VALENCIA, September 25 (RIA Novosti) - Russian chess legend Garry Kasparov has won an overwhelming victory over his long-time rival Anatoly Karpov in a showdown in Valencia with a total score of 9-3.

Kasparov and Karpov played a 12-game match between September 22 and 24, involving four rapid and eight blitz games.

On Tuesday the opponents played the first two rapid games, having 25 minutes on the clock and five seconds added after each move. Kasparov won both. The game was watched live on the Internet by users from 129 countries. Russia (16.7% of online viewers), Spain (14%) and France (11.2%) were in the top three.

On Wednesday Karpov won the first rapid game playing whites after Kasparov abandoned the game having a lead of 16 seconds. Kasparov took revenge on his opponent playing white pieces during the second game, as Karpov ran out of time.

On Thursday, the chess masters played the blitz games, in which each player starts with five minutes on the clock, and receives two seconds after each move. Kasparov won the blitz series with the overall score of 6-2.

Prior to the encounter Karpov had all but retired and Kasparov had officially quit chess to focus on politics.

The result of their first showdown, a five-month world championship epic struggle in 1984, was terminated by chess authorities due to the large number of draws. Their second meeting took place a year later in Moscow with a 23-year-old Kasparov defeating Karpov 13-11 to become the youngest world champion.