Panaji, Nov. 21 -- China's GM Wei Yi and Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Yakubboev could not breach the defences of their respective opponents with white pieces as both the semi-finals of the FIDE World Cup 2025 end in draws here on Friday.
While Nodirbek signed the truce pact with compatriot GM Javokhir Sindarov immediately after the mandatory 30 moves, Wei Yi and GM Andrey Esipenko had their chances but could not convert and ended up splitting the point after 33 moves.
Wei Yi, who had defeated India's best hope GM Arjun Erigaisi in the quarterfinals, faced a rare variation of French defence from Esipenko and just like in the quarterfinals had some early advantage. But to Esipenko's credit, the Russian born Grandmaster equalled the position quite ...