Jakovenko, D. – Giri, A.

2733 2015 · White wins (resignation, time or agreement)

Jakovenko (2733) versus Giri (2797), 2015: a Leningrad Dutch in which Black sets up the familiar structure before 8...Ne4 and the recapture on c3 define the shape of the game. White opens the centre with 14.e4, trades queens with 29.Qxf6, and everything is decided in the resulting rook-and-minor-piece endgame. The engine flags no turning point at all: no single move swings the evaluation, only a gap in consistency, 90% at least good moves for White against 81% for Black. The passed pawn created by 43.fxg6, backed by the bishop, tells in the long run, through to 57.Ke4. The lesson: endgames are often won without a spectacular blunder, simply by accumulation.