Martirosyan, Haik M. – Erigaisi, Arjun

2633 2022 · Black wins (resignation, time or agreement)

Old Benoni, 2022: Martirosyan (2633) against Erigaisi (2633), identical ratings and near-identical accuracy, 83% for White and 85% for Black. After 10...Rxe3+ 11.fxe3 the game revolves around the f-file, where White doubles up with 14...Bb7 15.Raf1. The turning point is 28.Ba4, a missed chance that drops the evaluation from -1.1 to -3.5, with 28...Ng4 following immediately. White lets the position slide further with 31.Nxd4 (-3.1 to -6.1) and again with 35.Qf1 (-5.0 to -15.0), though 35...Qxf1+ pulls the gap back to +5.6 from White’s side. The takeaway: a bad position is usually lost by accumulation, not by one move.