By Hikaru Nakamura on 7/24/2009 10:58 AM

Hello everyone! It just somehow has worked out that I have a few hours of downtime today before I go take care of business in New York City, so I will attempt to recap the past week.

Vancouver: "The Return"

In my last blog, I really wore out my fingers with the blog I wrote as I had to race against the clock and I promptly passed out immediately once I boarded the flight due to massive sleep deprivation. I did wake up a few hours later and had the luxury of sitting next to a couple of cute girls from New Jersey who were headed up to Whistler for some hiking. Immediately, I started giving them many ideas of what to do out there which really reminded me of all the great memories I had from last summer. Once I arrived in Vancouver, I promptly went out and enjoyed the afternoon with my friend Bruce out in the burbs. It involved many games of Seirawan Chess which was highly enjoyable for both of us.



These...

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By Hikaru Nakamura on 7/24/2009 9:21 AM

Greetings to everyone once again. I really wish I had time to write a comprehensive blog about this past week in Victoria and Vancouver, but my schedule is incredibly tight so I will write one up on Sunday once I am in Mainz Germany and have a free day to completely rest up and relax.

Cheers,

Hikaru

By Hikaru Nakamura on 7/18/2009 4:33 AM

A very good early morning to everyone from Newark Airport! Luckily, there is wifi here courtesy of Boingo Hotspots, so I will attempt to write this blog up before my flight to Vancouver which is scheduled to board 80 minutes from now (when I start the blog)! Before I dive into all the chess related stuff, I happened to catch the early morning news that the famed journalist, Walter Cronkite died either last night or this morning. It seems that far too many prominent people have passed away over the past few weeks, and I think one can only hope that we remember all the positives these inspirational people left behind and try to improve ourselves and the world. On that note, I cannot resist any further and shall now proceed to talk about the adventures which Spain has had to offer...enjoy! Round 7: "A Close Shave" Normally speaking, I would never have chosen this title for a specific game, but since it is 5:30 AM and I do not think my brain is functioning anywhere near 100% at this insane hour, it makes sense...

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By Hikaru Nakamura on 7/17/2009 6:28 PM

This is just a very quick blog update to let everyone know that I have arrived safely back in New York after a very long day of traveling. I'll add the third and final part of my San Sebastian report very shortly. For now though, it is time to eat some dinner and sleep as I have an early morning flight to Vancouver tomorrow.

By Hikaru Nakamura on 7/13/2009 11:11 AM

Since I finished my sixth round in relatively quick fashion today, (more below) I figured now would be another good time for a blog as we have progressed from 33% to 66% of the way there. Before I get into the actual blog itself, I would just like to thank everyone on ChessNinja, ICC and my blog here for the well wishes and congratulations (premature) which I have received thus far. Such inspiration greatly motivates me and keeps me going onwards as I try to push for world champion. So once again, thanks to everyone out there for the positivity.

Round 4: "Play To The Death"

In round four, I was paired with White against the Spaniard, Paco Vallejo Pons. Oddly enough, in a weird sense of pre-destiny, we first played on an airplane waaaaay back in 1996. I am not sure if Paco remembers this event at all but back in 1996, my brother, Asuka was playing in the World Youth Chess Championship in Menorca. While my brother played in the U10 for the US, Paco played for Spain in the U14 section. When my family...

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By Hikaru Nakamura on 7/10/2009 7:30 AM

Greetings once again to the cyber world. As most people know, today is the rest day, so I will attempt to recap the first three rounds and their respective outcomes thus far.

Round 1: The Living Legend Named Karpov

At the opening ceremony, I drew the number 1 which I seem to pick fairly often. Despite the fact that it is supposed to be a huge advantage due to starting off a tournament with double whites, I have found that it is very much a double edged sword. For instance, if you fail to convert in the first two games, there will be huge pressure to win with Black. Also, I was not overly thrilled about this drawing due to a certain uncertainty involving my performance as I was coming straight from the World Open in Philadelphia. Nevertheless, it is supposed to be an advantage and you just have to deal with it.

Onto the round itself, I got White against the 12th World Champion, Anatoly Karpov who is, in my opinion, the second best player to have ever lived (Kasparov is first). The game turned...

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By Hikaru Nakamura on 7/7/2009 7:06 AM

Due to the fact that the first round is in approximately 3 hours time, I am not going to blog right now. That being said, here are my pairings for the tournament.

 

 

By Hikaru Nakamura on 7/5/2009 2:11 PM

Greetings to everyone out there. This will have to be a rather short blog as I am running quite behind schedule on getting ready for San Sebastian due to the epic 5 set match in Wimbledon which occupied my whole morning. Overall, it is safe to say that I made the right decision playing in the World Open as I chose to play the 3-day and had only one difficult game against GM Yudasin which eventually led to a draw. In the 2 slow games which I played, I had a routinely quick draw with Black against GM Smirin in 14 moves. My goal was to score 1.5/2 in the slow games, and I figured draw with Black, take chances with White. However, in the 7th round I got a rude awakening when instead of getting White, I got Black against GM Najer from Russia. The game was extremely complicated and although I felt that I must have been close to losing at a certain point, I was able to outmanouver him with my two knights against his rooks and bishop. Although the game was not clean at all, (I haven't had a chance to analyze it in depth...

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By Hikaru Nakamura on 6/23/2009 11:18 PM

Hello once again to everyone out there. As a courtesy to one of my fellow friends, I have decided to blog about the comical events of another crazy summer day in New York. Early this afternoon, I chose to go into the city as several friends who were playing in the Marshall Invitational were interested in some singles/doubles. I must admit that anytime I go to the Marshall these days, it feels like I am in a foreign country. I guess this is what happens you show up at your old stomping ground years later. Shortly after this, a few of us went out for lunch and ate some burgers, while a certain unnamed player decided to show a great game from the morning round of the Marshall Invitational (Diagram below). IM Esserman-Sorkin, Marshall Invitational (7) 22.6.2009

During our analysis with unnamed player we discussed how during the game there was a repitition involving Qd2, Nc6 Qh6 Nb4. Here though, the unnamed player...

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By Hikaru Nakamura on 6/22/2009 4:31 PM

Good afternoon to everyone on another completely overcast and miserable day here in New York. It has been some time since I last blogged and this has been due to a variety of reasons. I have also started my preparation for both the World Open and San Sebastian beginning this week, so that is occupying a lot of my time at the present moment. Before I get into all the chess topics which I am sure everyone is anxious to read about, I'd like to start by talking about sports. First, I was highly impressed with the Pittsburgh Penguins when they came back at 3 different points in the series to beat the Detroit Red Wings. Normally, come June, I have little interest in the playoffs as the teams I root for tend to be long gone. However, along with much of the hockey world, I was glad to see the Wings lose, and for Sid The Kid to get his first ring despite the fact that the true star on the Penguins was Malkin. Overall, kudos to the Pens on a title well deserved. Sadly, despite a great start to the NBA Playoffs involving...

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