FIDE World Cup 30 October - 27 November 2025

[LawrenceCooper]

Esipenko 1 up, all square in the other match.

Esipenko wins again to qualify for the semi-final against Wei Yi.

[LawrenceCooper]

Sindarov wins a very tense game to knock out Martinez and qualify to play his fellow Uzbekistan player Yakubboev.

[Mick Norris]

Rest day tomorrow; presumably Shankland now flies to London to play the Classic, he's been very impressive despite losing today

[Jonathan Rogers]

Well, my sympathies lie with ... the committee which determines the board order for Uzbekistan at the next Olympiad.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Very impressive from Wei Yi, he must be favourite now

I think the Uzbeks might have something to say about that....

[Nick Burrows]

Wei Yi 6/4
Sindarov 2/1
Yakkuboev 4/1
Esipenko 5/1

According to Bwin.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Without researching (naturally) I have the idea that Wei Yi has a very good rapidplay/blitz KO record. Admittedly I can only think of two examples before this event (knocking out Ding Liren in 2016, winning Wijk aan Zee on tiebreak in 2024) but still I cannot recall any defeats. Anyone?

[LawrenceCooper]

Without researching (naturally) I have the idea that Wei Yi has a very good rapidplay/blitz KO record. Admittedly I can only think of two examples before this event (knocking out Ding Liren in 2016, winning Wijk aan Zee on tiebreak in 2024) but still I cannot recall any defeats. Anyone?

I was also impressed by his calmness in the armageddon games in Norway Chess. Admittedly, not as high stakes as here, but beating Magnus & Hikaru, among others, showed him to be a very capable opponent at quicker time controls.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I would take Esipenko at those odds. Though I would like to see Wei Yi win. Which of the four would you least miss in the Candidates? Is it surprising to see such a high representation (100%!) from Asia?

[LawrenceCooper]

Is it surprising to see such a high representation (100%!) from Asia?

Not at all, although I would have expected at least one Indian (my doomed to fail picks were Arjun & Pragg) and a different Uzbekistan player to the ones who qualified.

[Paul Cooksey]

I noted the relative lack of Indian success earlier.

Leko made the point on commentary that the Grand Swiss was in Uzbekistan but the Uzbeks are performing much better in Goa. He believes there is no home advantage in chess, and possibly a home disadvantage due to distractions. He didn't make any comparison to the current event which was very professional.

My own view is that it is important we keep this a secret from potential sponsors.

[Jonathan Rogers]

There's Anand's catastrophic non-defence of his title in Chennai 2013 too.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Following Topalov's defeat to Anand in Sofia a few years earlier.

One may or may not count Kasparov v Short (some from Manchester will say that Short didn't have "home" advantage)

[Jonathan Rogers]

and some of Carlsen's worst results have been in Norway, I think.

So yes, a secret which no person in the commercial world shall know.

[Mick Norris]

Which of the four would you least miss in the Candidates?

Esipenko

We'll have 2 Americans (Caruana & Nakamura), 1 German (Bluebaum), 1 Dutch (Giri), 1 Indian (Pragg), it would be good to see no Russians