1. e2e4  1... e7e5  2. g1f3  2... g8f6  3. f3e5  3... d7d6  4. e5d3 The rarest of the knight retreats in this position of the Petroff Defense. White's idea is to exchange queens and press an endgame that is close to equality. Honestly, it's a choice closer to Carlsen's style than Vachier-Lagrave's, but the French GM will show that he can play technical endgames with the same skill he plays dynamic middlegames. 4... f6e4  5. d1e2  5... d8e7  6. d3f4  6... e4f6  7. d2d4  7... e7e2  8. f1e2 Examining the results of the games played by strong grandmasters in this position, I get the impression that White's performance is much better than the computer's evaluation indicates. This shows that it's not so simple to defend the endgame. 8... b8c6  9. c2c3 