After a wild battle to start their match in game one, IMs Levy Rozman and Julien Song played a very accurate and calm draw in their second classical game. Rozman played one of his favorite openings, the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, and quickly equalized the game. Song looked for ways to press and won a pawn on move 41, but Rozman’s pieces were more active, and the game ended with Rozman claiming a draw by repetition on move 53.
GM Felix Blohberger and WCM Katharina Reinecke, doing commentary on Rozman’s Twitch channel, pointed out that the players played significantly more quickly this game, avoiding the time pressure that contributed to so many swings throughout the first game. From an engine perspective, the game was nearly perfect chess, with both sides playing near 99% accuracy according to Game Review.
After draws in both classical games, the match continues on Saturday, January 17 with four rapid games, followed by eight blitz games on Sunday, January 18.
