So, Wesley – Vachier Lagrave, Maxime

2770 2020 · Draw

Modern Defense, 2020: Wesley So (2770) against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2778). The queens come off as early as 8.Qxd8, and the game turns into a rook ending where Black pushes on the queenside — b4, b3, then d3 and d2 — reaching a winning position. The turning point is 28...Rxe4: the evaluation swings from −2.8 to −0.1 and Black’s advantage simply disappears. So replies 29.Rc8+ and 31.Bxd2, and the game ends with Black’s rooks giving perpetual check on the second rank, ½-½. Accuracy: 82% for White, 89% for Black. The takeaway: a pawn one square from promotion does not convert itself, and the last move demands as much care as the twenty before it.