17 January 2022

Andrey Esipenko Pursues Leader in Wijk aan Zee

Santosh Vidit has pulled ahead.

Photo: Lennart Ootes / Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022
Photo: Lennart Ootes / Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022


The third round of the Tata Steel Masters turned out to be rather exciting with four decisive games. Having defeated Daniil Dubov with the black pieces, Santosh Vidit has become the sole leader. Andrey Esipenko won against Sergey Karjakin in a Russian derby, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa lost to Jorden van Foreest, while Richard Rapport beat Nils Grandelius. The games Caruana - Shankland, Giri - Mamedyarov, and Duda - Carlsen were drawn.

 

 
Standings after Round 3:

1. Santosh Vidit - 2.5 points
2-6. Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Magnus Carlsen, Richard Rapport, Andrey Esipenko, Jorden Van Foreest - 2
7-8. Fabiano Caruana, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov - 1.5
9-13. Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Sergey Karjakin, Anish Giri, Daniil Dubov, Sam Shankland - 1
14. Nils Grandelius - 0.5.

Round 4 pairings:

Shankland - Rapport, Praggnanandhaa - Grandelius, Carlsen - Van Foreest, Mamedyarov - Duda, Karjakin - Giri, Vidit - Esipenko, and Caruana - Dubov.
 
Volodar Murzin (Russia), Thai Dai Van Nguyen (Czech Republic), and Arjun Erigaisi (India) are leading the Challengers tournament with 2.5 points out of 3. 

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