Karpov Resigns Without Resuming Play; Challenger Takes 1-0 Lead

World chess champion Anatoly Karpov resigned the adjourned first game of the championship match Wednesday without resuming play, giving challenger Gary Kasparov the victory, the Soviet news agency Tass said.

The move gave Kasparov a 1-0 lead in the series, the second between the two Soviet grandmasters for the world championship.

Their first match was halted in February by the head of the World Chess Federation, who said both players had become exhausted.

Nimzo-Indian Defense

When the two players adjourned Tuesday night on Kasparov’s sealed 42nd move, some grandmasters predicted that Kasparov had a good chance of winning. He was playing white.

The contest began with the Romanishin variation of the Nimzo-Indian defense. But the 22-year-old Kasparov introduced some changes that left Karpov, 33, at a disadvantage and unable to develop the pieces on the queen’s side of the board.

This is the first time Kasparov has had the lead in the prolonged title series. The last round of games ended with Karpov leading 5-3 after Kasparov narrowed the champion’s original 5-0 lead. Six victories were needed to win that series.

The current round is limited to 24 games. The first player to win six games or accumulate 12 1/2 points is the victor. A win counts one point, a draw a half-point.

If the players are tied at the end of 24 games, Karpov will retain his title.

Here are the moves:

Kasparov-Karpov 1: 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 Nf3 c5 5 g3 Ne4 6 Qd3 Qa5 7 Qxe4 Bxc3+ 8 Bd2 Bxd2+ 9 Nxd2 Qb6 10 dxc5 Qxb2 11 Rb1 Qc3 12 Qd3 Qxd3 13 exd3 Na6 14 d4 Rb8 15 Bg2 Ke7 16 Ke2 Rd8 17 Ne4 b6 18 Nd6 Nc7 19 Rb4 Ne8 20 Nxe8 Kxe8 21 Rhb1 Ba6 22 Ke3 d5 23 cxd6 Rbc8 24 Kd3 Rxd6 25 Ra4 b5 26 cxb5 Rb8 27 Rab4 Bb7 28 Bxb7 Rxb7 29 a4 Ke7 30 h4 h6 31 f3 Rd5 32 Rc1 Rbd7 33 a5 g5 34 hxg5 Rxg5 35 g4 h5 36 b6 axb6 37 axb6 Rb7 38 Rc5 f5 39 gxh5 Rxh5 40 Kc4 Rh8 41 Kb5 Ra8, black resigns.