Giri, Anish – Grischuk, Alexander

2732 2013 · Draw

Caro-Kann, 2013: Giri (2732) against Grischuk (2785). After 3.Nd2 dxe4 and the bishop trade on d3, both sides castle queenside and manoeuvre at length — White 87% at-least-good moves, Black 88%. One move decides the story: 33.Rd1, flagged as a mistake, with the evaluation moving from −2.8 to −1.2 from White’s side. Black’s position was clearly winning-sized before it; afterwards much of that edge is handed back. Then 35.Qxc6+ bxc6 36.Rb8+ starts the sequence of rook checks that keeps returning the black king to the same squares, through 41.Rb7+ and the split point. The lesson: a big advantage doesn’t convert itself, and one loose move can halve it.