Van Foreest, Jorden – Fedorov, Alex

2609 2017 · White wins (resignation, time or agreement)

Van Foreest (2609) against Fedorov (2582), 2017: a Benko Gambit where Black returns the b-pawn early and the game is settled far later, in a rook endgame after 47.Qxd4+. Accuracy stayed close — 88% for White, 85% for Black — but the balance snapped on move 65. With 65...g3 Black let the evaluation run from 0.0 to +4.2; 66...fxg3 pushed it further, from +4.6 to +7.5. White then eased off with 67.Rg4, which moved from -7.5 to -4.2 from White’s point of view, without changing the result: 1-0. The takeaway is plain: in a rook endgame, one badly chosen pawn push costs more than ten opening moves.