At the chess throne: Esipenko did not leave Russia without the main start of the two-year period

Russian chess player Andrey Esipenko became the sixth participant in the 2026 Candidates tournament, taking third place at the 2025 World Cup. In the mini-match for bronze, the Russian beat Nodirbek Yakubboev twice in the classics and almost returned to the elite rating mark of 2700. But the most important thing is that Andrey has qualified for the main start of the two-year-old. In the last championship cycle, he was missing just a little bit - in the last round of the "Big Swiss"-2023 he was satisfied with a draw in the game with Anish Giri, but then Esipenko could not resist. This time, the 23-year-old native of Novocherkassk made his fans nervous again, but he fulfilled the main task.

The most difficult one

The tragedy in the tie-break in the semifinal match with Wei Yi, when Andrei lost the second rapid game with a rude yawn (having a big advantage), did not affect Esipenko's mood. In the match for third place against Nodirbek Yakubboev, the Russian immediately seized the initiative, but the Uzbek chess player gradually managed to equalize the position. When it already seemed that the game would end in a draw, Yakubboev's lack of time affected him. After a series of inaccurate moves, Esipenko seized the advantage and realized it even before control.

The next day, the grandmaster from Uzbekistan had to win back the order. Yakubboev took a risky option, but Andrey reacted strongly. Esipenko brought the game to victory in less than 30 moves and won the match 2-0.

In addition to Yakubboev, in Goa, Esipenko won matches against Nijat Abasov, Puyo Idani (he won back to order in the classics), Vincent Kaymer, Alexey Grebnev and Sam Shankland.

— What was the most difficult match at the World Cup? Definitely the last one, because I also got a little sick," emphasized Andrey Esipenko. — I felt very bad after that defeat by Wei Yi, and the next morning I woke up and felt really bad. So, as I said before, I wanted it to be over as soon as possible. And yes, it seemed to me that it would be a very, very difficult match. So I am very glad that I won by completing the main task.

At the cellular level: how did Esipenko reach the semifinals of the World Cup

The Russian chess player beat Sam Shankland's thunderstorm of favorites and is one step away from entering the candidates tournament.

Thus, Esipenko received the right to play in the 2026 candidates tournament. Previously, Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Matthias Blubaum, as well as World Cup finalists Javokhir Sindarov and Wei Yi earned this right (we will find out the champion of the tournament after the tie—break on November 26).

Two more participants will be determined in about a month: Hikaru Nakamura will almost certainly take the ranking slot, and the leader of the FIDE Circuit standings, Rameshbabu Pragnanandha, will receive another ticket.

Jan's successors

The 2026 Candidates Tournament will be held from March 28 to April 16 in Cyprus (the winner will play a match for the crown with the 18th world champion Gukesh Dommaraju). It is encouraging that Russian chess players do not miss this elite tournament, despite the tough selection process. In 2024 in Toronto and in 2022 in Madrid, our country was represented by Jan Nepomniachtchy. In 2020, Alexander Grischuk and Kirill Alekseenko (now playing for Austria) joined Yan in Yekaterinburg. In 2018, there were also three Russians in Berlin: Sergey Karjakin, Vladimir Kramnik and Grischuk. In 2016, Karjakin and Peter Svidler met in Moscow. In 2014, Kramnik, Karjakin, Svidler and Dmitry Andreikin were in Khanty-Mansiysk.

"I would like to congratulate Andrey Esipenko on this wonderful achievement," Alexander Tkachev, executive director of the Russian Chess Federation, told Izvestia. — He went the entire distance of the World Cup at the highest level. I made a frustrating mistake in the tiebreak with Wei Yi, but after that I found the strength to make a great match for third place. First of all, this is his great merit. He put our skeptics to shame, who said that Russia was not doing well in men's chess. It's okay, friends. Unfortunately, Yan Nepomnyashchy failed to qualify for the candidates tournament in this championship cycle, but Esipenko showed his class. Alexey Grebnev also played superbly in Goa, which matured this year, giving out one stable result after another. Ivan Zemlyansky, Savva Vetokhin, and Artyom Uskov had a great year. I'm not even talking about 10-year-old Roman Shogdjieff. So we have a great chess future. Our leaders, born in the 1990s, Sergey Karjakin and Yan Nepomnyashchy, have worthy successors.

Nepomnyashchy won two candidates tournaments (2022, 2020), Karjakin won one (2016).