My First Draw Against a Titled Player
A Rapid battle against WFM Victoriya Sergeyeva (2000+ FIDE)
I was quite excited to get my first draw against a titled player: WFM Victoriya Sergeyeva from Kazakhstan. It was a rapid 15+10 game, and Victoriya holds a 2000+ FIDE rating in both rapid and classical formats. I wanted to share this game because it featured an interesting opening and developed into a surprisingly high-quality match.
Let me begin by showing you a GIF of the game before walking through the full annotated moves.
It was an Italian game (also known as Giuoco Piano): 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6:
Here is the first decision point for White: whether to strike in the center with 5. d4 or play a more maneuvering game with 5. d3. Modern masters prefer d3 (75% d3 vs 20% d4) — though some commentators consider this opening a "killer of fun" due to its high draw rate among grandmasters. In amateur circles, d4 is more popular (55% d4 vs 30% d3). I used to play d3, but I must admit that d4 is more fun, so the game continued with 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+
Now we have another major decision point: how to handle the check. There are several options: 7. Nc3 — the Greco gambit — where we sacrifice the e4 pawn for active play; 7. Be2 — where Black typically can't maintain the extra pawn; and the exotic-looking Krakow variation: 7. Kf1?!
I chose the classic Greco: 7. Nc3!? Nxe4 8. 0-0:
After Black captures the sacrificed pawn and we castle, Black must choose how to capture the knight on c3. The position becomes sharp and concrete — one wrong move can cost the game. While masters almost exclusively capture with the bishop, amateurs tend to follow the principle that bishops are slightly more valuable than knights. They're often tempted by the fact that after recapturing, their bishop will attack the rook on a1. However, the position becomes tricky for Black after 8…Nxc3 9. bxc3 Bxc3, as White can even sacrifice the rook on a1 with 10. Qb3! (a move that has won me many blitz games). The diagram for this variation follows — would you be tempted to grab the rook?
I bet you would (as 84% of amateurs are), since the queen and bishop battery appears to be set up in the wrong order, and a rook is a rook — plus Black has two extra pawns. However, after 10...Bxa1?, it's actually a forced loss for Black. Even if you don't capture the rook, there's only one move that saves Black (and even then, Stockfish evaluates the position at +0.5).
My opponent, being a titled player, knew her theory and played the theoretically correct move: 8...Bxc3. Simply recapturing with the pawn wouldn't give me adequate compensation for the sacrificed pawn.
In open Giuoco Piano positions, there's a key rule of thumb: if Black safely plays d5, they typically equalize. This move controls crucial central squares, activates the bishop, and — when Black is well-developed — usually provides enough counterplay to neutralize White's initiative.
So I played the Møller Attack, complicating the position and preventing Black's d5 by playing it myself: 9. d5!
The position now looks tricky: Black has two pieces under attack but is up a piece and a pawn. Black has several options here, and it's easy to go wrong. This is typically where my blitz opponents pause to think. Na5 looks natural—retreating the knight with tempo—but what's the catch? This move actually gives White a 64% win rate, as Black's knights often get trapped. There are even forced lines leading to checkmate, even after what looks like a favorable queen exchange for Black. Here's an example: 9…Na5?! 10. bxc3 Nxc4 11. Qd4 (forking the knights) Ncd6 ("Aha, we can save them!") 12. Qxg7 Qf6 ("Perfect, we'll trade queens and keep our extra piece!") 13. Qxf6 Nxf6 14. Re1+:
Returning to the game, Victoriya made another theoretically sound move by retreating the bishop: 9…Bf6! While I could have captured the knight on c6, this would have been a mistake that would help Black develop. Instead, I chose to pin the other knight with 10. Re1
Black can either castle or save one of the knights and unpin the other with Ne7 — which was what my opponent played: 10… Ne7. I had to capture the knight while I had the chance: 11. Rxe4
Victoriya then played 11… 0-0 immediately, which might be a slight inaccuracy. The normal move here is d6 (preventing White's d6). I immediately seized the opportunity with 12. d6. 12… cxd6 13. Qxd6 b5!? followed. In the style of the Evans Gambit, Victoriya offered the pawn back. Should I take it?
The idea is clearly to activate the c8 bishop with tempo via Bb7. I briefly considered Bd5 to prevent this and threaten the a8 rook, but Black could easily escape with Rb8 followed by Bb7 — I'd lose my strong bishop for nothing. So I decided to capture the pawn: 14. Bxb5 Bb7. The next question was where to place the rook. Having recently played a similar game where my rook was badly misplaced, I recalled the engine's post-mortem suggestion that Rg4 was strong —positioning the rook directly against the king. While this would allow Bxf3, damaging my pawn structure, it would give me an open g-file in return. And more importantly, Black would have to give up their powerful light-squared bishop. I judged this to be a favorable trade-off. 15. Rg4 Bxf3 16. gxf3 Nf5:
Unable to defend the d7 pawn effectively, Victoriya chose to sacrifice it while improving her piece activity. 17. Qxd7 Nd4!
An interesting move, keeping the tension. This is where I had my first long think of the game—I spent around 4 minutes of my remaining 11½ minutes. Though perhaps too long, I found the best move: 18. Be3, simply developing while keeping my pieces active and protected. I analyzed various tactics and queen moves, as the position was quite complex. I also verified that after Nxf3+ and Ne5, I wouldn't fall victim to a nasty fork and could keep my pieces protected. The fork wouldn't work because I could play QxQ and retreat the rook. Alternatively, if Black first captured with Qxd7, I would still be fine — which is exactly what happened in the game. 18… Qxd7 19. Bxd7 Nxf3+ 20. Kg2 Ne5 — forking the bishop and rook, but I could retreat, defend, and stay protected with 21. Rd4:
This rook is very skillful. Let's evaluate this position. I have two bishops in an open position plus a queenside pawn majority. However, my kingside pawns are split, which is a drawback. While this might seem slightly better for me, Black can capture both the bishop and b2 pawn, negating one of my advantages. Given that my active rooks will help me regain the pawn, I'd assess this as an equal position.
The game continued with 21...Nxd7 22. Rxd7 Bxb2 23. Rb1 Be5. Now I faced a key decision: should I capture the pawn immediately or double my rooks on the seventh rank with Rbb7?
I was proud of playing patient, principled chess with 24. Rbb7 (planning Bc5 to drive the rook away from defending f7), though the engine suggests that immediately taking the a7 pawn with either bishop or rook was equally good. 24… a5 (the pawn escapes) 25. Bc5 Rfc8 (hitting the bishop with tempo). Though uncertain about the bishop's ideal square, I chose b6 where it would attack the pawn, remain protected, and deny the d8 square to Black's rooks: 26. Bb6 f5
Black saved the threatened pawn, but I could play Rd5—attacking the bishop, a5 pawn (that's where the bishop on b6 comes in handy!), and the f5 pawn behind the bishop. Something had to give. 27. Rd5 Bc3 28. Rxf5 a4 29. Rd5 (aiming to support Bd4, threatening the g7 pawn) a3 — Black pushed the pawn as far as possible, hoping to use it as an advantage in a potential pawn race later in the endgame.
This gives me an opportunity to simplify and force an exchange of bishops with Bd4: 30. Bd4 Bxd4 31. Rxd4 Ra6 32. Rdd7 — I've doubled on the seventh rank again, but Black can defend and counterattack simultaneously with 32… Rg6+. With only 3½ minutes remaining on my clock compared to my opponent's 11, I feel excited. A draw seems within reach unless I make a careless mistake in time trouble. While those Black rooks look threatening and I need to avoid getting mated, my rooks controlling the seventh rank look good too.
We continued with 33. Kf1 h6 34. Rb3 Rc1+ 35. Ke2 Rc2+ 36. Rd2 (naturally protecting that crucial pawn) Rxd2+ 37. Kxd2 (with one rook exchanged, a draw becomes more likely) Rg2 (forking two weak pawns) 38. Ke2 Rxh2 39. Rxa3 h5
Now I have an outside passed pawn, but Black has a protected passed pawn. With my time down to 2 minutes, all three results seem possible. 40. Ra8+ (rooks are best placed behind passed pawns, preparing for Rh8 or Rg8) Kf7 41. a4 (as the chess maxim goes: passed pawns must be pushed!) h4 42. Rh8 (keeping the rook behind the passed pawn). With Black's rook in a passive position, my opponent improves it, aiming for a similar idea with Ra1: 42…Rh1 43. a5 Ra1?! — choosing not to complicate matters, Black opts to exchange the passed pawns. Given the clock situation, keeping the passed pawns might have been wiser. The position simplifies to a clear draw. 44. Rxh4 Rxa5 45. Rf4+. The remaining moves led to bare kings, and since I wasn't sure if my WFM opponent would accept a draw offer, I played on: 45. Rf4+ Ke6 46. Ke3 g5 47. Rf8 Re5+ 48. Kf3 Rf5+ 49. Rxf5 Kxf5 50. Kg3 g4 51. f3 gxf3 52. Kxf3 - 1/2 - 1/2 - Draw
I was astonished when I checked the accuracy scores for this game: 99.5 for me versus 99.2 for my opponent. This likely occurred because the position became drawish and neither of us made any mistakes. However, it certainly didn't feel that way during the game, particularly in the middlegame where many decisions were quite challenging.
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Congrats Ivan!