Kasparov, Karpov Draw in 9th Game After 70 Moves

The hard-fought ninth game of the world chess championship between titleholder Gary Kasparov and challenger Anatoly Karpov was drawn after 70 moves Thursday at the suggestion of Karpov.

The score in the match remains tied at 4 1/2-4 1/2. Each player has scored two victories, and there were five draws.

Play had been adjourned after 43 moves on Wednesday with Karpov, playing white, holding an advantage. But when the game resumed Thursday, he was unable to win against Kasparov’s finely tuned defensive maneuvers.

“I think this game shows the difficulty Karpov is having in winning with the white pieces, while Kasparov’s play in the match is getting better and better,” commented Ricardo Calvo, a Spanish international master.

In chess, the advantage of the white pieces is often compared to that of the serve in tennis. At the highest levels, grandmasters aim to hold draws with black and score victories when playing the white pieces.

In the adjourned position, each player had a queen, a rook and four pawns, but Kasparov’s king was more exposed to attack than white’s.

When play resumed, Kasparov sacrificed a pawn to open white’s defenses and Karpov was eventually forced to allow an exchange of queens.

to Here are the moves:

Karpov-Kasparov 9: 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 cxd5 Nxd5 5 e4 Nxc3 6 bxc3 Bg7 7 Bc4 c5 8 Ne2 Nc6 9 Be3 0-0 10 0-0 Bg4 11 f3 Na5 12 Bxf7+ Rxf7 13 fxg4 Rxf1+ 14 Kxf1 cxd4 15 cxd4 Qb6 16 Kg1 Qe6 17 Qd3 Qxg4 18 Rf1 Rc8 19 h3 Qd7 20 d5 Nc4 21 Bd4 e5 22 dxe6 Qxe6 23 Bxg7 Kxg7 24 Nf4 Qd6 25 Qc3+ Kh6 26 Nd5 Qe5 27 Qd3 Kg7 28 Nf6 Qd6 29 Qc3 Qe5 30 Qd3 Qd6 31 Qc3 Qe5 32 Qb3 Rc7 33 Qd3 Rf7 34 Qxc4 Rxf6 35 Rd1 b5 36 Rd7+ Kh6 37 Qe2 Qc5+ 38 Kh2 Qe5+ 39 g3 Qc3 40 Kg2 Qc4 41 Qe3+ g5 42 Rd2 Qf1+ 43 Kh2 Qf3 (sealed) 44 Qd4 Re6 45 e5 Qf5 46 Re2 a5 47 Qd5 b4 48 Qxa5 Qd3 49 Rg2 Qd4 50 Qa8 Qxe5 51 Qf8+ Kg6 52 Qxb4 h5 53 h4 gxh4 54 Qxh4 Rd6 55 Qc4 Rd4 56 Qc6+ Kg7 57 Qb7+ Kh6 58 Qc6+ Kg7 59 Rc2 Rh4+ 60 Kg2 Qe4+ 61 Qxe4 Rxe4 62 Rc7+ Kg6 63 Ra7 Re3 64 Kh3 Rc3 65 Ra8 Rc4 66 a4 Kg5 67 a5 Ra4 68 a6 Kh6 69 Kg2 Ra3 70 Kf2 Kg7, draw agreed.