So-Navara, Game 1 Drawn
Game 1 of the four-game match between Wesley So and David Navara finished in a long draw. Navara had White in a sharp Sicilian, but the middlegame and any white edge disappeared after 18.Nf5? Black took over the c4 square, which in turn more or less entailed a series of exchanges resulting in an opposite-colored bishop ending that favored Black. So made Navara suffer for a long, long time, and it paid off for all of one move. Navara figured out the right setup to achieve a draw, but goofed in his initial execution of the idea. Navara needed to play 58.Bb6 and only next Kg6 (if necessary). Instead, he played 58.Kg6?, allowing Black a forced win with 58...f3 59.Bb6 Kf4 60.Kh5 (else ...g4-g3) 60...Bg4+ 61.Kg6 Bd7 (so that 62.Kh5 can be met by 62...Be8+ followed by ...g4-g3) 62.Bc7+ Ke4 63.Bg3 g4 and Black will follow up with ...Ke3 (or ...Kd3 in case of 64.Bf2) and ...f2, winning. Black's bishop protects the g-pawn and covers White's c-pawn from its diagonal, so the win is trivial from this point.
Fortunately for Navara, So missed his chance, and afterwards Navara gave him no further opportunities to win. After 94 moves, the game was drawn, and both players have something to be happy about and unhappy about going into tomorrow's game.