Russian GM Andrey Esipenko evaluated the skills of elite GMs in a FIDE cards format during a video on the Virtus.pro Chess channel. Esipenko rated the opening, middlegame, endgame play, awareness, sacrifice ability, and overall form for 2025 for Magnus, Hikaru, Fabiano, Gukesh, and Arjun.

Andrey Esipenko

Andrey Esipenko

Russian GM

“Magnus is, of course, the greatest player in history by almost every metric, but sacrifices specifically aren’t really his thing. I’m sure he can make them well, but Magnus isn’t a player of that style at all. I think if Magnus plays Tal style, he’ll play weaker.

Assessing the position after the opening is not Nakamura’s strongest side. With Magnus, it’s generally much simpler because here I can’t name any number that’s close to 100 and call it a day. Hikaru, in contrast, has more weak sides in general.

About Fabiano, does he ever blunder? I’m trying to remember some serious blunders he made, and so far, I can only remember my own blunders…

Gukesh… to be honest, for a World Champion, the last year wasn’t good for him. And if we consider the beginning of 2026, I’d say that his overall form is 84.

Speaking of Tal style… if I were to choose a player who plays Tal style, I’d probably consider Erigaisi first. He’s gonna be the leader out of all the people here. Not all of his sacrifices are brilliant, but I’d give Erigaisi a 93 for this attribute.”

The final skill ratings from Esipenko (OPN – Opening, MID – Middlegame, END – Endgame, BLN – Blunders, SCR – Sacrifices, FRM – Performance in 2025) are:

Player OPN MID END BLN SCR FRM
🇳🇴 Magnus Carlsen 96 96 98 94 86 97
🇺🇸 Hikaru Nakamura 88 93 89 94 88 92
🇺🇸 Fabiano Caruana 90 89 88 91 88 94
🇮🇳 Gukesh Dommaraju 83 88 83 85 84 84
🇮🇳 Arjun Erigaiasi 87 93 85 88 93 90

At the time of publication, Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, and Fabiano Caruana are ranked 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, respectively in the FIDE rankings. World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju and Arjun Erigaishi are ranked 10th and 11th. Nakamura and Caruana will compete in the 2026 Candidates Tournament to challenge Gukesh for the World Championship title.

Credit: Michal Walusza / FIDE