| twinlark: Makes a person wonder about the psychology of these sorts of games. Zhang was defending the endgame quite nicely, even taking into account swapping his bishop for a knight at move 40, leaving his opponent with two bishops and a passed pawn. But there was nothing decisive. Looked like Ding was trying to rattle his opponent by opening up the lines to enhance the range of his bishops, which he ultimately succeeded in doing, but he still wouldn't have won without a little bit of help from his opponent. The critical position is at 48. Kf3:
click for larger viewand it looks like Zhang made the move 48...Ne7?? reflexively, trying to cover the unprotected h-pawn, and the rest is history, a mistake immaculately exploited by GM Ding. But Black has a resource here, which I must admit to not even considering until I consulted my trusty calculator, namely 48...d4: 
click for larger viewand THEN he plays 49...Ne7 as he now has the d4 square available to the Knight. There might follow 50. Be1 ▢ Ne7 51. Kg3 Nd5: 
click for larger viewand Black has all the critical points covered with his trusty centralised Knights; 1. if 52. Be2 Nc3! 53. Bxh5 Ne4+ and the d-pawn is strong enough to give Black full counter chances 2. if 52. Kh4 Nxf4 
3. if 52. h4 Na3 53. Kf3 Nc4 54. Be2 Ke7 55. Kg3 Nc3 56. Bxh5 Ne4+ 57. Kh3 Ne3: 
click for larger viewBoth sides will trade pieces for pawns but will draw if they have their wits about them. | 
Kibitzing
