Chess Match Halted; Both Players Irate

In an unprecedented action, the International Chess Federation stopped the world championship match today, and the bitterly disappointed challenger charged that he was cheated out of a chance to win the title at the chessboard.

The five-month struggle didn’t end at the board but at a raucous news conference. Champion Anatoly Karpov protested the decision, and challenger Garri Kasparov indicated that he had been pressured to accept the order.

A news conference held by Florencio Campomanes, president of the federation, was interrupted by the shouting players and jeering spectators and was broken off.

Campomanes talked for more than an hour with the two players and announced that Karpov had accepted the ruling and that Kasparov “would abide by it.”

New Match Sept. 1

Campomanes said that a new match will be played starting Sept. 1 and that a meeting of the chess federation will decide on the number of games and other rules for the match.

Kasparov later denounced the Campomanes news conference as a “well-rehearsed spectacle” and said, “The chess world cannot accept such an end to the match.”

It was a angry finish to the first world championship played in the Soviet Union since 1969 and a tumultuous event in the outwardly placid world of Soviet chess.

Chess sources said the Soviet and International chess federations had been pressing Kasparov to agree to halt the match because Karpov was ill and because the match had dragged on for a record 48 games.

Champion Since 1975

Karpov, a favorite of the Soviet chess Establishment, has been champion since 1975 and took a commanding lead of 5-0 in the match, which began Sept. 10. But Kasparov, a 21-year-old Soviet star, won his first game Nov. 24 and then took two more games to mount a remarkable comeback to 5-3.

Both players showed the strain of the marathon match. But it appeared that Kasparov had gained the psychological edge, and Karpov was unable to win the sixth game he needed to retain the title.

There were reports that Karpov was ill, and normal rules for world chess say a player forfeits if he is too ill to continue unless the other player agrees to waive the rule. One report said Karpov, 33, had suffered a psychological breakdown brought on by exhaustion.

Campomanes, who is from the Philippines, called the news conference to say the match was being halted because it “has exhausted the physical, if not the psychological, resources, not only of the players but of all those connected with the match.”

Karpov Bursts In

The two Soviet players were not supposed to be at the news conference, but Karpov burst into the auditorium and shouted, “I want to make my statement!”

He took the microphone and said: “We can and want to continue the game. I do not agree with (the decision) to end it and to start from scratch. I think Mr. Kasparov will second this position.”

Kasparov, sitting at the back of the hall with his agitated supporters, was invited to the podium. He shouted: “They are trying to deprive me of my chances.”