A Winning Draw

"To play for a draw, at any rate with white, is to some degree a crime against chess."

- Mikhail Tal

I was recently matched against a strong player, in fact better than anyone I'd ever beaten before, and I wanted to play it safe with the black pieces. So when we found ourselves in a Ruy Lopez, I of course opted for the Berlin Defense (which seemed fitting anyway as my opponent is presumably of Spanish descent, while I'm part-German).

We followed an MVL - Aronian draw from the database for quite a while, and it seemed that neither of us wanted to play for anything. Then came a novelty from Carlos -- 32. Rd1! The winning move! This game would not be a crime against chess, and I would not be implicated as an accomplice to the crime.

He then threatened to skewer my king and rook, which I escaped. We maintained near-equality going forward, each of us having to solve the problems created by the other.

I found a trick to win a pawn, but then got completely blindsided by 48. Rg7+! A great tactical shot! We either trade rooks and it's a dead drawn bishops-of-opposite-color position, or my king must go back (48... Kf6?? 49. Be5+ Kf5 50. Rg5++). Just beautiful.

Carlos of course followed with c6, I opted for the geometrically-dead ...bxc6, and it was a well-earned draw for both of us.