Even Players Tired of World Chess Match

The length of the current world chess championship series between Soviet grandmasters Anatoly Karpov and Gary Kasparov is driving everyone, including the players, to despair.

Champion Karpov, 33, settled for a draw after just 21 moves in the 43rd game Friday, even playing white and holding a more active position.

Kasparov, the 21-year-old challenger and the youngest man ever to play for a world title, is tired, said his mother, who has been faithfully sitting in a corner of the press box for every game at the ornate Hall of Columns. He showed a mental lapse last Friday when he forgot to punch his time clock.

The match resumes today and will go on until one of the players scores six wins. Despite Karpov’s 5-1 lead, he has not been close to winning the deciding game.

There have been 37 draws already--17 straight, at one point. Those break the records of 25 draws and eight straight, both set in the 1927 series, which went only 34 games.

Monday will be the 134th day since the series started, breaking the previous record of 93 days in Karpov’s first title defense against Soviet exile Viktor Korchnoi.