CHESS

And then there were six. Six games, six draws, and both players in the PCA world championship match in New York are still showing a marked reluctance to take unnecessary risks. The latest game, however, began with great promise to be the most interesting of the contest so far.

Switching from the solid 1.d4 of the opening game and the cautious 1.Nf3 of the fourth, Kasparov opened with the direct 1.e4, and when Anand replied with the dynamic Open Variation of the Ruy Lopez, a real battle looked likely.

At move 11, Kasparov offered the same sacrifice of a knight that Karpov had played in his title match against Korchnoi in 1978. After 11...Qxg5 12.Qf3 Kd7 13.Bd5, White is well in command. Anand followed Korchnoi's play until move 14, when he varied with 14...0-0-0 instead of exchanging queens.

The game quickly became very sharp, and Kasparov's 20.Nd4 forced the challenger to sacrifice rook for knight. A critical position arose after 21...Qxb3. After 22.Qa5 Ra8, White had no way to continue the attack, and Black threatened to consolidate his defences, place his knight on d5 and advance his passed pawns.

By exchanging queens with 22.Qe3, Kasparov gained counterplay through the open f-file and the possibility of playing e4 to drive a knight out of d5. Five moves later, Black's pawns were on the move, White's rook had invaded the K-side, all was set for a thrilling race and... the players agreed a draw.

"We both basically agreed with each other that we didn't have a clue about what was going on," Anand commented after the players had analysed the final position together for a few minutes after the game.

After 28...Nb4 29.dxc5+ Kxc5, anything could happen, but some spectators groaned audibly when the players chose not to continue.

White: G Kasparov

Black: V. Anand

Sixth match game

1 e4 e5 15 Qe1 Nxb3

2 Nf3 Nc6 16 axb3 Kb7

3 Bb5 a6 17 Be3 Be7

4 Ba4 Nf6 18 Bg5 h6

5 0-0 Nxe4 19 Bxe7 Nxe7

6 d4 b5 20 Nd4 Rxd4

7 Bb3 d5 21 cxd4 Qxb3

8 dxe5 Be6 22 Qe3 Qxe3

9 Nd2 Nc5 23 fxe3 Nd5

10 c3 d4 24 Kf2 Kb6

11 Ng5 dxc3 25 Ke2 a5

12 Nxe6 fxe6 26 Rf7 a4

13 bxc3 Qd3 27 Kd2 c5

14 Nf3 0-0-0 28 e4 draw