'Brains in Bahrain:' The Road to Recovery

Game 7, October 17

Shaky after two straight losses, Vladimir Kramnik deployed a classic anti-computer strategy. In another Queens Indian Defense, but with the sides switched, the human world champion managed to lock the pawns in the center of the board, depriving the tactical monster of the open lines it needed for a flashy attack. After only two and half hours of play, the Moscow grand master offered the Hamburg computer a draw on the twenty-eighth move and Deep Fritz immediately accepted. With the score now tied at three and a half points apiece, the eight-game match will be decided in the final confrontation on Saturday. Four hundred thousand dollars is riding on the game; the king of Bahrain will pay Kramnik $1 million if he wins and $600,000 if he looses.

After today's draw, Kramnik said his confidence was restored but that he couldn't predict the match's outcome. "The result will, to a large extent, be based on luck," he said "It depends on so many factors, even the way that I sleep. The computer doesn't feel any pressure at all, and therefore has a real psychological advantage — I need to think really deeply about what I will do in the final game. It is difficult to prepare for this last fight, because the computer can play in so many different ways."

Deep Fritz - Kramnik
Game 7
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.Nc3 Ne4 8.Qc2 Nxc3 9.Qxc3 c5 10.Rd1 d6 11.b3 Bf6 12.Bb2 Qe7 13.Qc2 Nc6 14.e4 e5 15.d5 Nd4 16.Bxd4 cxd4 17.Bh3 g6 18.a4 (Last book move by Fritz.) 18...a5 19.Rab1 Ba6 20.Re1 Kh8 21.Kg2 Bg7 22.Qd3 Rae8 23.Nd2 Bh6 24.f4 Qc7 25.Rf1 Kg8 26.Rbe1 Qd8 27.Kg1 Bb7 28.Re2 Ba6 1/2-1/2