Kasparov, Anand Draw Again

The third game of the Professional Chess Assn. world championship was drawn Thursday at the World Trade Center in New York. Champion Garry Kasparov of Russia and challenger Viswanathan Anand of India are tied at 1 1/2-1 1/2 after three straight draws.

This match is Kasparov’s seventh world championship, but only the second in the brief history of the PCA. Kasparov had reigned as champion of the World Chess Federation since 1985, but he broke away from that organization and created the PCA for his 1993 title defense. Kasparov claims credit for securing the sponsorship of Intel, the computer chip manufacturer that contributes the match prizes of $1 million to the winner and $500,000 to the loser.

Thursday’s game produced the first exciting moment in the best-of-20-game match. Kasparov, playing Black, repeated the defense he had used in Game One. This time, Anand attacked energetically, creating a critical position at move 19. Kasparov’s 19th move was faulty, and Anand missed a winning continuation with 20 Bxh7+ Kxh7 21 Ng5+ fxg5 22 fxg5. His oversight let Kasparov reestablish equality, and soon a drawn endgame was reached.

After the game, Kasparov told reporters: “I didn’t like my position very much. I didn’t feel comfortable.”

The fourth game is scheduled for today. Here are the moves of Thursday’s game:

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Be2 e6 7 0-0 Be7 8 a4 Nc6 9 Be3 0-0 10 f4 Qc7 11 Kh1 Re8 12 Bd3 Nb4 13 a5 Bd7 14 Nf3 Bc6 15 Bb6 Qc8 16 Qe1 Nd7 17 Bd4 Nc5 18 Qg3 f6 19 e5 Rf8 20 Bxc5 dxc5 21 Bc4 Bd5 22 Nxd5 exd5 23 Bb3 c4 24 Ba4 Nc6 25 c3 fxe5 26 Nxe5 Nxe5 27 fxe5 Qe6 28 Bc2 Rxf1+ 29 Rxf1 Rf8 30 Rxf8+ Bxf8 31 Qf4 g6 32 Bd1 Qf7 33 Qd4 Qf1+ 34 Qg1 Qxg1+ 35 Kxg1 Kf7 36 Bg4 b6. Drawn.

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World Chess Championship

Thursday’s game: Draw

Standings: tied 1 1/2 games apiece in the best-of-20 series

Next game: Today