Esipenko fails the Candidates Tournament

Esipenko Keeps Making Mistakes Again and Again. A Russian Player’s Disaster at the Candidates Tournament

Things fall apart very quickly at the Candidates Tournament. One bad day can still be survived. Two already become a warning sign. But when, round after round, you fail both to latch onto a winning streak and to change the general rhythm, the conversation shifts. This is no longer just a poor start, but a real tournament crisis. That is exactly the position Andrey Esipenko now finds himself in: after six rounds, he has only 2 points out of 6, sits in the bottom group, and the tournament leader, Javokhir Sindarov, has already pulled 3.5 points ahead.

It Did Not Begin as a Disaster, but as a Tournament Full of Chances

Before the start in Paphos, Esipenko did not look out of place in this field. He reached the Candidates Tournament as the bronze medalist of the 2025 World Cup, which means he came through one of the toughest qualification paths and earned his spot on sporting merit. Formally, everything was on his side: status, level, big-match experience, and the chance to prove himself on the main stage of the Candidates cycle.

But from the very first rounds, it became clear that the tournament was not following his script. In round one, Esipenko lost to Sindarov; in round two, he made a fighting draw with Nakamura; in round three, he shared the point peacefully with Bluebaum; then came a painful loss to Anish Giri in round four. After that came another draw — against Praggnanandhaa in round five — and only in round six did he manage to stop Fabiano Caruana, but that was only half a point, not a real turning point.

The Biggest Problem Is Not Only the Points, but the Shape of the Tournament

Sometimes a player starts badly, but the games show that a breakthrough is just around the corner. With Esipenko, the picture is more complicated. Yes, he had good stretches. In round two against Nakamura, for example, he even won a pawn and pressed for a long time, but the American defended the rook endgame very accurately and the game ended in a draw. That was exactly the kind of game after which one could say: the result is not ideal, but the form is alive.

But after that, the cumulative effect became too heavy. By round five, this was already the third draw, not an isolated episode. And the game against Praggnanandhaa, according to FIDE’s official review, reached repetition while the board was still fairly full. In other words, this was not a heroic escape story and not a squeezed half-point from a worse position, but a very neutral result at a moment when the standings demanded something more.

Mistakes Hurt Not Only the Games, but the Psychology Too

The most painful part of Esipenko’s story is the feeling that he is always somewhere near the right tournament, but never truly entering it. Against Nakamura, he was close to a headline result. Against Giri, he got into a sharp, fighting game, but lost. Against Praggnanandhaa, he did not lose, but he also did not accelerate. Against Caruana in round six, he held once again, but on a day when Sindarov beat Wei Yi and pulled even farther away, that still was not enough.

That is exactly how the feeling of disaster is born. Not necessarily through one monstrous blunder-filled game. Sometimes a tournament falls apart differently: one mistake, then another, then a missed chance that was not converted, then a series of draws that seem to save you, but do not bring you back into the race. In the format of the Candidates Tournament, that is almost as destructive as a run of clean defeats.

Why the Loss to Giri Was Especially Painful

If one has to identify the moment when concern turned into a full crisis, then of course it was round four. That was when Esipenko lost to Giri in a sharp game that Chess.com described as a wild Najdorf game. For Giri himself, it was his first win of the tournament. For Esipenko, it was his second loss in four rounds. That was the day when it became clear that one poor start could no longer be written off as coincidence.

And the blow landed especially hard because on that same day Sindarov defeated Caruana and moved into sole first place. While somebody at the top was making a surge, Esipenko was once again losing ground. At a tournament like this, that is almost the worst possible scenario: you are not only making mistakes yourself, you are also watching your rivals immediately turn their chances into full points.

Round Six Broke Nothing, but Saved Nothing Either

The draw with Caruana in round six is, in itself, a respectable result. Chess.com wrote directly that it helped Esipenko hold off Sindarov’s closest pursuer. But in personal tournament terms, it was more a matter of holding position than true rescue. After six rounds, the Russian has 2/6, and he remains near the bottom of the standings together with two other players, at a huge distance from the leader.

That is where the main drama lies. Even good local actions no longer produce the effect they might have had at the start of the tournament. When you lose tempo early, you later have to do more than just play well — you have to chase almost flawlessly. And that mode is the most unpleasant form of pressure in the Candidates race.

Is There a Way Out of This Crisis for Esipenko?

Purely mathematically, yes. The tournament is long, there are still many games ahead, and one win can sharply improve both mood and position. But in practical terms, the room for maneuver has already narrowed greatly. After round six, Sindarov had scored 5.5 out of 6, Caruana was holding second place, and Esipenko was already too far behind to survive only on draws and the hope that everything will somehow “turn around by itself.”

Now everything is brutally simple for him: he needs not just careful games, but real victories. And fast. Because a few more neutral results will only strengthen the feeling that has already formed around his performance: the tournament is slipping away, and he still cannot impose his own pattern on it.

Conclusion

The phrase “Esipenko keeps making mistakes again and again” sounds harsh, but the current standings make it understandable. The problem is not one specific collapse, but a chain of breakdowns: two losses, several draws without a breakthrough, and a total of 2 points after 6 rounds. This is no longer just a difficult start. For the Russian player, this is a tournament that so far is unfolding like a real disaster.

And yet the Candidates Tournament always leaves one final right of reply. The main question now is no longer what Esipenko did wrong in the first six rounds. The main question is whether he is still capable of producing a run that will make people talk not about a disaster, but about a comeback.