[Event "U.S. National Invitational Tournaments"] [Site "Grand Rapids"] [Date "2023.08.01"] [Round "6"] [White "Kraai, Jesse"] [Black "Sevillano, Enrico"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "2452"] [BlackElo "2418"] [Annotator "IM Sandeep Sethuraman"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "B00"] [Opening "Rat Defense: Antal Defense"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/w2guu0Vb/q8BEpwTm"] [Orientation "white"] 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nd7 3. Nf3 c6 { Sevillano goes for his signature Philidor. } 4. Bd3 e5 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 Ngf6 7. c3 O-O 8. Nbd2 Qc7 9. Nf1!? { A commonplace move for these grandmasters, but instructive for our audience. This maneuver is typical in these structures, because of the weak f5-square. } 9... Re8 10. Ng3 Nf8 11. a4 g6 12. h3 Ne6 13. Be3 Bf8 14. Qd2 { White has a comfortable edge, and it seems very unlikely that he will lose this. He knows this is a must-win for Sevillano, and is doing what he can to amke sure that doesn't happen. } 14... a5 15. Rad1 exd4 16. Nxd4 Nc5 17. Bg5 Nxd3 18. Qxd3 Bg7 19. Nf3!? { Kraai chooses security; he only needs a draw to guarantee at least a share of first, so he can enter this endgame with peace of mind. } (19. Qd2! { was the way to maintain the advantage. }) 19... Nd7 20. Qxd6 Qxd6 21. Rxd6 Nc5 22. e5 (22. Ra1 Nb3 23. Re1 Nc5 24. Ra1 { would have been another way to make the draw. }) 22... Be6 23. Ne4 Nxe4 (23... Nxa4 24. Rd2 Bd5 25. Nd6 Re6 26. Nxb7 Bxf3 27. gxf3 Rxe5 { and Black has made an easy draw in this endgame. }) 24. Rxe4 Bd5 25. Re3 Bxf3 26. gxf3 Bxe5 27. Rd7 b5 28. axb5 cxb5 29. Rb7 b4 30. f4 Bg7 31. Rxe8+ Rxe8 32. cxb4 a4! { An important inclusion to keep the balance. } 33. Ra7 h6 34. Bh4 Bxb2 35. Rxa4 Re4 36. Bg3 { 1/2-1/2 The game is a draw } 1/2-1/2