In its best game of the match Fritz had world champion Vladimir Kramnik under
considerable pressure. With 15 minutes on his clock to make six more moves,
Kramnik played the worst blunder of his career to lose a piece and resigned
almost immediately.
Kramnik at the start of game five
Adjusting his pieces
The Fritz team was a little embarrassed at how they got their first win; they
were expecting a long tough fight with an uncertain result. Suddenly they are
right back in the match, down just one game with three more to play. The score
is now Kramnik 3, Fritz 2.
As pointed out by Fritz creator Frans Morsch, the key difference between this
game and the previous four was that the queens stayed on the board until the
end. With the most powerful piece at its disposal Fritz kept the pressure on
Kramnik, who simplified the position at every turn.
The final postion – after the knight check Black loses a piece
Before the fatal slip occurred, it looked like Kramnik was going to be in for
a long night of torture. The forecast was for a queen and knight endgame with
four pawns for Fritz and three for Kramnik, all on the same side. With best
play it would have drawn, but it would have meant hours at the board defending
against an implacable and untiring opponent.
Frans Morsch and Vladimir Kramnik in the press conference after the game
Kramnik still had 15 minutes on his clock to make six more moves and reach
the time control. He had earlier dismissed the move 34...Qc4 but then came back
to it and played it, having forgotten the fatal consequences. Kramnik saw his
mistake immediately and could only sit and wait for Fritz to deliver the fatal
stroke. After 35.Ne7+ Black is losing an entire piece and has no hope of saving
the game. Kramnik resigned at once.
The victorious team: Mathias Feist, Alexander Kure, Frans Morsch
Full report to follow.
Deep Fritz - Kramnik,V (2807) [A00]
Brains in Bahrain Man-Machine. Manama, Bahrain (5), 13.10.2002
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 0-0 7.e3 Ne4 8.Bxe7
Qxe7 9.cxd5 Nxc3 10.bxc3 exd5 11.Qb3 Rd8 12.c4 dxc4 13.Bxc4 Nc6 14.Be2 b6 15.0-0
Bb7 16.Rfc1 Rac8 17.Qa4 Na5 18.Rc3 c5 19.Rac1 cxd4 20.Nxd4 Rxc3 21.Rxc3 Rc8
22.Rxc8+ Bxc8 23.h3 g6 24.Bf3 Bd7 25.Qc2 Qc5 26.Qe4 Qc1+ 27.Kh2 Qc7+ 28.g3 Nc4
29.Be2 Ne5 30.Bb5 Bxb5 31.Nxb5 Qc5 32.Nxa7 Qa5 33.Kg2 Qxa2 34.Nc8 Qc4 35.Ne7+
1-0
Replay the game here