By Hikaru Nakamura on 8/31/2010 5:00 PM

Hello once again! This is just a short email to remind everyone that if I take a hiatus from blogging here, they can follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/GMHikaru

Have a great week everyone and a blog on the Spanish Team Championship will be forthcoming shortly!

Hikaru

8.31.10

By Hikaru Nakamura on 8/30/2010 6:07 PM

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By Hikaru Nakamura on 8/14/2010 9:40 PM

Hello to everyone out there in the wide world and on their computers with internet access. After the great swindle in round 2, I went into round 3 with White against Danish GM Peter Heine Nielsen. Much like van Wely, Nielsen is someone whom I have run into a lot over the last year and a half. However, like van Wely, I've only played classical games against him here despite many rapid/blitz games. Although Peter is known as a very solid player, his main claim to fame is the preparation he has done with the current world champion, Vishy Anand. As such, his general opening preparation is always quite good and he doesn't tend to lose very often. Therefore, I went into this game wanting to play something simple with a fair amount of play and simply see what would happen. I opened with 1.d4 and Peter as he has done every single time we have played so far, (including blitz) chose to play the Queens Gambit Declined. Unlike the other games, I decided to play a main variation as I continued with 5.Bf4. Peter ended up...

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By Hikaru Nakamura on 8/13/2010 8:15 PM

Howdy to all the chess fans on there from Amsterdam on a very boisterous Friday night here! Coming off my successful first round, I had Black against GM Loek van Wely in round 2. Oddly, despite seeing Loek at many tournaments, the only time we've actually played against each other at classical chess was here last year when we drew both encounters. Over the years Loek has been an up and down player, but there is no disputing that with his deep theoretical knowledge, he can be a dangerous player against anyone. As such, I chose to avoid anything too complicated by choosing to play into the Nimzo Indian in an attempt to keep the position relatively calm and simple. However, I did a 360 almost as soon as the game began when I tried to take advantage of what I thought was a miscue by Loek. Unfortunately, my judgement was simply off and this led to me reaching a very unpleasant middlegame position where I was significantly worse. My problems were only exacerbated when I got into time trouble as well. It was at this point that I decided to make a practical decision and sacrifice two pawns and go into a rook and pawn endgame which gave me a chance to bail out. (Diagram 1)...

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By Hikaru Nakamura on 8/12/2010 3:27 PM

Hello everyone! Greetings from sunny Amsterdam, Netherlands. After a fairly calm journey, I finally have had the chance to take in two days now and the weather as well as people have been nothing but curteous. In the first round, I got White against GM Lubomir Ljubojevic in a repeat of my first round last year except with colors reversed. Ljubo somewhat surprised me by choosing to play the accelerated dragon once again. I chose to play a fairly passive and uncomplicated variation, but true to his style, Ljubo found a way to create quite a few complications. After the first series of fireworks, we reached a position where positionally I had an advantage due to an isolated d pawn, however Ljubo's counterplay was almost certainly sufficient. Fortunately, all these many years of blitz paid off as I outplayed Ljubo in the mad time scramble which ensued and collected the whole point. Although I'm not particularly enthused by the actual game and my play in it, the result was what I was hoping for and coming off a three...

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By Hikaru Nakamura on 8/8/2010 8:25 PM

Hello everyone and greetings from Irvine, California.

Although this is not the long and insightful blog which everyone was looking forward to after a very long hiatus of two months. However, I would just like to let everyone know that I have been busy between guest appearances at the Chicago Open, climbing peaks in Sequoia National Park and receiving the prestigious grandmaster of the year award here at the 111th US Open. I will attempt to recap everything that has been going on shortly, but I thought I would at least inform everyone outside of Irvine that I am still alive and will be blogging from Amsterdam once the Rising Stars vs Veterans event begins on Thursday.

All the best!
Hikaru

8.8.2010

By Hikaru Nakamura on 5/30/2010 4:32 PM

Hello to everyone once again. My apologies to everyone who has been eagerly awaiting blog entries for the past month. Without further ado, I shall attempt to communicate my thoughts on the 2010 US Championship, Saint Louis and the Chicago Open here in Wheeling, Illinois. Prior to the start of the US Championship I moved from Seattle to downtown Saint Louis. In retrospect, this decision was probably wrong, however it made a lot of sense due to my busy schedule which begins in July and doesn't slow down until February of 2011! At the current point in time, I am extremely happy with living in Saint Louis and it is a testament to the Midwest and Southern United States about how genuinely friendly people are. I can also not say enough about the great Thai, Indian and Japanese restaurants which I have discovered. Overall, this move has been extremely beneficial for everyone involved except for the fact that I failed to win the tournament! However, I will now talk about this disaster!Coming off the victory last year...

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By Hikaru Nakamura on 4/29/2010 11:20 AM

Hello once again to everyone out there on the internet! As most people in the chess world know by now, I am moving to Saint Louis. Many people may be wondering what prompted such a change. In many ways, the positive message in conjunction with a variety of chess programs, tournaments and media here in Saint Louis has really impressed me. The people in Saint Louis have been nothing but friendly and welcoming. It is truly great to see people who care so much about chess and being passionate about what they do.Having spent close to a year in Seattle, I really cannot fault the area as it has a plethora of restaurants and the most beautiful scenery in the United States. Unfortunately, the negatives I encountered in Seattle are far greater. The people as a whole seem incredibly cliquish; I do not know whether this is a product of the work communities (Microsoft,Boeing,etc) or the area in general. Either way, it simply was not where I was meant to be. Nevertheless, I would like to take some time out to thank several...

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By Hikaru Nakamura on 4/28/2010 2:56 PM

Greetings from sunny Saint Louis! Fresh off the links at Glen Echo Country Club, I'll be adding a blog about my pending move to Saint Louis and upcoming events both for myself and the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis!

By Hikaru Nakamura on 4/16/2010 1:18 PM

Hello once again everyone! It has been far too long.

Last weekend I played in the Bill Wright Open in beautiful and sunny St. Louis. This was my first time playing chess since way back at the end of January in Wijk aan Zee. Having not been back to St. Louis since the rebirth of my chess career last May, it was incredibly refreshing to return and enjoying the sights and sounds of Maryland Plaza. Hopefully, I will have the opportunity to spend more time in the area and enjoy it even more!

The first round started bright and early at 10 AM on Saturday. On my way from the Chase Park Plaza Hotel over to the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, I encountered a few players and wondered why they were walking in the opposite direction! As it turned out, they were headed to the hotel to play the first round as the simply did not have enough space at the club. As it turned out, I was paired with Jennifer Skidmore who I played in a simul at the US Open last year in Indiana. To the best of my knowledge,...

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