Nepomniachtchi, I.. – Aronian, L..

2789 2021 · Black wins (resignation, time or agreement)

Nepomniachtchi (2789) and Aronian (2781) revived the King’s Gambit in 2021, and after 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 the game stayed sharp for forty moves. White’s accuracy finished at 83%, Black’s at 78%. The first swing came from Black: 32...Bb4 dropped the evaluation from +4.1 to +2.4, handing back part of what he had built. But White let it slip twice in the queen endgame. 36.Qf4 turned -2.2 into -6.7, and 39.Qg3 pushed it from -7.9 to -12.6, after which Black’s queen simply kept checking. The lesson: an advantage survives only if you keep finding the precise queen move.