After his sensational win against the world  champion in Wijk an Zee earlier this year, the young star of Russian chess put up a great fight against Carlsen once again. The two classical games  were drawn after a fierce battle, and after two more draws in the rapid,  Carlsen finally won a game. Esipenko needed to win on demand now to stay  in the match; therefore, the Berlin was out of the question.
1. e2e4  1... e7e5  2. g1f3  2... b8c6 