Fressinet, Laurent – Vachier Lagrave, Maxime

2673 2008 · Draw

Fressinet (2673) against Vachier-Lagrave (2681), 2008: a King’s Indian in which Black plays an early ...d5, and the game turns concrete straight away with 5.Bg5 Ne4. After 11...Bxf1 12.Kxf1 White gives up castling rights but simply walks the king to safety with 13.Ke2, then lines the rooks up on d1 and b1. The engine flags no turning point at all: 100% of moves at least "good" from both sides, no evaluation swing anywhere. The queen repetition 17.Qc4 Na5 18.Qb5 Nc6 19.Qc4, followed by 19...Rb8 20.Rxb8, settles the split point. The lesson: an error-free game isn’t an idea-free game — each side defused the other’s plan before it could start.