Andrey Evgenyevich Esipenko (russian: Андрей Евгеньевич Есипенко; born 22 March 2002) is a Russian

chess grandmaster Grandmaster (GM) is a title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is held for life, though exceptionally it h ...

. He won the European U10 Chess Championship in 2012, and both the European U16 and World U16 Chess Championship in 2017. Together with 43 other Russian elite chess players, Esipenko signed an open letter to Russian president

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

, protesting against the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

and expressing solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

Chess career

Early career

Esipenko was born in

Novocherkassk Novocherkassk (russian: Новочерка́сск, lit. ''New Cherkassk'') is a city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located near the confluence of the Tuzlov and Aksay Rivers, the latter a distributary of the Don River. Novocherkassk is best known ...

Rostov Oblast Rostov Oblast ( rus, Росто́вская о́бласть, r=Rostovskaya oblast, p=rɐˈstofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Southern Federal District. The oblast has an area of and a populati ...

to a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

family. He started playing chess when he was five years old. Esipenko became European U10 Chess Champion in 2012. He earned his

FIDE master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

title in 2013. He secured all of his grandmaster

norm Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) and technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) consist of materials, usually industrial wastes or by-products enriched with radioactive elements found in the envi ...

s by late 2017 and was awarded the title by

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

in April 2018. From 30 May to 10 June 2017, he took part in the 2017

European Individual Chess Championship The European Individual Chess Championship is a chess tournament organised by the European Chess Union. It was established in 2000 and has since then taken place on a yearly basis. Apart from determining the European champions (open and women's), ...

. He scored 6½/11 (+4–2=5). His was 2618. He won both the European U16 and World U16 Chess Championship in 2017. He competed in the 2017

World Rapid Chess Championship The World Rapid Chess Championship is a chess tournament held to determine the world champion in chess played under rapid time controls. Prior to 2012, FIDE gave such recognition to a limited number of tournaments, with non-FIDE recognized tourn ...

in December, scoring 7½/15 for a performance rating of 2622. During the tournament he played a queen against

Sergey Karjakin Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin, . (born 12 January 1990) is a Russian chess grandmaster (formerly representing Ukraine). A chess prodigy, he previously held the record for the world's youngest ever grandmaster, (until it was eventually taken b ...

, which

Leonard Barden Leonard William Barden (born 20 August 1929, in Croydon, London) is an English chess master, writer, broadcaster, journalist, organizer and promoter. The son of a dustman, he was educated at Whitgift School, South Croydon, and Balliol Colleg ...

said may be "the move of the year". He scored 11½/21 in the

World Blitz Chess Championship The World Blitz Chess Championship is a chess tournament held to determine the world champion in chess played under blitz time controls. Since 2012, FIDE has held an annual joint rapid and blitz chess tournament and billed it as the World Rapid & ...

, placing 41st out of 138. In February 2018, Esipenko participated in the

Aeroflot Open The Aeroflot Open is an annual open chess tournament played in Moscow and sponsored by the airline Aeroflot. It was established in 2002 and quickly grew to be the strongest open tournament; in 2013 it was converted to a rapid and blitz event, whil ...

. He finished fifty-seventh out of ninety-two, scoring 4/9 (+1–2=6). In March 2018, he competed in the

. He placed forty-eighth, scoring 7/11 (+4–1=6).

2019–present

Esipenko competed in the Tata Steel Challengers in January 2019, placing second with 8½/13 (+5–1=7). In March, he participated in the

. He placed 16th with 7½/11 (+6–2=3) and qualified for the

Chess World Cup 2019 The Chess World Cup 2019 was a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament that took place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, from 9 September to 4 October 2019. It was won by Azerbaijani grandmaster Teimour Radjabov. He and the runner-up, Ding Liren ...

. At the Chess World Cup, Esipenko defeated former FIDE world champion

Ruslan Ponomariov Ruslan Olehovych Ponomariov ( uk, Русла́н Оле́гович Пономарьо́в; born 11 October 1983) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster. He was FIDE World Chess Champion from 2002 to 2004. He won the Ukrainian Chess Championship in ...

in round one. Paired against

Peter Svidler Pyotr Veniaminovich Svidler (russian: Пётр Вениами́нович Сви́длер; born 17 June 1976), commonly known as Peter Svidler, is a Russian chess grandmaster and an eight-time Russian Chess Champion who now frequently commenta ...

in round two, Esipenko drew the classical games but was eliminated in the rapid tiebreaks. In January 2020, Esipenko participated in the Gibraltar Masters. He was sole leader after six rounds with 5½/6, and ultimately shared first on 7½/10 for a performance rating of 2809. In a four-way playoff for the title, Esipenko was eliminated in the semi-finals by eventual tournament winner

David Paravyan David Arturovich Paravyan (russian: link=no, Давид Артурович Паравян; born 8 March 1998) is a Russian chess player of Armenian descent, who was awarded the title of grandmaster by FIDE in 2017. Chess career Born in Moscow ...

. Esipenko competed in the Tata Steel Masters in January 2021. In round eight, he defeated World Champion

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. Carlsen has h ...

in their first game at a classical time control. Carlsen opted for the

Sicilian Defence, Scheveningen Variation In chess, the Scheveningen Variation of the Sicilian Defence is an opening that is a line of the Open Sicilian characterised by Black setting up a "small centre" with pawns on d6 and e6. There are numerous move orders that reach the Scheveningen ...

to which Esipenko chose the aggressive 8.g4 line inspired by the Keres Attack. This was Carlsen's first loss to a teenager (at standard time controls) since 2011, and his first loss to a sub-2700 rated player since 2015. Esipenko finished the tournament in third place, with 8/13 (+4–1=8) for a performance rating of 2815. In round four of the

Chess World Cup 2021 The Chess World Cup 2021 was a 206-player single-elimination chess tournament that took place in Sochi, Russia, beginning 12 July and ending 6 August 2021. It was the 9th edition of the Chess World Cup. The winner of this tournament was the Polis ...

, Esipenko defeated GM

Daniil Dubov Daniil Dmitrievich Dubov (russian: Даниил Дмитриевич Дубов; born 18 April 1996) is a Russian chess grandmaster. He achieved his final norm for the Grandmaster title at the age of 14 years, 11 months, 14 days in 2011. He i ...

in their blitz tiebreaker, after drawing the classical games and the rapid tiebreaks. He was then knocked out in round five of the tournament by

after blitz tiebreaks. Esipenko also participated in the 74th edition of the

Russian Chess Championship The Russian Chess Championship has taken various forms. Winners by year (men) Imperial Russia In 1874, Emanuel Schiffers defeated Andrey Chardin in a match held in St. Petersburg with five wins and four losses. Schiffers was considered the first ...

, held from 9 October 2021 to 20 October 2021. He finished fith place on tiebreaks, with a score of 5.5/11. In 2022, Esipenko participated in the 2022 Airthings Masters. In the preliminary stage, he finished 4th with 24 points, thus qualifying for the quarterfinals where he beat Eric Hansen 3-1. He then proceeded to the semifinals, where

Ian Nepomniachtchi Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi ( rus, Ян Алекса́ндрович Непо́мнящий, r=Yan Aleksandrovich Nepomnyashchiy, p=ˈjan ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ nʲɪˈpomnʲɪɕːɪj, a=Ru-Ian Alexandrovich Nepomnyashchij.ogg; born 14 J ...

defeated him by a score of 2.5-0.5. Through February and March 2022, Esipenko played in the

FIDE Grand Prix 2022 The FIDE Grand Prix 2022 was a series of three chess tournaments played between 4 February and 4 April 2022. The top two finishers – Hikaru Nakamura (winner) and Richárd Rapport (runner-up) – qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2022,

. In the first leg, he placed second in Pool A with a 3.5/6 result. In the third leg, he finished last in Pool A with a result of 1.5/6, finishing 16th in the standings with four points.

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Esipenko, Andrey 2002 births Living people Chess grandmasters Russian chess players People from Novocherkassk Russian activists against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine