Bartel, Mat – Vitiugov, N.

2634 2019 · Black wins (resignation, time or agreement)

French Defence, 2019: Bartel (2634) against Vitiugov (2747), who played 100% at least good moves across the game, to White’s 89%. White expanded on the kingside with 16.g4 and 17.h4, but after the queens came off and the sequence 26.gxf5, 28.gxh7+, the endgame swung to Black, who collected the queenside pawns. The measured turning point comes late: 40.Kc5 shifts the evaluation from +3.2 to +4.7 from White’s point of view — further still in Black’s favour. Vitiugov finished with 40...Rd5+ and 41...Nc4, and Bartel resigned. The takeaway: in an endgame already going against you, every king square still matters.