Chinese Grandmaster Wei Yi and Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Yakubboev could not breach the defences of their respective opponents with white pieces as Game 1 of both the semifinals of the FIDE World Cup ended in draws, in Panaji on Friday.
While Nodirbek signed the truce with compatriot GM Javokhir Sindarov immediately after the mandatory 30 moves, Yi and GM Andrey Esipenko had their chances but could not convert and ended up splitting the point after 33 moves.
Yi, who had defeated India's 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 well and it looked like the Chinese was coming under some time pressure.
However, Yi managed to set up a three pronged attack with a rook, bishop and queen only for Esipenko to respond with a perfect defensive move to take the game towards a pawn endgame, when the two players agreed to draw.
Semifinals Game 1 results:
Wei Yi (CHN) drew with Andrey Esipenko (FIDE) 0.5:0.5; Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB) drew with Javokhir Sindarov (UZB) 0.5:0.5.