Anand Wins, Ends Run of Draws

Viswanathan Anand defeated Garry Kasparov Monday in the ninth game of their Professional Chess Assn. match at the World Trade Center in New York. The win, the first in the best-of-20-game match, ends an unprecedented streak of draws. Anand now leads, 5 to 4.

Most of the speculation about the string of draws centered on Kasparov’s poor form and uncharacteristic timidity. Now it seems his 25-year-old opponent deserves a share of the credit for making Kasparov, world champion since 1985, look vulnerable.

In Monday’s game, Kasparov chose the same variation of the Sicilian Defense that he had used in his four previous games as Black. Anand tried 12 Bf3 as a change from 12 Bd3, the move he had used in Games 3, 5 and 7. Although 12 Bf3 is commonly played by grandmasters, Kasparov had not prepared a fully satisfactory reply.

Anand’s excellent 17th move chased back Black’s pieces, and his surprising 27th move made further progress. After Kasparov won a rook for a knight, he could not halt the march of White’s pawns. Anand easily handled Black’s futile counterattack, and Kasparov resigned.

Anand reacted quietly to his victory, saying, “It’s the first time I’ve beaten him for a while.” He added: “It’s about as well as I’ve played so far.”

Kasparov will have a chance to tie the score in the 10th game, which begins at noon today. Here are the moves of Monday’s game:

Anand-Kasparov #9: 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 Bf3 Bd7 13 Nb3 Na5 14 Nxa5 Qxa5 15 Qd3 Rad8 16 Rfd1 Bc6 17 b4 Qc7 18 b5 Bd7 19 Rab1 axb5 20 Nxb5 Bxb5 21 Qxb5 Ra8 22 c4 e5 23 Bb6 Qc8 24 fxe5 dxe5 25 a5 Bf8 26 h3 Qe6 27 Rd5 Nxd5 28 exd5 Qg6 29 c5 e4 30 Be2 Re5 31 Qd7 Rg5 32 Rg1 e3 33 d6 Rg3 34 Qxb7 Qe6 35 Kh2, Black resigns.

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World Chess Championship

Monday winner: Anand

Standings: Anand leads 5-4 in best-of-20 series

Next game: Today