McShane, L. – Howell, D.

2644 2017 · White wins (resignation, time or agreement)

French Defence, Advance Variation, 2017: McShane (2644) against Howell (2702). White locks the centre with 3.e5, recaptures on f5, then pushes a4-a5 while the knight lands on c5. The turning point is move 24: 24...Qxe3 is a missed chance that slides the evaluation from +2.0 to +4.2. Black never recovers — 28...gxf3 (+6.3 to +8.7) and 31...Qxd4 (+10.2 to +15.0) widen the gap further, and 33.Nd6 ends matters. Accuracy: 91% for White, 84% for Black. The takeaway is simple: when you are already worse, a tempting capture can cost far more than the pawn it wins.