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Sunday, August 26, 2012

London Chess Classic 2012-Hikaru Nakamura Completes Line-up

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,


Reigning US Chess Champion GM Hikaru Nakamura has also confirmed his participation in the London Chess Classic 2012. This completes the nine-player line-up for the mega chess festival to be held December 1-10, Kensington Olympia, London.

He joins World No 1 Magnus Carlsen, World Champion Vishy Anand, world No 2 Levon Aronian, the defending champion Vladimir Kramnik, the UK No 1 Mickey Adams, the UK No 2 Luke McShane, Women’s World No 1 Judit Polgar, and newly-crowned British Champion Gawain Jones, who will all battle it out for the year-ending elite spectacular in London.
Three-time US champion Hikaru Nakamura is nicknamed the ‘H Bomb’ for his totally explosive and uncompromising style of play - not only that, but he always gives fan value by playing for a win either face to face or online and invariably will shun any draw offers. His fondness for double-edged moves once prompted Garry Kasparov, when he was acting as his coach, to urge him to play more solidly. But taming Nakamura is “like tethering a wild stallion,” according to chess columnists Harold Dondis and Patrick Wolff of The Boston Globe.

He’s now though firmly established himself as a member of the World Top-10 (currently No. 7), having first exploded into the elite club after he sensationally won the 73rd Tata Steel tournament in Wijk aan Zee in 2011, ahead of Anand, Aronian, Carlsen and Kramnik! This was the biggest success of his career and according to Kasparov was "the best result achieved by an American in 100 years.”

Hikaru Nakamura has broken every Bobby Fischer age-group record in the US save for that of being the youngest US champion. Naturally, comparisons with the late great American world champion have been made - and in late September, he finally gets his chance to follow in Fischer’s footsteps by being the top seed in the London Grand Prix, the first of six series that kicks off the next World Chess Championship Cycle.

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
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