Varga, Peter – Akopian, Vladimir

2484 2002 · Checkmate — Black wins

Old Indian Defense, 2002: Varga (2484) presses against Akopian (2680) and, after 34...Rc1+ and the queen trade, reaches a position the engine likes a lot. Accuracy is close — 90% for White, 94% for Black — so everything hinges on the closing maneuvers. At move 40, 40.Rf1 is a missed chance: the evaluation moves from +1.1 to +3.6, still White’s, but with margin slipping away. It happens again at 48.Rg2, where +4.3 becomes +15.0. And yet it is Akopian who finishes, with 49...Qb2#. The club takeaway: a huge advantage only survives if you keep finding moves, especially while the enemy king is still active.