Who will win the match?

Who will win the match?
	R. Ponomariov
	H. Nakamura

Who will win the match?
	V. Korchnoi
	B. Finegold

Ponomariov vs Nakamura / Korchnoi vs Finegold

Nakamura, Korchnoi Headline International Match Play in St. Louis

Nakamura vs. Ponomariov, Korchnoi vs. Finegold: May 16-25

ST. LOUIS, May 2 -- For the first time ever, St. Louis will host an international chess match featuring the top players in the world. Be there to witness a living legend and one in the making.

The Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis will host a 10-game match (six classical, four rapid) between St. Louis Grandmaster (GM) Hikaru Nakamura, ranked No. 8 in the world, and GM Ruslan Ponomariov, ranked No. 11 in the world, May 16-25.

Legendary GM Viktor Korchnoi also will take on the Chess Club’s Resident GM Ben Finegold in a 10-game match.

The players will take part in a live, virtual press conference at 10 a.m. CDT on May 16. Journalists and fans from all over the world can log onto livestream.com to submit questions to the players and watch their answers streamed live online. More details including the specific Livestream channel will be available soon.

The 23-year-old Nakamura, who declined his invitation to the 2011 U.S. Championship, recently moved up to No. 8 in the world on the top rating list by FIDE, the World Chess Federation. His international rating of 2774 is the second-highest rating ever attained by an American, second only to GM Bobby Fischer’s rating of 2785. Nakamura’s first six classical games against Ponomariov will be FIDE rated, and Nakamura can break Fischer’s record with a +3 score, which would make him the highest-rated American ever. (A +3 score, for example, can be attained by winning three games and drawing (or tying) three; or losing one, winning four and drawing one.)

Since moving into the top 10 in the world, Nakamura said he has shifted his focus to prepare for the world's best to make a run at the next World Championship cycle, which will begin in two years.

Korchnoi, 80, is the oldest active player on the tournament circuit and a 10-time candidate for the World Championship. He is also a four-time USSR Champion and winner of the 2006 World Senior Chess Championship.

"It's a real honor to take on Viktor [Korchnoi]," Finegold said. "He's a living legend."

Round one of the 10-game matches will take place at 1 p.m. CDT on May 17.

Bazna Kings

Magnus Carlsen, Vassily Ivanchuk, Sergey Karjakin, Hikaru Nakamura, Teimour Radjabov, and local hero Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu.

Might sound a mega-snub to the sponsor

Hikaru Nakamura gives hometown US Championship a miss

• Leonard Barden
• The Guardian, Saturday 23 April 2011

The annual US Championship is the most valuable national contest in chess, thanks to a Saint Louis investment billionaire. Rex Sinquefield plans to make his home city globally known and to promote young American talent on the world stage.

The 2011 title event has a $166,000 prize fund including $40,000 for the winner, and reaches its semi-finals this weekend. It has already sparked controversy due to the absence of the world top-10 grandmaster, twice former champion and crowd favourite Hikaru Nakamura. Nakamura is a Saint Louis resident and has been present this week as a spectator. This might sound a mega-snub to the sponsor but Nakamura is preparing for his 10-game match next month, also financed by Sinquefield in Saint Louis, against Ukraine's former world knock-out champion Ruslan Ponomariov.

The significant participant is the top-seeded Gata Kamsky, who has a big date on 3 May when the world title candidates matches begin in Kazan, Russia. At 22 Kamsky was ranked world No3 behind Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. His playing achievements then were marred by incidents involving his father/manager, who was alleged inter alia to have punched one of Gata's trainers after blaming him for a defeat and to have made death threats to Nigel Short during their 1994 candidates series.

When at the height of his powers, Kamsky abandoned chess for law school. He returned nearly a decade later when his strategic skills brought him back into the world top 20, though he had lost some tactical sharpness.

More here.

Anand wins again in London

Round 4 results

Magnus Carlsen 1-0 Hikaru Nakamura
Luke McShane 1/2 Michael Adams
Vladimir Kramnik 1-0 David Howell
Nigel Short 0-1 Vishy Anand

Comeback time for Magnus?

Round 4 pairings

Magnus Carlsen - Hikaru Nakamura
Luke McShane - Michael Adams
Vladimir Kramnik - David Howell
Nigel Short - Vishy Anand

Nr.	Title	Name	Fed.	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8		Tot	TPR
6	GM	Short, Nigel D	ENG	2680		0	½					0		1	2447
7	GM	McShane, Luke J	ENG	2645	1						1	½		7	3031
5	GM	Adams, Michael	ENG	2723	½					1	0			4	2698
1	GM	Anand, Viswanathan	IND	2804					½	½	1			5	2843
4	GM	Nakamura, Hikaru	USA	2741				½		½		1		5	2860
8	GM	Howell, David W L	ENG	2611			0	½	½					2	2631
2	GM	Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	2802		0	1	0						3	2599
3	GM	Kramnik, Vladimir	RUS	2791	1	½			0					4	2689

Nakamura shocked Kramnik with, McShane leads LCC

Round 2 results

Kramnik 0-1 Nakamura
Carlsen 1-0 Adams
Howell 1/2 Anand
Short 0-1 McShane

Kramnik's 12th move may have cost him the game. His position was worse after that and even though he tried valiantly, Nakamura was too tough.

Kramnik (2791) - Nakamura (2741) [A05]
2nd London Chess Classic 2010 (2), 09.12.2010

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.g3 c5 5.Bg2 0–0 6.0–0 d6 7.d4 Bxc3 8.bxc3 Qe7 9.dxc5 dxc5 10.Ne5 Qc7 11.Bf4 Nh5 12.Qd2? g5 13.Bxg5 Qxe5 14.Rad1 f6 15.Bh6 Ng7 16.Bf4 Qh5 17.Bd6 Re8 18.Qf4 Nd7 19.g4 Qf7 20.Rd3 e5 21.Qh6 Qg6 22.Qxg6 hxg6 23.Be4 Kf7 24.f4 exf4 25.Bd5+ Ne6 26.Bxf4 Nb6 27.Be5 Nxd5 28.cxd5 Nf8 29.Rxf6+ Kg8 30.Bd6 Kg7 31.Rf4 g5 32.Rf2 b6 33.Rdf3 Ng6 34.Rf7+ Kh6 35.h3 Ba6 36.R2f6 Bxe2 37.Be7 Bc4 38.Rd6 Bxd5 39.Bxg5+ Kxg5 40.Rxd5+ Kh4 41.Rf3 Re5 42.Rxe5 Nxe5 43.Rf5 Nd3 44.Kh2 Rh8 45.a4 Rh6 46.Kg2 a5 47.Kf3 Nb2 48.Kf4 Nxa4 49.c4 Nc3 50.Ke3 a4 51.Kd3 Nd1 52.Rf8 Kxh3 53.g5 Rd6+ 54.Ke4 Kg4 Black wins 0–1

Click here to replay the game.

Magnus bounced back from a brutal loss to McShane yesterday to defeat Adams today.

Carlsen (2802) - Adams (2723) [A29]
2nd London Chess Classic 2010 (2), 09.12.2010

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 Bc5 5.Bg2 d6 6.0–0 0–0 7.d3 a6 8.a3 Ba7 9.b4 Be6 10.Nd2 Rb8 11.Rb1 Ne7 12.a4 Qd7 13.b5 Bh3 14.Ba3 h6 15.e3 Bxg2 16.Kxg2 Bc5 17.Bxc5 dxc5 18.Nf3 Qe6 19.e4 c6 20.Qb3 Rbd8 21.bxa6 bxa6 22.Qc2 Ng6 23.Ng1 Rb8 24.a5 Nd7 25.Na4 Qd6 26.Ne2 Qc7 27.Qc3 Rfd8 28.Rxb8 Rxb8 29.f4 exf4 30.gxf4 Qd6 31.Kh1 Rb4 32.Qc2 Nh4 33.Nac3 Qg6 34.Ng3 Nf6 35.e5 Nh5 36.Nxh5 Qxh5 37.Ne4 Kh8 38.Qf2 Nf5 39.Nxc5 Qh3 40.Re1 Nh4 41.Qg3 Qxg3 42.hxg3 Nf3 43.Rf1 Nd4 44.Kg2 Ne6 45.Nxa6 Ra4 46.f5 Ng5 47.Nc7 Kg8 48.a6 Kf8 49.Kf2 White wins 1–0
　
Click here to replay the game.

McShane continues his good form by beating Short with Black to lead the London Chess Classic. Short remains scoreless with a performance rating of 1983.

Short (2680) - McShane (2645) [B76]
2nd London Chess Classic 2010 (2), 09.12.2010

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0–0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.g4 Be6 10.Nxe6 fxe6 11.0–0–0 Rc8 12.Bc4 Qd7 13.Bb3 Na5 14.h4 Nc4 15.Qd3 Qc6 16.Ne2 Nd7 17.Nd4 Qa6 18.f4 e5 19.fxe5 Ndxe5 20.Qe2 Kh8 21.h5 gxh5 22.g5 Ng4 23.Bg1 Nce3 24.Qxa6 bxa6 25.Bxe3 Nxe3 26.Rd3 Bxd4 27.Rxd4 Rc5 28.Rd3 Ng2 29.Rg3 Nf4 30.Kd2 Re5 31.Re1 Kg7 32.Ke3 Kg6 33.c3 Rxg5 34.Rxg5+ Kxg5 35.Rg1+ Kh6 36.e5 dxe5 37.Ke4 Ng6 38.Bc4 a5 39.Kd5 Rf2 40.b4 axb4 41.cxb4 h4 42.a4 h3 43.a5 h2 44.Rh1 Kg5 45.b5 Kg4 46.b6 axb6 47.a6 Kg3 48.a7 Rf8 49.Kc6 Nf4 50.Ra1 e4 51.Ba6 Nh3 52.Bb7 Ng1 Black wins 0–1
　
Click here to replay the game.

London Chess Classic round 1

London chess classic round 1

Vishy Anand - Hikaru Nakamura
Luke McShane - Magnus Carlsen
Nigel Short - Vladimir Kramnik
Michael Adams -David Howell

Official website: http://www.londonchessclassic.com

Renew battles in London

Anand, Carslen renew fight in London
Hari Hara Nandanan, TNN, Dec 8, 2010, 06.54am IST

CHENNAI: V Anand vs Magnus Carlsen, Act 3 of 2010 will enacted on the London Chess Classic stage from Wednesday.

The Indian world champion starts as the top seed in this event, his third classical tournament after his World Championship victory over Veselin Topalov in May; it will also be the third time Anand and Carlsen ( Norway) will be playing in a field together this year after the Bilbao Masters and Nanjing Pearl Spring.

Undoubtedly, the focus will be on the two superstars who will be trying hard to welcome the New Year as No. 1 in the world.

Anand (2804 points) is out to retain his position by virtue of his two-point lead on the Elo scale and Carlsen is eager to further his Nanjing success, which should spur him against his Indian friend.

In terms of strength, London 2010 is inferior to both Nanjing and Bilbao as it just touches an average rating of 2725, marginally short of a category 20 tournament (average 2726). But to its credit, the Chess Classic has not limited its field for the sake of a higher category alone.

London 2010 will not be a double round-robin like the other two big events as it features four players in the 2600-plus bracket too. Obviously, the English Grandmasters had to be included and in the process the eight-player all-play-all tournament got diluted. Nevertheless, the event has been hyped up as it is the only tournament that Anand had confirmed soon after he became World champion.

Read more here: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Nakamura wins BN Bank Blitz

Nakamura vant en spennende BN Bank Blitz-finale!

I en langt mer spennende finale enn mange hadde fryktet, ble det til slutt lynfantomet Hikaru Smallville Nakamura som trakk det lengste strået i BN Bank Blitz 2010! Simen Agdestein gav Nakamura kamp til døra, men måtte gi tapt i armageddon-partiet etter 2-2 i finalespillet. Lahno tok 3.plassen etter å ha holdt remis i armagdeddon-partiet. Hikaru Nakamura er dermed vinner av BN Bank Blitz 2010 for andre år på rad og stikker av med 32 000 kroner.

Hikaru Nakamura kom rett fra Saint Louis dagen i forveien, men var i følge ham selv frisk og opplagt til tross for mye frem og tilbake fra kontinentet i det siste. I utgangspunktet skulle dette være lett match for 22-åringen som nylig tok 5.plass i VM i lynsjakk og spørsmålet de fleste stilte seg, var vel egentlig om noen i det hele tatt ville klare å ta poeng fra han.

Nakamura viste seg å ha full kontroll i de innledende rundene og tok lett 10/10 der. Blant de heldige som fikk sjansen til å møte amerikaneren, var Joshua Paul Schmidt (1428) som vant budrunden om den ledige plassen. 26-årige Schmidt, tidligere deltaker i reality-serien FK Zebra, hadde håp om å kapre minst et halvpoeng, men er neppe veldig overrasket over at det til slutt ble en smultring i dette feltet.

More here.

LIVE games from BNbank Blitz

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Nakamura to defend his title in Oslo

BNbank Blitz 2010
Hikaru Nakamura to defend the last year's trophy

On Saturday 27th November, the final of BNbank Blitz will be played at Oslo Central Train Station. 12 players will compete, among which are five invited professionals, six qualifiers from the regional tournaments and one seat was auctioned on the Internet.

Chessdom / Chessbomb platform will be the official game broadcast system. The event starts at 12:00 CET.

Invited players

Hikaru Nakamura - The king of swift decision-making at the chess board, Hikaru Nakamura is the man to beat in BNbank Blitz. Last year he defeated world number one Magnus Carlsen in the final match, and "Naka" is definitely looking for a second straight win in Oslo.

The Japan-born grandmaster is the top rated player in the US, well ahead of former world championship finalist Gata Kamsky. Nakamura is a two time winner of the prestigious US Championship, having won the title in 2005 and 2009.

Nakamura is popular because of his aggressive style of play, and some very unusual opening choices. Blitz is known to be his specialty, which makes him particularly dangerous in BNbank Blitz. In December, he will face off with Magnus Carlsen in the London Chess Classic. BNbank Blitz could be the perfect warm-up for the bold American.

Kateryna Lahno - The 2010 Women’s Blitz World Champion is looking for a new spectacular success in Oslo. The Ukrainian prodigy is currently the world number seven on the women’s ranking list, and is set to achieve great things in the coming years.

Born the year before her compatriot Sergey Karjakin and Norway’s miracle kid Magnus Carlsen, Kateryna Lahno was one of the really hot names of chess some 6-7 years ago. Her climb towards the top of women’s chess has been steady - and fast.

Kateryna Oleksandrivna Lahno achieved the title of Woman Grandmaster (WGM) at the tender age of 12 years, breaking the record of the legendary Judit Polgar. Three years later, she won the European Women’s Championship, ahead of scores of experienced masters. In 2008, she won the European championship for the second time, an astonishing achievement for such a young player.

Jovanka Houska - International Master from England, ELO 2421. 30 years old. A former European Junior Champion and a seasoned professional, Jovanka Houska is looking for at least a place in the semifinals in her BNbank Blitz debut.

Simen Agdestein - For a long time, "chess player" was synonymous with "Simen Agdestein" for the average Norwegian. This changed when Magnus Carlsen burst into the spotlight, but Simen Agdestein is still a great profile in Norwegian chess. And not without reason. Apart from Magnus, Simen’s results are head and shoulders above the rest of the Norwegians. Note the use of first names in the previous sentence. These two are the only Norwegian chess players who are addressed in this way, the definite sign of their status.

In 1985, Simen became Norway’s first grandmaster, and the world’s youngest grandmaster ever at that time - an amazing achievement. In June 1989 he was ranked as number 16 in the world. He won his first Norwegian championship in 1982, 15 years old. His seventh and last championship to date came in 2005, when he defeated 14-year-old Magnus Carlsen and thus retained his record as the youngest champion ever. His results also include three Nordic championships.

Kjetil Aleksander Lie - Kjetil A. Lie was always among the top players in his age group at the national level, but it was certainly no sure thing that he would attain the grandmaster title. In January 2000 his rating was barely over 2200 - nothing spectacular for a 19-year-old. Half a year later, things looked quite a bit different. His rating had shot up by 150 points, and it was clear that he would soon play for the national team. There have not been any more 150-point leaps, but his rating has increased a bit every year. The 2400 mark was passed in 2002; the 2500 mark in 2005.

Among Lie’s best results is runner-up in the Arctic Chess Challenge in Tromsø 2007, with a performance rating of 2675. Lie also became a Norwegian hero during the 2008 Olympiad, when he won against world class GM Bu Xiangzhi as Norway sensationally defeated China. In later year’s Lie has not played very much, instead focusing on his work, family and friends in the small Norwegian city of Porsgrunn. When he does play, the result is usually very good.

By his own admission Kjetil Lie is a fierce competitor, who is always looking to win. That quality ensures that he is always an interesting player to follow, and that his opponents will have to be at their very best if they are to avoid defeat.

Qualified players

Abdulla M. Muhsen, Bergen (2185)
Anders Olsen, Kristiansund (2076)
FM Daniel J. Kovachev, Oslo (2305)
Anders Hobber, Porsgrunn (2157)
IM Vadims Daskevics, Stavanger (2463)
Jon Kristian Røyset, Tromsø (2180)

More information on the official website