Challenger Takes Lead in Chess Match

Challenger Gary Kasparov scored his third win in the world chess championship Tuesday in Moscow. Kasparov now leads champion Anatoly Karpov, 3-2, in the match.

Playing black, Kasparov repeated the pawn sacrifice, 8 . . . d5, which he used to draw Game 12. Karpov managed to hold onto the extra pawn, but his misplaced Knight on a3 gave him trouble. Kasparov’s pieces reached dominating positions, while Karpov had no useful moves. Later, Kasparov shifted to a direct attack on Karpov’s King, highlighted by the fine move 37 . . . Rc1.

Kasparov, 22, has a well-deserved reputation for imaginative attacking play. Tuesday’s game was the first time he had demonstrated this skill to notch a point against Karpov.

Some observers feel that Karpov, 34, who is proficient in every phase of the game, can be defeated by his more brilliant challenger if Kasparov avoids the kind of impetuous mistakes that cost him the fifth game of the match. In many of their games, Karpov has played a bit passively, waiting for Kasparov to overreach himself; that strategy suffered a setback on Tuesday.

Six wins or 12 1/2 points are needed for victory in the match. Kasparov now has 8 1/2 points to Karpov’s 7 1/2 points. If neither player achieves six wins, then the player with the most points after 24 games is the winner. In case of a 12-12 tie, Karpov retains his title.

Game 17 is scheduled for Thursday.

Here are the moves of Tuesday’s game.

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nc6 5 Nb5 d6 6 c4 Nf6 7 N1c3 a6 8 Na3 d5 9 cxd5 exd5 10 exd5 Nb4 11 Be2 Bc5 12 0-0 0-0 13 Bf3 Bf5 14 Bg5 Re8 15 Qd2 b5 16 Rad1 Nd3 17 Nab1 h6 18 Bh4 b4 19 Na4 Bd6 20 Bg3 Rc8 21 b3 g5 22 Bxd6 Qxd6 23 g3 Nd7 24 Bg2 Qf6 25 a3 a5 26 axb4 axb4 27 Qa2 Bg6 28 d6 g4 29 Qd2 Kg7 30 f3 Qxd6 31 fxg4 Qd4+ 32 Kh1 Nf6 33 Rf4 Ne4 34 Qxd3 Nf2+ 35 Rxf2 Bxd3 36 Rfd2 Qe3 37 Rxd3 Rc1 38 Nb2 Qf2 39 Nd2 Rxd1+ 40 Nxd1 Re1+, White Resigns.