Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi – Firouzja, Alireza

2721 2020 · White wins (resignation, time or agreement)

Classical Slav, 2020: Vidit (2721) against Firouzja (2726). After 4.cxd5 cxd5 the symmetry breaks when Black grabs the pawn with 10...Qxb2, a capture that costs the queen time — 11.Na4, 12.a3 and 13.Qb3 keep chasing her from square to square. The engine flags no turning point at all: no decisive blunder, no missed chance. The accuracy figures match, 89% of at least good moves for White and 88% for Black. After the queens come off with 18.Qa1 Qxa1 and the rooks are liquidated on the a-file, Vidit keeps control through 24.Bf1 and wins 1-0. The lesson: a game can be won with no single error, just accumulated tempo.