23 January 2021

Andrey Esipenko Scores First Victory in Wijk aan Zee

The Russian defeated Radoslaw Wojtaszek in Round 7.

Photo: Official website
Photo: Official website


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