Ding Liren – Caruana, F.

2805 2019 · White wins (resignation, time or agreement)

English Opening, 2019: Ding Liren (2805) against Caruana (2818), a game without a clear blunder. The engine flags no turning point at all: 91% at least good moves for White, 100% for Black. White builds slowly on the c-file with 20.Rbc1 and 24.Rfc1, then plants a pawn on a6 and keeps the knight active. The conversion comes from queen, rook and knight working together: 34...Rxc8 35.Rxc8 leads to an endgame where 39.Nxf7, then 50.Qxe6+ and 53.Qxg7+, clear the road for the e-pawn. Black defends cleanly to the end, but 57.e7 settles it. The lesson: high accuracy does not save you when the opponent stacks up small spatial gains.