Votbinnik was a knight down—almost certainly busted, Dave explained.
"It got terrifically complicated while you were gone," he said. "A real Votbinnik position."
"Only the Machine out-binniked him," Bill finished.
Judy hummed Beethoven's "Funeral March for the Death of a Hero."
Nevertheless Votbinnik did not resign. The Machine sealed a move. Its board blacked out and Vanderhoef, with one of his assistants standing beside him to witness, privately read the move off a small indicator on the console. Tomorrow he would feed the move back into the Machine when play was resumed at the morning session.
Doc sealed a move too although he was two pawns down in his game against Grabo and looked tired to death.
"They don't give up easily, do they?" Sandra observed to Dave. "They must really love the game. Or do they hate it?"
"When you get to psychology it's all beyond me," Dave replied. "Ask me something else."
Sandra smiled. "Thank you, Dave," she said. "I will."