MOSCOW, Jan 19, Oleg Bogatov. Russian grandmaster Andrey Esipenko shows a confident and a worthy game at the prestigious tournament held in Wijk aan Zee (Netherlands) and retains chances for a high place, said Vice President of the Moscow Chess Federation Sergey Smagin. Esipenko won one game at the start of the tournament and ended three in a draw. The Russian scored 2.5 points out of 4 and shares 2-6th places with world champion Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, Hungarian Richard Rapport, Azerbaijani Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Dutchman Jorden van Forest. Indian Vidit Gujrati is in the lead (3). The tournament in Wijk aan Zee is held for the 84th time and will end on January 30. «So far, Andrey looks quite decent in terms of the game and the results, which is reflected in the standings,» Smagin said. «Esipenko generally controls the situation on the board in each games. He doesn't always play flawlessly, but he grasps the essence of the positions and acts with a good margin of safety. He plays very rationally. I think that his final result will be very high.»
