Ding Liren – Mamedyarov, S.

2806 2022 · White wins (resignation, time or agreement)

Grünfeld Defence, 2022: Ding Liren (2806) against Mamedyarov (2759). Both sides held a high standard for a long stretch — 83% at least good moves for White, 78% for Black — and the decision came only in the endgame. With 40.Kd2 Ding let a chance slip, the evaluation moving from 0.0 to +2.3 for White. Two moves later 42.Ba4 was an outright error, sliding the position from +1.3 to +2.8, yet 42...Bh3 handed everything straight back, from -2.8 to 0.0. Black never got another opening, and White brought the game home on move 54. The takeaway: in a sharp endgame, one loose move can erase several accurate ones.