First game of Wei Yi-Esipenko, Nodirbek-Sindarov semifinals end in a draw

Panaji, Nov 21 (PTI) China's GM Wei Yi and Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Yakubboev could not breach the defences of their respective opponents with white pieces as both the semifinals of the FIDE World Cup ended in draws here on Friday.

While Nodirbek signed the truce with compatriot GM Javokhir Sindarov immediately after the mandatory 30 moves, Wei Yi and GM Andrey Esipenko had their chances but could not convert and ended up splitting the point after 33 moves.

Wei Yi, who had defeated India’s best hope GM Arjun Erigaisi in the quarterfinals, faced a rare variation of French defence from Esipenko and just like in the quarterfinals had some early advantage.

But to Esipenko’s credit, the Russian-born Grandmaster equalled the position quite well and it looked like the Chinese was coming under some time pressure.

However, Wei managed to set up a three pronged attack with a rook, bishop and queen only for Esipenko to respond with a perfect defensive move to take the game towards a pawn endgame, when the two players agreed to draw.

Result: GM Wei Yi (CHN) drew with GM Andrey Esipenko (FIDE) 0.5:0.5 GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB) vs GM Javokhir Sindarov (UZB) 0.5:0.5. PTI AT AT UNG