Posted in England, Europe, Tournaments on Dec 1st, 2011 27 Comments »
The four 2800-rated players will repeat (from the 2011 Tal Memorial) the headlining of a super-GM event as the London Chess Classic begins with the opening ceremonies on tomorrow. World Champion Viswanathan Anand and world’s #1 player Magnus Carlsen will be joined by fellow 2800s Levon Aronian (new addition) and Vladimir Kramnik. Carlsen has won [...]
Posted in U.S. Championship on Apr 29th, 2010 3 Comments »
Nakamura winning the 2009 U.S. Championship. Photo by Daaim Shabazz. St. Louis just got a whole lot stronger in chess. A press release buzzed around the Internet about U.S. Champion Hikaru Nakamura relocating from the friendly climes of Seattle with its comfortable living for the St. Louis, a place known mostly for “The Arch” and [...]
Posted in USA on Feb 8th, 2010 20 Comments »
Nakamura at the 2004 World Open. Photo by Daaim Shabazz. Hikaru Nakamura has quite a story to tell. Born in Osaka, Japan and arriving in the U.S. at the age of two, Nakamura has been gracing the pages of chess magazines since he began breaking many of Bobby Fischer’s records. One of the first indicators [...]
Posted in Norway, USA, Videos on Nov 29th, 2009 11 Comments »
America’s #1 player Hikaru Nakamura is riding a successful year with several strong results including the U.S. Championship title and victories in San Sebastian and Mainz. He flamed out in Melody Amber after falling ill and finishing with a horrible score, but stated that December would be a pivotal moment for him and he looked [...]
Posted in Europe, Germany, Media Stories, USA on Aug 1st, 2009 5 Comments »
U.S. Champion Hikaru Nakamura is on a rampage in 2009 having won six tournaments in a row including the recent San Sebastian in Spain and yesterday the Chess 960 World Championship in Mainz, Germany. He won the championship yesterday against the defending champion Levon Aronian of Armenia and the name “Fischer” was tossed around a [...]
Posted in Audio, Interviews, USA, World Open on Jul 8th, 2009 15 Comments »
Hikaru Nakamura had just finished playing a tough game with Evgeny Najer in the 7th round of the World Open. After winning the game on move 55, the 21-year old knew that the fate would lie in the hands of players who he had battled earlier. Nakamura had to take two 1/2-point byes for the [...]
Posted in Netherlands, Tournaments on Jun 25th, 2009 2 Comments »
Nakamura, 2009 U.S. Champion Photo by Daaim Shabazz. This past weekend a story leaked that GM Hikaru Nakamura had been extended an invitation to Corus “A”. The story was keep under wraps for a few days. In fact, The Chess Drum’s Daaim Shabazz chatted with Hikaru Nakamura on Facebook and the 21-year old U.S. Champion [...]
Posted in U.S. Championship on May 17th, 2009 3 Comments »
Hikaru Nakamura came to St. Louis with a mission… qualify for the World Cup and to win his second U.S. Championship. In rousing fashion, Nakamura won his last game against the talented Josh Friedel to win the $40,000 prize and to solidify his status as one of world’s marquee players. Seeded second to Gata Kamsky, [...]
Posted in Tournaments, USA on Apr 12th, 2009 17 Comments »
The Foxwoods Open is now at 12 years and it is a tournament that always brings memorable moments. This year the field only seats 17 GMs, but the competition has been fierce. The tournament has the usual GMs such as US Champion Yury Shulman, Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Shabalov, Alexander Ivanov, but also added to the [...]
Posted in Europe, Games, Spain, Tournaments on Feb 6th, 2009 3 Comments »
Peter Svidler defeats Vadim Milov in a tiebreaker to win the Gibraltar Chess Congress, Masters section. There was actually a five-way tie after nine rounds. The others involved in the tie were Hikaru Nakamura (who overcame two early losses), Pentala Harikrishna and Vugar Gashimov. Nakamura and Gashimov drew quickly while Svidler beat Harikrishna to break [...]
Posted in Norway, Tournaments, Videos on Jan 6th, 2009 No Comments »
Russian Champion Peter Svidler won the Aker Chess Challenge beating Magnus Carlsen in the blitz finale. Carlsen had defeated Hikaru Nakamura the previous round in a highly-charged blitz battle. The two had played two rapid games in the previous round with Nakamura taking 1.5/2. However this rematch was soon to set the board ablaze. U.S. [...]
Posted in France, Tournaments on Nov 1st, 2008 7 Comments »
One of the strongest rapid events is coming to a close today in France and 20-year old Hikaru Nakamura will face Vassily Ivanchuk in the finals. This will be Nakamura’s biggest test of his career after having beat former World Champion Anatoly Karpov in the semi-final match. For the last several years Nakamura has come [...]
Posted in FIDE on Oct 2nd, 2008 1 Comment »
There was a lot of suspense leading up to the October 2008 rating list with many suspecting that Norwegian phenom Magnus Carlsen would vault to the number one spot and set an age record for the top rating. That moment would be short-lived. Carlsen faltered at the end of the Bilboa tournament and dropped from [...]
Posted in USA on Aug 12th, 2008 No Comments »
Very interesting interview by Macauley Peterson of GM Hikaru Nakamura! He discusses his new approach to chess and his evolution as a player flirting with 2700. Nakamura is one of the more interesting interview subjects. He answers the questions fully, articulates well and allows the interviewer flexibility to ask unscripted questions. Does Nakamura desire to [...]
Posted in USA, Videos on May 31st, 2008 31 Comments »
Washington Square Park in the “Village” area of New York is a historic place in chess lore. It is the place where many famous chess players have roamed and many stories have been borne. “Searching for Bobby Fischer” featured scenes in the famous park and featured these players as did movies like “Fresh” and books [...]
Posted in Interviews, USA on May 27th, 2008 1 Comment »
The Chess Drum got an interview with GM Hikaru Nakamura at the Chicago Open in which he revealed (among other things) that he will be moving to Vancouver, Canada. This is a change of scenery for the 20-year old star and he hopes the move will do him well. After the interview, we discussed even [...]
Posted in Europe, Spain, Tournaments on Feb 2nd, 2008 9 Comments »
Hikaru Nakamura at 2008 Gibtel Masters.Photo by ChessBase. I guess naysayers will be quieted somewhat after another victory by American Grandmaster, Hikaru Nakamara. Nakamura (FIDE 2670) has been playing very well lately and will soar toward 2700 after winning the Gibtel Masters tournament in Gibraltar, Spain. There is still some doubt that Nakamura is as [...]
Posted in Tactics Lab on Oct 22nd, 2007 1 Comment »
Those of you following chess have no doubt seen Hikaru Nakamura’s queen sacrifice against Poland’s Michel Krasenkow. It was a thing of beauty and show the power of minor pieces on attack. This should put to rest questions about Nakamura’s strength. Below is the position after 21.Bxf6. Nakamura responded with 21…Qxf2+!! Yikes! The white king [...]
Posted in Tournaments, USA, Videos on Jun 22nd, 2007 2 Comments »
GM Hikaru Nakamura emerged victorious after coming off of subpar showings at both Foxwoods Open and the U.S. Championship. It appeared as if he would stumble once again after being held in a wild battle with IM Enrico Sevilliano. Going into the last round against IM Renier Gonzalez, he needed a win and showed his [...]
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