Andrey Esipenko Scores First Victory in Wijk aan Zee
The Russian defeated Radoslaw Wojtaszek in Round 7.
![Photo: Official website](/upload/iblock/2f6/2f6a98ea6b74229b7c0f979daa2fe807.jpg)
The Russian Andrey Esipenko scored his first victory in the tournament by outplaying Radoslaw Wojtaszek as Black in the endgame with rooks and minor pieces. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave lost the second game as Black in the Najdorf Variation with 6. Bg5: this time, his "offender" was Fabiano Caruana. Anish Giri won against the sole leader Nils Grandelius with the white pieces. Alireza Firouzja demonstrated the strength of a bishop against two pawns in the endgame versus Jan-Krzysztof Duda. The games Carlsen - Harikrishna and Anton - Donchenko were drawn.
Standings after Round 7:
1-4. Jorden Van Foreest, Anish Giri, Fabiano Caruana, Alireza Firouzja - 4.5
5-8. Pentala Harikrishna, Andrey Esipenko, Magnus Carlsen, Nils Grandelius - 4
9. Radoslaw Wojtaszek - 3
10-13. Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Aryan Tari, David Anton - 2.5
14. Alexander Donchenko - 2.
Round 8 pairings:
Vachier-Lagrave - Van Foreest, Donchenko - Tari, Duda - Anton, Harikrishna - Firouzja, Esipenko - Carlsen, Grandelius - Wojtaszek, Caruana - Giri
Official website