. He will be playing against an another legend of the game Viswanathan Anand from India.

By Prajakt K.