Saturday, December 1, 2012

Here comes Naka!

All eyes are focused on Magnus Carlsen as the London Chess Classic kicks off this weekend. Carlsen is currently just four rating points away from Garry Kasparov's all-time rating peak of 2851, and with Aronian, Kramnik, and Anand in the draw, Carlsen has some big opportunities to pick up those final few points that all have expected for so long.

But don't overlook Hikaru Nakamura. Although he's had a few ups and downs this fall, 2012 has been a wonderful year for Naka, with some tremendous victories.

The first round is now complete, and from all appearances this will be a fighting tournament: all 4 first round games were decisive, and in three of the four games the player with the black pieces was the victor.

Nakamura's victory, with black, over world #2 Levon Aronian, was just superb.

Is he poised for a breakout tournament, under the lights, with all the world's best in attendance?

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