© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
When China’s Wei Yi agreed to a draw in the first rapid tiebreak game from a hugely advantageous, almost winning position against Andrey Esipenko in their semifinal clash at the FIDE Chess World Cup in Goa on Sunday, it felt as if his unfinished business would come back to haunt him.
Just 30 minutes later, Esipenko had a winning position in the second rapid game, ready to seal the deal once and for all, until a one-move blunder ended his emphatic run. Wei Yi defeated the Russian to reach the finals and set up a clash against Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov.
In the second game, Esipenko was two pawns up against Wei Yi in a winning rook-knight endgame for Black, but a moment of oversight occurred when he missed his pinned rook on the g2 square and pushed his c-file pawn instead, handing the game — and with it, a place in the finals and at Candidates — to Wei Yi on a platter. The experienced Chinese, who had made the previous two moves with just one second left on the clock, did not miss his chance and took care of his unfinished business.
Wei Yi’s ability to handle pressure under severe time scrambles has taken him to the finals.
On Board No. 1, it was a much more clinical win for Sindarov, who outplayed compatriot Nodirbek Yakubboev in the first rapid tiebreak with the black pieces. Sindarov took a 1-0 lead in the contest after beating Yakubboev in a Semi-Slav game. He rushed out of the tournament hall to quickly catch up with his second, Mukhiddin Madaminov, making sure to refresh all the required lines to stop Yakubboev from bouncing back in the following game.
The last-minute preparation worked well for the 19-year-old, whose defence proved way too solid for Yakubboev to breach, as Sindarov became the first Uzbek player to qualify for the Candidates, the tournament that will decide D Gukesh’s challenger for the World Championship title.
