Desperate Measures || Andrey Esipenko vs Wei Yi || FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 R6

Hello everyone, and welcome to the summary of round seven, the final round of the first half of the FIDE Candidates Tournament. This segment focuses on a game between Andreas Penko and Wei Yi. The presenter apologizes for a lack of videos yesterday due to travel to Cyprus and settling in. Today is a rest day, allowing for a comprehensive overview. The presenter also received chocolate and a Charles Dickens quote from room service, which serves as the video's motivational theme, though the presenter, being a morning person, doesn't fully relate. The game between Andreas Penko and Wei Yi featured a shocking move that surprised everyone, including commentators like former world champion Viswanathan Anand. Andreas, playing white, opened with pawn to E4. A photo of Andreas and Wei Yi is shown, taken during the initial 15 minutes of the game when spectators are allowed closer, as players are unlikely to deviate from theory early on. After pawn to E4, Wei Yi responded with pawn to E5, leading to a Petroff Defense with knight to F3, knight to F6, and pawn to D4, initiating the attack. Wei Yi captured on E4. Typically, D captures on E5 or knight captures on E5 would follow, or even bishop to D3 for a more old-master style. However, Andreas played queen to E2. While not unheard of, this move at this level is unusual, suggesting Andreas hoped to make Wei Yi consume a lot of time, which he successfully achieved. Wei Yi responded with pawn to D5, identified as the best and only move against the queen E2 idea. Knight captured on E5, followed by bishop to E7. Andreas then played pawn to F3, chasing the knight away. Knight D6 was played, then knight to C3, and knight to F5. Although Wei Yi moved the same piece twice in the opening, it came with tempo. Andreas then played queen to F2, creating a strange setup. However, Andreas had a significant time advantage of 1 hour and 57 minutes and strong control over the C5 square, posing a problem for Wei Yi. The game continued with castles kingside and bishop to F4. Wei Yi played pawn to F6, and Andreas moved his knight back to D3. Wei Yi played knight to C6, then Andreas played knight to E2, and Wei Yi responded with knight to B4, aiming to trade material. Andreas accepted the trade, leading to captures, captures with check, pawn to C3, and bishop back to D6, offering a trade of bishops. This was the position the presenter mentioned at the beginning of the video. One consideration for white would be to accept the bishop trade, possibly followed by knight captures. If the queen captures, G4 could be played, kicking away the knight to E7, leading to a strong position for white, potentially offering a trade of queens. However, this might play too much into black's hands. Castling queenside was suggested as a better option. Instead, Andreas played bishop back to D2, a move described as very passive and baffling to commentators. They noted that if the bishop were on F4 in that position, white would seriously consider trading it to get the knight to the F4 square, possibly after castling first. Bishop to D2 was seen as a very passive choice. Wei Yi immediately capitalized on this passive move with queen to E8, which disrupted Andreas's plans. If Andreas had castled queenside, queen to A4 would have created serious problems, leading to a checkmate scenario. Unable to afford this, Andreas moved his king to D1. Wei Yi then played queen to A4 with check, followed by king to C1, and pawn to B5, initiating an attack. This sequence suggested something had gone horribly wrong for white. G4 was identified as the best counterplay for white. Instead, knight to F4 was played, followed by pawn to C5 from Wei Yi. Bishop to D3 was played, followed by captures on D4, bishop to C2, and queen to A6. C captures on D4 followed, then bishop to D7, freeing up the C-file for black's rooks. King to B1 was played. B4 was identified as the best move, but rook A to C8 was also a strong choice. Andreas played bishop to D3 to stop B4. Wei Yi then played rook to C4, a move that put Andreas in a very difficult, almost resignable position by move 22. If white took the exchange, after B captures, there would be no good move. White's only counterplay, G4, would be met with C3, trapping the bishop. Capturing with the B pawn would open the file, bringing the rook into the game and threatening the king, potentially leading to checkmate. After rook to C4, knight to E2 was played, then knight to E7, freeing the F5 square for the bishop. Andreas played pawn to G4 to stop this. Wei Yi then doubled up with rook F to C8. Andreas's last chance to fight was A3, but he played pawn to H4. Wei Yi then played pawn to B4. Capturing on C4 would result in an exchange, but then pawn to B3 was played, putting white in danger of losing a rook. The presenter then posed a question to the audience: what is the convincing winning move for black? After a few seconds, the move was revealed to be bishop to B5, which Wei Yi played, despite going down to 14 minutes on the clock. This move guaranteed a win for black. If the rook wasn't captured, it would simply move, and white's position would collapse. Andreas made a last attempt with P captures on C4, at least getting a full rook. Bishop captures, then bishop to C2, attempting to consolidate by giving up the knight. However, bishop to D3 was played, threatening to capture on C2 with no good defensive move for white. Andreas then played bishop to C3, a move described as making zero sense. The presenter considered if Andreas was hoping for something, perhaps a silly move like H6 to make the game interesting, though still lost. This scenario could lead to a complex exchange that might even result in black losing if specific moves were made. However, Wei Yi played the absolute best move, B captures on C3. Knight to C1 followed, then rook to B8 with check. In this position, on move 30, Andreas Penko resigned the game, as there was nothing more to be done. Blocking the check would lead to queen A3, resulting in checkmate. If bishop captures, rook captures on B3, followed by A captures, queen captures, and the legendary dark-square bishop, which should have been traded earlier, would end the game. This was a tough game for Andreas, who surprised Wei Yi with his opening choice, likely influenced by tournament standings. However, the move bishop to D2 was agreed by everyone to be the losing move, even if not objectively lost, it was certainly lost in the hands of a strong grandmaster like Wei Yi. The presenter then shared the standings after the first half of the Candidates Tournament. All other games ended in a draw. Jawokhidarov leads with six points, Fabiano Caruana is second with four and a half, trailing by a point and a half. Hikaru Nakamura and Gukesh D are at three and a half, Anish Giri and Praggnanandhaa R. are at three, Wei Yi and Matthias Blübaum are at two and a half, and Andreas Penko is in last place with two points after this loss. The presenter noted that Jawokhidarov's result is one of the best ever in a Candidates Tournament, surpassed only by Veselin Topalov's 6.5 out of 7 in a World Chess Championship Tournament with a similar format. Topalov later drew all remaining games to become world champion. The presenter speculates that if Jawokhidarov draws his next seven games, Fabiano would need to win at least three to catch up, which is possible given his three wins in the first half. The presenter believes the tournament is not over, citing the possibility of upsets and the challenging time format. Jawokhidarov has excellent chances to be the challenger to Gukesh. The presenter looks forward to the rest of the tournament and mentions a potential stream with Rafael from Lotus Chess today, a rest day, possibly playing games with viewers in Cyprus. The presenter thanks Andreas Rosenthal, Oscar Nichson, Dale Cook, Robert Pound, and Adam Tomchuk for their channel contributions. The video concludes with a reminder to check previous videos and a farewell, echoing the Charles Dickens quote about good things happening even if one isn't a morning person.