LONDON - Garry Kasparov, who had dominated world chess in the way Michael Jordan controlled a basketball court, quietly relinquished his crown Thursday to his former protege.
After losing to 25-year-old Vladimir Kramnik, a fellow Russian, Kasparov admitted that he was ''out-prepared.''
The match was decided not with a bang but with a draw after 38 moves - the 13th draw in 15 games. The difference was that Kramnik won two games and Kasparov didn't win any.
Kramnik raised a fist in triumph at the end of the game. He also takes home the winner's two-thirds share of the $2 million prize put up by braingames.net, an Internet start-up company.
''This match has been dominated by Kramnik's superior preparation. I was just out-prepared,'' Kasparov said at a post-game news conference.
Kasparov, 37, was calm and appeared resigned in advance to losing his title. During his 15 years as champion, he only lost once - to IBM's Big Blue computer three years ago.
His thorough preparation is legendary. Kramnik was among the assistants who helped him defeat Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand in 1995. This time, Kasparov went with a group of relatively young and inexperienced Russian grandmasters.
Throughout the match, Kasparov seemed out-of sync and his play was unusually passive.
Playing the advantageous white pieces, he offered draws as early as the 11th move. In game 10, he blundered in the opening, allowing an elementary combination, and lost in 25 moves.
''It's very difficult to play without any openings. From about game eight on, I had to work 10 hours a day to rebuild my opening repertoire,'' Kasparov said.
Game 14 on Tuesday ''had a very dramatic effect on me,'' Kasparov said while pointing out lost opportunities. ''The final position was technically won.''
Kramnik played a number of systems that he had never played before, most notably the Berlin Defense to the Ruy Lopez, which Kasparov could not have anticipated, said American master Michael Greengard, who runs Kasparov's Web site.
''Kramnik did a great job. They played on his battleground,'' Greengard said. ''Kasparov was exhausted by having to stay up until 6 a.m. on some days dealing with these systems.''
On Thursday, for the first time in the match, Kasparov played 1.d4 with White. He then fianchettoed his kings bishop and entered the Catalan Opening.
British grandmaster Jonathan Levitt called it ''not the most aggressive system in the world.''
The strategy was reminiscent of Kasparov's 1987 world championship match in Seville against Anatoly Karpov. Needing to win the final game with white to keep his title, Kasparov chose a similarly quiet English Opening and ground Karpov down in 64 moves.
After exchanges on moves 21-22, Kasparov's white emerged in a middle game where his knight was superior to black's bishop.
After exchanging queens, Kasparov advanced his kingside pawns to restrict the scope of Kramnik's pieces. But Kramnik calmly redeployed his rook to d5 and it quickly became apparent that white could not win.
Before Thursday's game, Greengard said he was tired of being asked about Kasparov's problems.
''I just tell everyone that aliens have stolen his brain and are going to transplant it into Elvis's body somewhere near Neptune,'' he said.
Kramnik's victory may open an opportunity to unify the world chess title.
Kasparov won the championship in 1985 under the auspices of FIDE, the World Chess Federation, which had sponsored the championship since 1948.
In 1993, Kasparov and British grandmaster Nigel Short broke away to form the Professional Chess Association, or PCA.
Kasparov defeated Short and then Anand under the auspices of the PCA. But the PCA lost a sponsorship with Intel and disbanded in 1998.
Last year, FIDE adopted an annual knockout tournament, which was won by Russian grandmaster Alexander Khalifman. This year's event is scheduled for late November in New Delhi with the finals in Tehran at the end of the year.
Kasparov has repeatedly ruled out a match against the FIDE champion. Kramnik said a possible unification match ''is not up to me.''
But Raymond Keene of braingames.net said Kramnik has a five-year contract and the company would have to agree to any match
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