Nakamura Leading at Wijk aan Zee

I have been following with great interest the games in the Tata Steel (formerly Corus) tournament at Wijk aan Zee (see A-group games at Chessgames.com), where US Champion Hikaru Nakamura is battling for first against World Champion Vishy Anand, with Super-GMs Lev Aronian, Magnus Carlsen, and Vladimir Kramnik nipping at their heels.  There have been a number of good ChessVibes videos for fans, including Carlsen's discussion of his game with Nakamura (Naka's only loss), Kramnik's discussion of his game with L'Ami (the more I see of Kramnik on video, the more I appreciate him and his style of play), and Anand's discussion of his masterful exchange sac against Wang Hao.  Going into the last rounds, Nakamura has taken the lead and is "Close to a Career Best Triumph" in the strongest tournament of the year.  A very exciting event, especially for fans of the U.S. Champion, who have a great weekend of chess to look forward to (which almost makes up for being snowbound here on the East coast).

Nakamura Takes Dos Hermanas Blitz

U.S. Champion and world famous blitz player GM Hikaru Nakamura won the 11th Dos Hermanas online blitz championship, played on ICC.  As you can see from the Finals Grid, Nakamura (Smallville), author of Bullet Chess: One Minute to Mate,  began the finals by beating former Kenilworth Chess Club Champion Yaacov Norowitz (a tough first pairing for YaacovN!) and went on to beat GM Yaroslav Zinchenko (MEGAYARICK) in the final match.  You can download the games in PGN from the ICC site.

72nd Corus at Wijk aan Zee Opens

The schedule is set for the three groups (see A, B, and C) participating in the 72nd Corus Chess 2010 tournament at Wijk aan Zee.  Players include Carlsen, Anand, and Kramnik in an all-star field, with U.S. players Hikaru Nakamura (A), Varuzhan Akobian (B), and young Ray Robson (C) taking part, fresh off their silver medal in the World Team Championship in Bursa, Turkey.  The tournament should receive daily coverage at ChessBase (see "Wijk aan Zee Super-GM Starts Saturday"), TWIC (see preview), The Chess Mind, Chessdom, ICC, ChessVibes, Chessgames, the official site, and numerous other places around the net.

Gelfand - Nakamura, Bursa 2010

Gelfand and Nakamura Post Mortem

The internet response to the game Gelfand - Nakamura, 7th World Team Championship, Bursa Turkey 2010, has been almost electric. It is a game with all of the bells and whistles typical of a brilliancy, made all the more special because of the players themselves: the U.S. Champion sacrificed a piece and then left his queen hanging for six moves against the recent winner of the World Cup.  Incredible.  

Gelfand - Nakamura
Black to play.

Commentators point out the similarities to Beliavsky - Nakamura 2009 and Roozmon - Charbonneau 2008. Here are some notes from around the web:

• Nakamura Annotates Gelfand Scorcher by GM Hikaru Nakamura at the USCF website
  
• Bursa WTC: Nakamura beats Gelfand in round five at ChessBase
• Ben's Blog: Hikaru leads U.S. to victory over Israel, Robson draw clutch by Ben Finegold 
• Round 5 Games from Bursa by Dennis Monokroussos
  
• World Teams '10: Messing with Zohan by Mig Greengard
• Nakamura Brilliancy Beats Gelfand by Malcolm Pein at TWIC
• Russia and USA Lead at World Team Championship at ChessVibes
  
• Beliavsky and Gelfand Hopelessly Confused by Nakamura’s King’s Indian by Mark Ginsburg

Carlsen Wins London Chess Classic 2009

The London Chess Classic ended today with very well-contested draws by Magnus Carlsen (against Nigel Short, in a game played "to the kings") and Vladimir Kramnik (against Hikaru Nakamura) that kept Carlsen's one-point margin in place.  Luke McShane was awarded the brilliancy prize for his innovative Round 5 victory over Nakamura using the King's Indian Defense with Na6. Carlsen's countryman, Norwegian GM Jon Ludvig Hammer, won the concurrent London FIDE Open a full point ahead of the field.  And WIM Arianne Caoili won the London FIDE Women's Invitational by a point and a half over the rest of the field.  You can find games from all of the events in the Downloads / PGN Games section of the official website, and you can easily find and play over main event games at Chessgames.com.  I have found some of the games in the lower tournaments to be of great interest and may return to them in future posts.


I have put together a round-by-round webliography of articles analyzing the games from the main event.  Long ago I got in the habit of looking at GM games using multiple sets of notes, finding that every commentator focuses on different questions in the game that are worth considering, and that opinions often diverge even where the same issues are considered.  Edward Winter once very nicely explored the case of "Analytical Disaccord" surrounding the game Capablanca - Bogoljubow, Moscow 1925 which was only an extreme example of just how differently various annotators can see things.  I hope readers find this collection of notes useful.  I will add more as they become available and welcome links from readers.



With his performance in this tournament, Carlsen guarantees that he will keep his world  number one ranking on the official FIDE ratings list, making him the youngest official number one player in history.  Next up for the champ will be the Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee (January 15 - 31).


Round 7

• ChessBase Express Report
  
• Video Interview with Magnus Carlsen by Peter Doggers at ChessVibes
• Round 7 Games Annotated,  Mark Crowther at TWIC
• Carlsen Wins; Nakamura Mid-Field by Ian Rogers at USCF
  
• Short - Carlsen, Jason Juett at Chessdom
• Round 7 Games Annotated, Rybka at ChessOK
  

Round 6

• Kramnik and Ni Hua Win, Carlsen Escapes by John Saunders at ChessBase
  
• Kramnik and Ni Hua Win in Round 6 by Peter Doggers at ChessVibes
  Includes video of Short and Ni Hua analyzing their game.
• Carlsen - Adams, Raymond Keene at Times Online
  
• Carlsen - Adams, Pete Karagianis at Chessdom
  
• London Classic Final Round by Mig Greengard
  In a post looking toward the final round of play, Greengard nicely sums up the penultimate round action.
• Round 6 Games Annotated, Rybka at ChessOK
  

Round 5

• Carlsen and McShane Win by John Saunders at ChessBase
• Ni Hua - Carlsen, John Saunders
• Nakamura - McShane, John Saunders
• Round 5 Games Annotated, Dennis Monokroussos
• Round 5 Games Annotated, Rybka at ChessOK
  
• Ni Hua - Carlsen, Jason Juett at Chessdom
  
• London Classic: Kramnik Comeback; Carlsen Human (Maybe) by Mig Greengard
  A good summary of the action through round 5.
  

Round 4

• All Games Drawn but Fighting Chess by John Saunders at ChessBase
• Round 4 Games Annotated, Dennis Monokroussos
• Round 4 Games Annotated, Mark Crowther at TWIC
• Round 4 Games Annotated, Rybka at ChessOK
  
• Carlsen - Nakamura, John Saunders
• Short - Ni Hua, John Saunders
• Carlsen - Nakamura, Ian Rogers at USCF
• Carlsen - Nakamura, Jason Juett at Chessdom
  
• Carlsen - Nakamura, Malcolm Pein in the London Telegraph
  

Round 3

• Kramnik Wins Again, Carlsen Leads by John Saunders at ChessBase
• McShane - Kramnik, John Saunders
• Howell - Carlsen, John Saunders
• Howell - Carlsen, Malcolm Pein (also at TWIC)
  
• McShane - Kramnik, Malcolm Pein (also at TWIC)
• Howell - Carlsen, Jason Juett and Peter Karagianis at Chessdom
• Round 3 Games Annotated, Rybka at ChessOK
  

Round 2

• Kramnik and Carlsen Analyzed by John Saunders at ChessBase
• Kramnik - Ni Hua, John Saunders
• Carlsen - McShane, John Saunders
• Round 2 Games Annotated, Vallejo Pons at the official site
  
• Round 2 Games Annotated, Mark Crowther at TWIC
• Round 2 Games Annotated, Rybka at ChessOK
  
• Thirty Love, Carlsen Beats McShane photos by Frederic Friedel at ChessBase
• London Classic: Carlsen Starts Hot by Mig Greengard
• Kramnik - Ni Hua, Malcolm Pein at TWIC
• Carlsen - McShane, Christian Bauer and Peter Karagianis at Chessdom
  
• Adams - Nakamura, Christian Bauer and Peter Karagianis at Chessdom
  

Round 1

• C is for Carlsen by John Saunders at ChessBase
  Carlsen explains his win over Kramnik in the first round.
• Round 1 Games Annotated, Dennis Monokroussos 
• Round 1 Games Annotated, Mark Crowther
• Round 1 Games Annotated, Vallejo Pons at the official site
• Round 1 Games Annotated, Rybka at ChessOK
  
• Carlsen - Kramnik, John Saunders
  
• Carlsen - Kramnik, Lubomir Kavalek, Washington Post
• Carlsen - Kramnik, Malcolm Pein
• Carlsen - Kramnik,  Hector Leyva at InforChess
  
• Carlsen - Kramnik at Chessdom
• Nakamura - Ni Hua at Chessdom
  

Additional Coverage

• People and Personalities at the London Chess Classic, photos by Frederic Friedel
  
• London Chess Classic Photographs at The Streatham & Brixton Chess Blog
  

London Chess Classic Starts Tuesday

The London Chess Classic starts Tuesday, December 8th, and promises to be one of the most interesting tournaments of the year for chess fans in the Western hemisphere. Not only will the tournament website and related coverage be in English, but the event will feature such fan favorite players as world number one Magnus Carlsen, former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, U.S. champion Hikaru Nakamura, and resurgent British star Nigel Short (all of whom are playing in top form of late). The Daily Telegraph has been providing excellent coverage, including an interview today with 19-year-old Carlsen -- see "Magnus Carlsen: The Rise and Rise of Chess's Answer to Mozart" by Max Davidson. An earlier Davidson article, "London Chess Classic: The Chess Set Come to London," suggests that chess is regaining popularity in Britain, which once produced the strongest players in the West, including former championship challenger Short. Luke McShane and David Howell, who represent the next generation of rising British stars, will participate in the tournament as well, though they are likely to have a tough time against such strong opposition. I will be following the tournament closely and hope to post some articles about the event.

Nakamura Beats Carlsen in Oslo Blitz Final

Less than two weeks ago, Magnus Carlsen won the World Blitz Championship at the Tal Memorial in Moscow. Yesterday he lost to Hikaru Nakamura, widely considered the best blitz player in the world (but who did not play in Moscow), in the final of the BNBank knockout blitz tournament in Oslo. So who's really the champ? Check out the Oslo Blitz page created by ChessBase to play over the games and watch them on video at the same time. And does blitz even matter? Read Bobby's Blitz Chess by Larry Parr (from the Internet Archives, which may be slow to load) for some historical perspective.

Related Links

• Oslo Blitz -- Nakamura Beats Carlsen in the Final from ChessBase
• Nakamura Blitzes Carlsen in Norway by Mig Greengard
• Nakamura Wins BNBank Blitz by Dennis Monokroussos
• Carlsen Wins Tal Memorial Blitz