Russian GM Andrey Esipenko shared his thoughts on his performance at the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 in an interview on the YouTube channel Chess with Mustreader. Esipenko says all his opponents played against him with accuracy above 94, and notes that he found it difficult to compete at the elite level.

Andrey Esipenko

Andrey Esipenko

Russian GM

“I was surprised by the level of play from my opponents, as strange as it may sound…

I even checked, and if I’m not mistaken, not a single player had accuracy below 94 against me in any of the games. I’m wondering, because I don’t think it’s bad luck, to be honest. Maybe I allowed my opponents to play like that…

But seriously, I would have found it very difficult against that level of play anyway… It’s unclear how often this will happen at this level.”

The FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026 took place from March 28 to April 15, at the Cap St Georges Hotel and Resort in Pegeia, Cyprus. Russian GM Andrey Esipenko finished last in the tournament with 4.5/14 points. The average accuracy of Esipenko’s opponents was 97.6. Chinese GM Wei Yi played with the lowest accuracy of 94.1, and German GM Matthias Bluebaum played with the highest accuracy of 99.3.

Credit: Yoav Nisenbaum / FIDE