9th Chess Game a Fast Draw

The ninth game of the world chess championship in London was drawn Wednesday. World champion Gary Kasparov retains his one-point lead over challenger Anatoly Karpov. Kasparov leads, 2-1, in wins, and 5-4 in total points. Six wins or 12 1/2 points are needed for victory.

Wednesday’s game was short and uneventful. As Black, Kasparov repeated the variation of the Gruenfeld Defense with which he lost the fifth game, but varied with 7 . . . dxc4 instead of his earlier 7 . . . Ne4. Karpov responded cautiously, as if he welcomed a draw after his defeat in the eighth game.

The position offered equal chances when the draw was agreed. Black threatened to blockade White’s isolated pawn with 19 . . . Nd5, so White correctly forced a repetition of moves with 19 Bd2.

The tenth game is scheduled for Friday, with Kasparov handling the white pieces. Up to 12 games will be played in London by Aug. 29, and then the match will move to Leningrad.

Here are the moves:

Karpov-Kasparov 9: 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 Bf4 Bg7 5 e3 c5 6 dxc5 Qa5 7 Rc1 dxc4 8 Bxc4 0-0 9 Nf3 Qxc5 10 Bb3 Nc6 11 0-0 Qa5 12 h3 Bf5 13 Nd4 Bd7 14 Qe2 Nxd4 15 exd4 e6 16 Bd2 Qb6 17 Rfd1 Bc6 18 Be3 Qa5 19 Bd2 Qb6 20 Be3 Qa5, Drawn.