That Ed Sheeren moment

Former World Champion Anatoly Karpov has engaged in a bit of 'celebrity cameo' by turning up for one game in the Russian Teams Championship. Representing Sverdlovsk he played GM Matlakov in a game that ended in a somewhat curious draw. Karpov won/ Matlakov sacrificed a piece on move 18, but Matlakov then took the available draw by repetition. What was odd about this was that the position was repeated 5 times, which indicates that the players were avoiding the wrath of the arbiters for agreeing to a draw before move 30.

Karpov,Ana (2616) - Matlakov,M (2697) [E32]
TCh-RUS Premier 2019 Sochi RUS (7.5), 08.05.2019