Yakubboev meets Esipenko's king's pawn move with an ambitious reply, setting up a tactical battle in the Sicilian Defense.
The typical pawn break takes the game into the heavily explored terrain of the Open Sicilian.
It's necessary for Yakubboev to trade pawns, since otherwise the queen's pawn could push further up the board.
Yakubboev targets the central pawn
He continues with speedy development, and is now threatening to grab the pawn in the center.
Esipenko brings his queenside knight out in order to defend the pawn.
Yakubboev opens the line for the bishop
He'll look to bring the dark-squared bishop into play soon, in order to prepare to castle.
The first set of minor pieces get traded, with Yakubboev now being left with a somewhat rigid pawn structure.
Yakubboev captures towards the center, in order to have a strong pawn mass and to avoid an early queen trade that would be in Esipenko's favor.
A very typical idea, clamping down on the central dark squares while gaining time against the enemy knight.
Avoiding the knight trade, and adding to the pressure against Yakubboev's compromised dark squares.
Yakubboev looks for a pawn push
For now the bishop sits passively on this square, but Yakubboev is hoping that he will soon be able to push the pawn that blocks the vision of this piece along the diagonal.
Esipenko supports the knight
He brings the bishop out to the most active diagonal, while lending support to his central piece. He's also now ready to castle on the next move.
Targeting the undefended central pawn.
Esipenko pushes the pawn forward in order to guard against the threat.
Yakubboev eyes up winning the bishop pair
In chess, the two bishops combine very well. As a result, it's typically something like a 1/3rd to 1/2 point advantage to gain the two bishop advantage. With Yakubboev's lat move, he sets up a possible piece trade in the center next.
Esipenko avoids the capture
He drops his bishop back, in order to make sure that Yakubboev cannot win the bishop pair. The one drawback to this move is that now his central knight has been left undefended.
Yakubboev activates his bishop
He opens up the diagonal, immediately threatening to win Esipenko's knight.
Esipenko defends the knight
It's useful for him to oppose the enemy bishop, as that is Yakubboev's strongest piece in the long term.
Yakubboev brings his bishop forward
His idea seems to be that when he is forced to retreat his knight, the bishop will now remain active along the diagonal.
Esipenko with a clear advantage already!
Yakubboev has to be very careful here, as his opening experiment seems to have gone immediately awry. Esipenko has more space in the center, and also various tactical ideas revolving around jumping his knight into the central outpost with check.
Yakubboev hurries to finish his development, and is preparing to castle next.
It's already not easy to decide on the best continuation here for Nodirbek, as the problem is that if he drops his knight back then it sets Esipenko up to drive his own knight into the central outpost with check. In that case, the play will get extremely sharp but will be very much in favor of Andrei.
A big decision for Esipenko
Does he jump the knight in, forcing a change in the structure and extremely concrete play? He will likely intuitively sense that the consequences favor him, but he will also understand that the complications may also be risky for him. He may ultimately find it too tempting to just finish his minor piece development by bringing his dark-squared bishop out instead.
Esipenko plays it safe
An understandable decision, as he foregoes the ambitious knight check and instead completes his development. Yakubboev. He's now also got some uncomfortable pressure against the vulnerable enemy pawn on the queenside.
Yakubboev leaves the pawn undefended!
It's the best move in the position, with Nodirbek's point being that if Esipenko goes for the material, then at the end of the line he's going to have some tactics involving knight takes pawn in the center!
Esipenko looks to remove Yakubboev's strongest piece
It's a sensible choice, and one that will almost certainly make Yakubboev uncomfortable. He has no real choice but to accept the piece trade, but then he's just going to suffer indefinitely due to his inferior structure.
Yakubboev has no choice but to accept the trade, as the bishop had no good square to turn to.
Now that Esipenko has forced the key piece trade, his plan may well be to just return his knight to the central square soon. This way he can continue to pressure Yakubboev's weaker structure, without having to deal with that strong light-squared bishop he once had.
Yakubboev knew that Esipenko was planning to drive the knight to the central square, so he takes this option away.
En passant!
However, Esipenko has the possibility of playing pawn takes pawn, making use of the en passant rule. Now, Yakubboev's queenside pawn structure will be permanently fractured.
Yakubboev takes the pawn back
He may have the weaker structure, but one thing he has going for him is a strong square for his knight to maneuver to. This factor makes the position more close to even than it does to any real edge for Esipenko.
Esipenko goes for the pawn break
He decides to take the game into very concrete lines, opening up the position and setting up some attacking prospects against Yakubboev's king.
Yakubboev recognizes that this knight could become a very powerful piece if it can jump forward and join in the attack, so he gives up his strong bishop to eliminate it on the spot.
Esipenko takes back with the queen, guiding the game to a slightly better endgame for him where he will be running almost no risk and will have some slight chances to press for the full point.
Yakubboev is happy to trade queens, with one benefit being that Esipenko will now be forced to accept doubled pawns.
Esipenko with pressure
Yakubboev has the better structure on the kingside, but Esipenko's pressure against the undefended (and isolated) queenside pawn is the bigger factor. Plus, in theory his bishop should outgun the knight in such endgames, since the position is a very open one.
Yakubboev pushes his pawn forward, in order to avoid it being captured.
Esipenko trades, in order to leave Yakubboev with a damaged structure.
Yakubboev will be feeling relieved
Optically, things look good for Esipenko. He has the bishop vs knight and he has the better structure. But in reality, Yakubboev's pawn chain is just about sturdy enough to hold the line, while the reduced material makes it extremely hard to believe that Andrei will generate any real winning chances. This one could be headed towards an uneventful draw!
Yakubboev takes back with the rook, avoiding any potential checks had he taken back with his king.
Esipenko is looking to break in via the open file
But Yakubboev has enough counterplay of his own, with the possibility of immediately targeting the base of Esipenko's pawn chain on the left hand side.
Yakubboev finds the right idea, ensuring he gets immediate counterplay against the easiest target.
Yakubboev has found a very smart plan, giving up one of his weak pawns but in exchange ensuring that his pieces come to life. Esipenko will likely drop his bishop back next to defend his left-hand pawn, but then that will give Yakubboev the opportunity to grab the central file for his rook.
Esipenko does defend the pawn, when now Yakubboev can hold the balance by taking over the open file in the center.
Esipenko brings his king closer to the center, to prepare to block a possible check by bringing his rook back.
Yakubboev continues to play strong chess, bringing the last of his pieces into the game. Esipenko's extra pawn shouldn't count for much, especially since he has doubled and isolated pawns on the right hand side.
Esipenko drops his rook back to the second rank, preparing to potentially reintroduce his bishop into the game next.
A patient move, simply centralizing the rook. Yakubboev understands that he doesn't need to force the matter, since his compensation for the missing pawn is stable as it is based on Esipenko having a structure that limits his chances of making use of the extra material.
Yakubboev brings his knight back towards the center, threatening a nasty check on the strong advanced outpost.
Esipenko is unafraid of the check, as he now begins to mobilize his 3 vs 2 pawn majority on the queenside. This is what he needs to do in order to generate any sort of winning chances, and now Yakubboev might be feeling the heat a bit considering how little time he has left on the clock!
This is a bit dangerous for Yakubboev, as there's no strong follow-up on sight. He could trade minor pieces, but defending a rook and pawn endgame down material is unpleasant at best.
Esipenko shifts his king to the left, ensuring that his bishop stays protected.
Yakubboev is creaking under the pressure. His best bet was to trade down into the pure rook endgame, but that was understandably scary to pull the trigger on.
The problem that Yakubboev is now facing however, is that long term Esipenko's bishop is going to outgun the knight. So then he'll be down a pawn and have the inferior minor piece!
Yakubboev shifts attention to the left-hand pawn.
Esipenko finds the best move
His rook defends the pawn from the side, and now he's already very close to a winning endgame! The bishop can anchor itself on the central outpost in the future.
Yakubboev pushes his pawn to a light square, away from the pressure from Esipenko's bishop.
But this is the problem! Now Esipenko's structure may look ugly, but he's two pawns to the good. Andrei in great shape to pick up the full point.
Esipenko is happy to offer a rook trade, since the resulting endgame will be easy to convert.
Yakubboev takes aim at the undefended pawn on the kingside.
Esipenko has spotted that the knight is stuck for options, and cannot safely retreat! If it were to go back, then at a minimum Esipenko could play bishop takes knight and switch to an easily winning rook endgame!
Desperation
This one looks like it's about to be over. The knight is going to be trapped once Esipenko drops his bishop back to sever the connection between Yakubboev's knight and rook. And then if the knight does drop back, Esipenko will have a game-ending fork.
Andrei Esipenko continues to impress, in his quest to snatch the last of the spots up for grabs for the 2026 Candidates tournament.
Yesterday he made a heartbreaking blunder, from a position that looked to offer a risk-free chance to win the game. Had he been able to do so, he would today have been dueling with the other Uzbek grandmaster still in the tournament, Javokhir Sindarov.
Instead, he was forced to recalibrate and prepare to fight for bronze against Nodirbek Yakkuboev, the other player defeated in yesterday's semi-finals tiebreaker.
But today, he showed that he had fully readjusted and was ready to make the most of the White pieces in the first of two Classical games.
Yakubboev, for his part, welcomed an open fight. He essayed the Sicilian Defense, in a tournament where most players prefer to try to guide things towards quieter terrain (like Wei Yi's highly effective use of the Petroff Defense).
While ambitious, the strategy soon backfired. Esipenko was able to obtain a clear advantage early on, and he kept up the pressure right up until the endgame, winning a pawn in the process. Yakubboev had chances to hold, but with his clock ticking down to just seconds, it proved too difficult in practice to avoid a series of mistakes that led to a fast collapse of his position.
A huge win for Andrei Esipenko, who now finds himself in a situation where just a draw will secure the coveted final spot in the upcoming Candidates tournament!
See you tomorrow, for what just might be the final day of action at the 2025 FIDE World Cup!
The final seat at the table
Andrei Esipenko will still be reeling over his heartbreaking defeat at the hands of Wei Yi, as he blundered a full rook in the dying seconds of their second tiebreak game.
It was a cruel way to go for a player who has shown incredible consistency throughout the tournament, prior to the momentary lapse.
Still, this is the nature of the game, and Andrei is certainly experienced enough that he will know that he simply has to put this to the back of his mind and focus on the task at hand.
That task is much more than a small consolation of a bronze medal. What matters is not the trophy, but the fact that there is still one seat remaining at the 2026 Candidates.
In his way stands Nodirbek Yakkuboev. The young Uzbek grandmaster fell in the tiebreaks to his compatriot and close friend, Javokhir Sindarov. No doubt he will be receiving some help from him in this one, as Uzbekistan will hope to have not one but two players reaching the prestigious Candidates tournament.
15 minutes go to kick-off, stay tuned for live move-by-move commentary!