Guidarelli, Laurent – Bacrot, Etienne

2392 2003 · Draw

Philidor Defense, 2003: Guidarelli (2392) faced Bacrot (2645) and simply refused to be pushed around. Queens came off with 13.Qxc8, and the game turned into patient maneuvering — knights shuttling between c5, e6, f5 and c4 — with neither side conceding a target. The engine flags no turning point: no blunder that swings the evaluation, no clear chance left on the table. The accuracy figures back that up: 89% at least good moves for White, 84% for Black, whose handful of inaccuracies cost nothing. After the rooks came off with 35...Rxd2 36.Rxd2, the draw was agreed at 38.Ke2. The takeaway: against a stronger opponent, unbroken solidity is a full result.