Esipenko wins the Quatar Masters

12/12/2024 – Russia’s Andrey Esipenko, playing under the neutral FID banner, wins the Qatar Masters 2024 by a ½ point over his runners-up, #1 and #2 seeds Arjun Erigaisi and Nodirbek Abdusattorov respectively, who came to collect points for the FIDE circuit; the winner of the FIDE 2024 circuit will qualify for the 2026 Candidates. At the end of the tournament, Fabiano Caruana retained first place after his recent victories in the US Masters and the St-Louis Masters. Only two outstanding results at the Rapid and Blitz World Championships at the end of the year could enable the Indian – and very possibly the Uzbek – to improve their score to challenge the American’s qualification for the 2026 Candidates Tournament. Photo: Esipenko versus Salem at the Biel Chess Festival 2022.