Kasparov Agrees to Surprise Draw; Chess Experts Are Baffled

Champion Gary Kasparov and challenger Anatoly Karpov abruptly agreed to draw the 19th game of their world chess title match Wednesday, baffling experts who considered Kasparov on the brink of victory.

Kasparov, with the black pieces, had unleashed a dangerous assault against Karpov’s position after seizing the advantage with a pawn sacrifice.

But with several grandmasters predicting an imminent win for the champion, Kasparov suddenly offered a draw in the day’s closing minutes after only 39 moves.

His Soviet countryman accepted it without hesitation.

Kasparov needs only a 12-12 tie to keep the title, and the draw gave him a 10-9 lead with three wins, two losses and 14 draws.

Here are the moves:

Karpov-Kasparov 19: 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 Nf3 0-0 6 Be2 e5 7 Be3 c6 8 d5 Ng4 9 Bg5 f6 10 Bh4 Na6 11 Nd2 Nh6 12 a3 Nf7 13 f3 Bh6 14 Bf2 f5 15 Qc2 Bd7 16 b4 c5 17 Rb1 b6 18 Nf1 Bf4 19 g3 Bh6 20 h4 Nc7 21 g4 fxg4 22 fxg4 Bf4 23 Ne3 Ne8 24 Ncd1 h6 25 h5 g5 26 Rg1 Nf6 27 Rg2 Qc8 28 Kf1 Nd8 29 Kg1 Nb7 30 Kh1 cxb4 31 axb4 a5 32 Nf5 Bxf5 33 exf5 axb4 34 Rxb4 Nc5 35 Rxb6 Ne4 36 Rc6 Qb7 37 Be1 Ra1 38 Bf3 Nc5 39 Bc3 Rc1. Draw agreed.