The million dollar Brains in Bahrain match between Vladimir Kramnik and Deep Fritz takes place 2nd-22nd October 2002 (Opening Ceremony 2nd October. Playing days 4, 6, 8, 10, 13, 15, 17 & 19 October, 2002).

Report Eight: Game 3 Report
by Ebrahim Al Mannai

Today saw Kramnik’s best play so far in the match, resulting in his second full point against the computer. Despite the fact that Fritz emerged out of the opening with a superior position, Kramnik’s exceptional technique resulted in his outmaneuvering the calculating machine. During the course of the game, Kramnik’s manager and the man behind the annual tournament in Dortmund, Carsten Hensel, earnestly shared with me his opinion on Kramnik’s current form and prospects on the champion’s competitive strategy for the rest of the match:

Carsten Hensel: Rooting for the champ (photo courtesy of Fred Friedel and Mig Greengard)

"This is great! When he is like this (i.e. in this form), no one can beat him, absolutely no one. But he has to be careful. As the match progresses, his energy-level will not be so high. He must capitalize on his condition now. Playing for a 4.5 win via consecutive draws will not do."

Carsten’s enthusiasm was truly moving. His usual ‘down-to-earth’ business sense and casual, relaxed manner were not completely eclipsed, but today another side of Herr Hensel showed. In a narcisistic “money-talks” (chess) world full of political propaganda and general mistrust, his honesty and dedication were inspiring. He had the look of any coach excited to watch his team take the lead while trying to stay calm, knowing full well that ‘it ain’t over til it’s over’.

GM Julian Hodgson: still getting used to the heat! (photo courtesy of Fred Friedel and Mig Greengard)

His manager wasn’t the only person who was thrilled at Kramnik’s play. English GM, Julian Hodgson, who’s just arrived to join the commentary team for the match, was equally in admiration of Kramnik’s refined handling of the game:

"This is Kramnik at his best. It is this sort of precise technique that Kramnik is known for, and here we see him demonstrating his clear mastery over the machine."

Vladimir Kramnik - settling himself before the start of game two

At the post-game press conference, Kramnik himself was pleased with his play today. When asked whether he thought his play was perfect, the world champion responded modestly:

"One can never play ‘perfect chess’, but I think I played quite well today."

He later added, "If the computer is to win, it has to be through tactics. In this game, the computer could not grasp many of my ideas because they were too abstract."

Again, today’s game saw an early exchange of queens. This time in a Scotch game, which started out looking quite good for White, but Kramnik’s resourcefulness prevailed.

Deep Fritz - Kramnik, Vladimir [C45]
Brains in Bahrain (3), 08.10.2002

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 Avoiding Kramnik's indestructible Berlin! Rumour has it that, right before he left Bahrain, Nigel Short actually recommended trying the Scotch to the Fritz team during their arbiter-supervised 'opening adjustment' session, in an attempt to catch Kramnik off guard. 3...exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nxc6 Qf6 6.Qd2 dxc6 7.Nc3 Ne7

Oddly enough, Kramnik has adopted Short's favoured reply to the Scotch, according to Mig Greengard.8.Qf4 Be6 allowing White to double Black's kingside pawns as well. Kramnik realizes that the exchange of queens is worth this, considering that Fritz would require quite a bit of strategic savoirfaire in order to exploit the resulting irregular pawn structure. 9.Qxf6 gxf6 10.Na4 Bb4+ a zwischenzug that aims to deprive the wayward knight of any retreat squares 11.c3 Bd6 12.Be3 avoids losing the knight to 13...b5 by creating an outpost for it on c5, but Black competes with 12...b6 13.f4 White grabs some more space on the kingside and anticipates Black's f5 pawn advance. 13...0-0-0 14.Kf2

Preparing to advance his c-pawn in order to reactivate the knight and get a nice hold on the white squares [ if 14.c4 then 14...Bb4+ ] 14...c5 Black would like to bring his own knight into play with this. 15.c4 Nc6 16.Nc3 f5 the long-awaited pawn thrust contests White's dominant central pawn structure. Especially with players like Kramnik, the timing of such pawn thrusts is crucial. 17.e5 Bf8 planning Bg7 and then f 6, hitting White's spearhead on e5. At this point, the Fritz team were quite pleased with their program's opening play. White does have the more favourable position. 18.b3 this exposes the long a1-h8 diagonal to Black's intended Bg7 and pawn f6. Kramnik took over a half-hour, and some nicotine, to produce the following masterstroke: 18...Nb4!

19.a3? This further weakens White's queenside structure. Later, Kramnik said that he was sure of the win after this move. 19...Nc2 20.Rc1 Nxe3 21.Kxe3 Bg7 22.Nd5 c6

[ if 22...Bxd5 then 23.cxd5 Rxd5 24.Bd3 White regains his pawn and has a clear endgame advantage thanks to his more active pieces and superior pawn structure ] 23.Nf6 to stop Black's f6 push, but this also neutralises White's pawn structure advantage on the kingside. 23...Bxf6 24.exf6 Rhe8

Black's superiority is becoming clear now. 25.Kf3 Rd2 26.h3 Bd7 27.g3 Re6 snapping up the defenceless pawn on f6 28.Rb1 passive, but it's hard to see anything else: 28. g4!? 28...Rxf6 This does allow White just enough time to slightly activate his pieces. 29.Be2 Re6 30.Rhe1 Kc7 31.Bf1 b5 32.Rec1 [ 32.cxb5 cxb5 and now White has to reckon with the threat of Bc6++.] 32...Kb6 33.b4 cxb4 34.axb4

Now Black has a legitimate Queenside majority, of which he takes full advantage. 34...Re4 35.Rd1 Rxd1 36.Rxd1 Be6 37.Bd3 Rd4 38.Be2 Rxd1 39.c5+ Kb7 40.Bxd1 a5 41.bxa5 Ka6 42.Ke3 Kxa5 43.Kd4 b4 44.g4 fxg4 45.hxg4 b3 46.Kc3 Ka4 47.Kb2 f6 48.Bf3 Kb5 Protects his own pawn on c6 and secures the capture of the white one on c5. With two connected passed pawns, all White can play for is heart failure. 49.g5 f5 50.Kc3 Kxc5

51.Be2 was played over the board, but the Fritz team chose not to wait for Black's response, demonstrating the only legal method of taking a move back. 0-1