Nakamura Beats Esipenko Who Blunders a Game in Round 2 of the FIDE Grand Prix
Round 2 of the FIDE Grand Prix 2022 came to an end with Nakamura, Rapport, and Dominguez winning their games. After today’s results Nakamura, Wojtaszek, Aronian, and Dominguez are leading their groups.
The first result of Round 2 was the Dubov-Aronian game which ended in a draw. Aronian commented after the game: “Daniil is always a surprising player with an exciting style, so I was trying to predict during my preparation what he would play!”
The second game that ended in a draw was Keymer-Vidit. The two GMs started their game with the Semi-Tarrasch Defense and after 40 minutes they had already reached a balanced endgame. “I have only a few chances to get more than a half-point in a game, so two draws against two 2700+ players is a good result” Keymer said in his after-match interview.
The most anticipated game of Round 2 was Nakamura-Esipenko which started with the English Opening. It was not a boring game at all with Nakamura showing his great tactical skills and winning the game impressively.
Right before the game Esipenko was caught “sleeping” and as it turned out Nakamura caught him on his sleep after 24.b5! With this win the American Twitch superstar is leading group A. If he ends up winning the Grand Prix, is he giving up his Candidates spot for Liren?
In Bacrot-Grischuk game, the Russian GM broke all the chess rules and played 5 pawn-moves in his 8 first moves. After a catastrophic opening, Grischuk managed to achieve a narrow escape and give Bacrot all the reasons to be disappointed, as GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko pointed out on the broadcast.
Wojtaszek was also ready to win against Oparin. The Polish GM had a huge advantage, putting pressure on Oparin’s once-more very weak pawn structure. The Russian G managed to escape his unpleasant position though and “steal” a draw from Wojtaszek. “I missed one move and then I couldn’t see how I could win. It felt really close, but I’m not sure where it went wrong” Wojtaszek said afterward.
The last but definitely not least game to finish was Rapport-Fedoseev. Their game was not only exciting but also utterly creative, with the Russian GM losing the game. “It seems to be a trend for me to lose the first game and then win the second when I don’t know why!” Rapport said after the game and added “At the end after some lucky tactics I managed to win the position.
Join our live stream with GM Evgenij Miroshnichenko and WIM Jesse February and watch the games.
