Drawing an IM and almost beating a GM

On Friday nights, the St. Louis Chess Club hosts a rapid tournament. Sometimes I get a chance to face titled players. In Round 1, I was black against former US champ GM Alex Yermolinsky. He's also the author of "The Road to Chess Improvement," which is an excellent book. He was winning for most of the game, and we reached this position:

Obviously, the knight is immune (white would win with either Qd8+ or Qc8+). I was under 10 seconds and blitzed out 27...Qb8 as I was about to flag. But if I had a bit more time, I would have found 27...Nf6! After the queen escapes, the f7-knight can be captured safely: 28.Qc7 Qxf7 29.Qd8+ and now I have 29...Ne8 and I'm up a piece. White's best chance was 28.Qa4 Qxf7 29.Qxc4 Qxd5 and I am up two pawns for nothing.

In the next round, I had the white pieces against IM Kostya Kavutskiy. In my notes, "(SF)" means that Stockfish suggested this move.

[Event "Friday Action Quads"] [Site "St. Louis"] [Date "2026.03.27"] [Round "2"] [White "Wilson, Matthew"] [Black "Kavutskiy, IM Kostya"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B33"] [WhiteElo "2108"] [BlackElo "2390"] [Annotator "Wilson,Matthew"] [PlyCount "65"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 { In our previous game, he played the Najdorf and I held a draw.} 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bf4 e5 8. Bg5 a6 9. Na3 b5 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Nd5 Bg7 12. Bd3 Ne7 13. Nxe7 Qxe7 14. O-O O-O 15. c3 f5 16. Nc2 Bb7 17. exf5 e4 18. Be2 Qe5 $146 19. a4 ({I rejected} 19. Ne3 { because of} b4 {, but I missed} 20. Qb3 $1 { (SF). White wins a pawn thanks to the pin:} a5 21. a3 {and if Black tries} Rab8 {, it only gets worse.} 22. axb4 axb4 23. Ra4 bxc3 24. Rb4 Qe7 25. bxc3 { . Reinforcements are coming to the b-file, so Black will lose a piece. But my move is about equally good.}) 19... Qxf5 $6 (19... d5 20. axb5 axb5 21. Rxa8 Rxa8 22. Bxb5 Qxf5 $16 {was the lesser evil}) 20. axb5 axb5 21. Rxa8 Bxa8 22. Qxd6 Be5 23. Qd2 Kh8 24. f4 $6 ({ Stockfish doesn't fear ghosts and confidently plays} 24. Rd1 { . I was spooked by ...Rg8 followed by ...Qh3.} Rg8 25. Ne3 Qh3 26. g3 Bxg3 27. fxg3 Rxg3+ 28. hxg3 Qxg3+ 29. Ng2 e3 30. Qd4+ $1 Kg8 31. Qg4+ {and White wins.} ) 24... Bf6 25. Nd4 $2 ({The engine fearlessly goes pawn-hunting:} 25. Qd6 Rd8 26. Qb6 $18) 25... Qc5 $2 (25... Qd5 $142 $14) 26. b4 $1 {Otherwise Black will play ...b4, liquidating his weakness and undermining my knight.} Qb6 27. Kh1 $2 {It is more accurate to play Rd1 first.} Rd8 28. Rd1 Bxd4 29. cxd4 {We were bot h in time pressure and I am not entirely sure about the remaining moves} Bd5 30. Bf1 Ra8 31. Qc1 Rd8 32. Qd2 Qd6 33. Bxb5 {In the time scramble, we eventually found ourselves in a dead equal rook ending. I offered a draw, and he accepted.} 1/2-1/2