Ivanchuk, Vassily – Anand, Viswanathan

2779 2009 · Draw

A classical Caro-Kann from 2009: Ivanchuk (2779) against Anand (2791), with the familiar shape after 4.Nxe4 Bf5 and the bishop trade on d3. White castles long on move 15, Black castles short on move 17 — opposite kings, yet no breakthrough ever comes. The engine finds no turning point in the whole game: not a single swing in the evaluation. Anand plays 96% at least good moves, Ivanchuk 89%, his three inaccuracies costing nothing concrete. After the rook exchange on d1 and the play along the open files, the draw arrives on its own. The club lesson: in a line this well-charted, you only lose by forcing the issue.