Word: kudrin
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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After three consecutive wins, Hitech draws a tougher player. Berliner becomes visibly nervous when he discovers that the opponent is Grand Master Sergei Kudrin, a slender Soviet emigre with long wavy hair and sleepy eyes. Kudrin has been matched against Hitech in tournament play twice before -- and has beaten it both times. A large crowd of onlookers presses in around the table. "This is going to be a wild game," Berliner predicts...
...Kudrin stares down at the chessboard with perfect concentration, looking up from time to time like a swimmer surfacing from a deep dive. As Kudrin meditates, even the smallest background noises are amplified. The ticking of the timer clock on the table, the clinking of the chandelier on the wall, the splash of drinking water into plastic cups all seem unbearably nerve-racking. On the twelfth move Kudrin, playing Black, guilefully offers Hitech a pawn. Hitech can't resist taking it -- thereby opening up the board to a masterful attack. From then on, it's Kudrin's game. Mikhail...
Soon the situation deteriorates so far that Berliner intervenes, pronouncing it hopeless. Kudrin smiles. "Playing against Hitech is always fun. As a machine, it's very, very strong. If I play badly, I know it will win." Reviewing the match, Berliner shows Kudrin an alternate move near the end of the game that would have been as good as the move he made. "Hitech saw this?" asks Kudrin, impressed. "That's very nice...