Kasparov Wins on Foe’s Blunder

A terrible blunder by challenger Viswanathan Anand gave Garry Kasparov his second straight victory in the 11th game of their Professional Chess Assn. world championship Thursday in New York. Kasparov now leads the best-of-20-game match, 6 to 5.

Thursday’s game began with a change of opening by Kasparov. For the first time in his career, he played the Dragon variation of the Sicilian Defense. Anand’s quiet play from moves 13 to 19 steered the position into a balanced endgame, and Kasparov offered a draw. Anand declined the offer and played sensibly until move 28, when he mistakenly thought he could catch a Black rook in a trap. Instead of his faulty 28 b4, either 28 Re3 or 28 Nf4 keeps the chances even. But he expected to gain the advantage because he had overlooked Kasparov’s deadly riposte, 31 . . . Rxc2. Two pawns behind, Anand resigned at once.

After the game, Kasparov told reporters: “I saw this little trick a few moves before and I was hoping very much that he would fall for it.”

Most world championships have included a game lost by one horrible move, but one blunder has never decided an entire championship. In this case, Anand needs 5 1/2 points in the remaining nine games to collect the $1-million prize. Kasparov needs only four points to remain champion, because he retains his title if the match ends 10 to 10.

Kasparov has seemed eager to draw in many games, and, now that he has the lead, he may follow that policy to minimize Anand’s chance of a comeback.

Game 12 begins today at noon. Here are the moves of Thursday’s game:

Anand-Kasparov #11: 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 g6 6 Be3 Bg7 7 f3 0-0 8 Qd2 Nc6 9 Bc4 Bd7 10 0-0-0 Ne5 11 Bb3 Rc8 12 h4 h5 13 Kb1 Nc4 14 Bxc4 Rxc4 15 Nde2 b5 16 Bh6 Qa5 17 Bxg7 Kxg7 18 Nf4 Rfc8 19 Ncd5 Qxd2 20 Rxd2 Nxd5 21 Nxd5 Kf8 22 Re1 Rb8 23 b3 Rc5 24 Nf4 Rbc8 25 Kb2 a5 26 a3 Kg7 27 Nd5 Be6 28 b4 axb4 29 axb4 Rc4 30 Nb6 Rxb4+ 31 Ka3 Rxc2, White resigns

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World Chess Championship

Thursday winner: Kasparov

Standings: Kasparov leads 6-5 in best-of-20 series

Next game: Today