Russian GM Andrey Esipenko spoke about his preparation for the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament in an interview on the YouTube channel Chess with Mustreader. Esipenko says he and his team tried to train constantly, and describes endgame practice with Mikhail Shereshevsky.

Andrey Esipenko

Andrey Esipenko

Russian GM

“One of the training camps before the Candidates Tournament was in Serbia, in Belgrade. We all lived together in one house as a team.

For example, even when we went somewhere for coffee, we still discussed something. Some training process was always happening. Then we returned to the house and focused on who would be working on what.

In two out of three camps, we had Mikhail Israelevich Shereshevsky with us. We practiced endgames with him for several hours a day!”

Soviet IM Mikhail Shereshevsky is known as a strong endgame theorist. He wrote the popular books “Endgame Strategy” and “Endgame Contours” in 1988 and 1989 respectively.

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.

Credit: Michal Walusza / FIDE