Esipenko Leads In Open, 4-Way Tie In Women's

GM Andrey Esipenko broke into sole first with 3.5/4 at the 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss after winning with Black against World Junior Champion Marc'Andria Maurizzi.

Pursuing him are 17 players, half a point behind. After a slow start, GM Hikaru Nakamura was rewarded for his risky opening against GM Amin Tabatabaei with a second consecutive victory to reach three points. This is our Game of the Day. 

In the Women's, GM Anna Muzychuk was up two pawns in the endgame but failed to defeat GM Tan Zhongyi on board one. The draw allowed two others to catch them in the lead. With wins in round four, IMs Vaishali R and Bibisara Assaubayeva have entered a four-way tie at the top.

Round five begins on Sunday, October 29, at 10:30 a.m. ET / 15:30 CEST / 8 p.m. IST.  

• Open
• Women's

The very top boards in the Open once again produced few decisive results, but there were more risks taken by players half a point or more behind on the lower boards.

Meanwhile, in the Women's, the top five boards were nearly all decisive with a missed opportunity on board one.

Open

Maurizzi-Esipenko was the first game to end in the Open, and Esipenko won a miniature with Black against the up-and-coming French junior. It was the only decisive result on the top five boards.

14.c4 seems to be an idea the 16-year-old prodigy borrowed from a game GM Magnus Carlsen played in Titled Tuesday this year. But Maurizzi's follow-up, playing for the d4-break immediately, quickly backfired. Esipenko won with a nice 23...d5! break. 

It was a perfect day for Esipenko, who's an Arsenal fan. Arsenal beat Sheffield United 5-0. It was also his mother's birthday, which he said was "double motivation for me to get a good result."

GM Fabiano Caruana vs. GM Javokhir Sindarov ended in a draw. Black played a risky opening strategy, but it didn't lead to any serious mistakes by either player. On board two, GM Alexandr Predke vs. Arjun Erigaisi was chaotic. 

Predke sacrificed a piece to take his younger opponent's king on a walk, and although the engine believed Black was winning, the position was incredibly messy. The Indian grandmaster understandably forced a draw—in style, with a queen sacrifice.

After 31...Nd2 32.Rxd6 Rc1, there is no way for White to escape the checks.

Pack Of 17 Chasing Esipenko  

Players on two points or less going into the round had a little more fire under their feet. It seems the time for taking risks is beginning to strike.

The players who won and joined the giant group on three points are GMs Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja, Hans Niemann, Yu Yangyi, Vincent Keymer, Vidit Gujrathi, Evgeniy Najer, Vladislav Artemiev, and Rinat Jumabayev. 

Nakamura, after his round-two game against GM Raunak Sadhwani, said that he didn't want to take big risks early on. While he took an early draw then, he opted for a double-edged isolated pawn position in this game.

In his recap, he explained: "Obviously, I'm playing with the black pieces against a very strong player. Nonetheless, I want to keep the game going.... If the opportunities present themselves, I want to be able to capitalize."

The risk was rewarded and GM Rafael Leitao breaks the details down for us below. 

You can watch the recap here:

Firouzja, also with the black pieces, beat GM Nijat Abasov, who will replace Carlsen in the Candidates Tournament if the latter opts not to play. Even after the queens were traded, White suffered from poor king safety, and Leko pointed out a possible checkmate that could have occurred:

Firouzja's winning against Abasov, and Leko shows a pretty checkmate that could happen if White doesn't resign!#FIDEGrandSwiss pic.twitter.com/AvertoZvU8

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 28, 2023

Although we didn't see a checkmate, White was forced to give up the exchange and the game. A great win for the French number-one, who said he's been going to sleep at two or three in the morning and waking up at nine. 

Niemann defeated GM Richard Rapport with a brilliant attack. The Hungarian-Romanian super-GM was solid but decided, with under five minutes left, to play with fire by capturing a pawn two moves before the time control.

"After that, I was completely sure I was winning," said Niemann in his interview. "I didn't obviously see the final finish, which was quite nice, but I think that was the culmination of putting him under a lot of pressure." He also added that he intended to rent a motorcycle or electric bike during his time on the Isle of Man.

Not all gambles work, and this gamble allowed for a sparkling attack and Niemann's second consecutive win:

The most shocking blunder of the tournament so far has been Andrei Volokitin's rook blunder to Keymer. Volokitin picked up the c-pawn but didn't want to take it. Keymer called the arbiter and forced the touch-move rule. Volokitin resigned without waiting for 31...Qd1+. 

A tragic blunder 😱! White resigns without waiting for the guillotine. #FIDEGrandSwiss pic.twitter.com/GxfmoymabU

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 28, 2023

On board 52, the absolutely nuts game, GM Adham Fawzy vs. Eduardo Iturrizaga, ended with a beautiful final move:

Check out this brilliant last move on board 52!#FIDEGrandSwiss pic.twitter.com/t04Lc49A2o

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 28, 2023

Tournament leader Esipenko will have the white pieces against Caruana on board one on Sunday. On board two, Nakamura has white against GM Alexey Sarana and Firouzja will have white against Niemann.

 Round 4 Standings | Top 20 

(Full results here.)

Women's

Anna Muzychuk got a much better, perhaps winning, position out of the opening. Interestingly, she'd played the first 13 moves of the game before against Harshit Raja in the Gibraltar Masters 2018. 

That previous game ended in a draw, and although Muzychuk improved on it in this tournament, she again let her opponent off the hook in an endgame two pawns up but still difficult.

Assaubayeva and Vaishali started the day half a point behind. The former, who said she's played in five tournaments since September, won in the rook endgame against GM Elisabeth Paehtz, but Vaishali won with an attack in just 23 moves against GM Mariya Muzychuk. This after her 25-move victory in the previous round!

Anna and Mariya are sisters and grandmasters, but Vaishali and her brother, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, are quite the other power pair of their own. She said: "After the games we discuss, and he helps me with some opening ideas also. I'm very happy and very lucky that I have the support."

Five players are just behind with three points. Top-seed GM Aleksandra Goryachkina is one of them, after winning thanks to an unsound piece sacrifice by IM Ulviyya Fataliyeva.

WGM Meruert Kamalidenova bounced back from Friday's loss to Paehtz with a killer attack in the Spanish. She finished the game with the classic knight and bishop checkmate to finish the day on three points:

Kamalidenova completes the knight and bishop checkmate to go on 3/4!#FIDEGrandSwiss pic.twitter.com/zGtMP3Jq72

— chess24.com (@chess24com) October 28, 2023

The marquee matchups on Sunday will be Tan vs. Assaubayeva on board one and Vaisahli vs. Anna Muzychuk on board two. 

Round 4 Standings | Top 20 

(Full results here.)

The 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss (FGS) is one of the events of the FIDE World Championship cycle with the top two players qualifying for the 2024 Candidates Tournament. The FGS started on October 25 at 9:30 a.m. ET/15:30 CEST/19:00 IST and features a $460,000 prize fund.

The 2023 FIDE Women's Grand Swiss (FWGS) features a $140,000 prize fund and runs concurrently. The top two players qualify for the 2024 Women's Candidates Tournament.

Previous Coverage:

• Vaishali Plays Brilliancy As Anna Muzychuk, Tan Take Lead
• Caruana Beats Niemann, Returns To 2800 Club
• Caruana Leads Pack Of 32 Winners
• FIDE Grand Swiss 2023: Who Will Qualify For A Shot At World Title?