Draw Ends London Half of Chess Match

The 12th game of the world chess championship match between Gary Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov ended in a draw Wednesday in London. Kasparov, the champion, retains his one-point lead, 6 1/2-5 1/2. Six victories or 12 1/2 points are needed for victory.

Wednesday’s session marked the end of the first half of the match. The second half will begin in Leningrad next week.

For the second time, Karpov successfully used the solid Queen’s Gambit Declined to neutralize Kasparov’s advantage of the first move. Earlier in the match, Karpov had tried the more combative Nimzo-Indian Defense, which seemed better suited to Kasparov’s lively style of play.

Wednesday’s game followed the course of the tenth game until move 11, when Karpov selected 11 . . . c5 instead of 11 . . . e5. Kasparov could not generate any threats. When he offered the exchange of Queens at move 20, the draw was almost assured.

Here are the moves:

Kasparov-Karpov 12: 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Be7 4 Nf3 Nf6 5 Bg5 h6 6 Bxf6 Bxf6 7 e3 0-0 8 Rc1 c6 9 Bd3 Nd7 10 0-0 dxc4 11 Bxc4 c5 12 Qe2 a6 13 Rfd1 cxd4 14 Nxd4 Qe7 15 Ne4 Be5 16 Nf3 Bb8 17 Qd2 b5 18 Be2 Nf6 19 Nxf6+ Qxf6 20 Qd4 Bb7 21 Qxf6 gxf6 22 b3 f5 23 g3 Bxf3 24 Bxf3 Ra7 25 Rc6 Kg7 26 Be2 Be5 27 h3 Bf6 28 Rdd6 Rfa8 29 Kg2 Be7 30 Rd2 b4 31 g4 fxg4 32 hxg4 a5 33 f4 Rd8 34 Rxd8, Drawn.