Kamsky Continues Climb to the Top
I first met wunderkind Gata Kamsky at the 1989 New York Open, the year he “defected” from the Soviet Union to the United States. He was a shy, 14-yearold boy who for many years was in the shadow of his outgoing, controversial father. Gata was zealously shielded from the public. No one seemed to really know him. Years later, I was fortunate to get to know him better during our sessions.
Gata has always been a hard-working chess player both on and off the board. He is probably one of the most diligent individuals in the chess world. Nevertheless, even at the peak of his career (world number three), he was not known as a top theoretician.
Instead, he is known as a player with deep strategic understanding, great patience for long and difficult endgames, fierce fighting spirit, and keeping physically and mentally fit.
Gata surprised many of his fans when, at the top of his game, he retired from competitive chess at the tender age of 22, right after his unsuccessful 1996 World Championship challenge against Karpov.
For eight long years, he was absent from the chess scene except for a brief appearance in Las Vegas in 1999. During that time, he went to college, finished law school and then… returned to chess in 2004!
At first, he had some rust to shake off, but he has now proven that he is fully on his way back to the top and that he can still compete successfully with the very best! This year alone, he has defeated Anand (twice)!, Svidler, Ponomariov, Gelfand, van Wely, and Bacrot.
The following game from the Mtel Masters event in Sofia, Bulgaria is Gata’s quick victory against the current world’s fourth- ranked player, the four-time Russian Champion Peter Svidler. Enjoy this entertaining miniature!
Mtel Masters Sofia 2006
White: Kamsky, G.
Black: Svidler, P.
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Be2 Nf6 7.O-O Be7 8.Be3 O-O 9.f4 e5 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Kh1 exf4 12.Bxf4 Be6 13.Bf3 Qb6 14.b3 Rfd8 15.Qe1 Nd7 16.Nd5 cxd5 17.exd5 Bg4 18.Qxe7 Bxf3 19.Rxf3 Nf6 20.Be3 Qa5 21.Rxf6 gxf6 22.Qxf6 Re8 23.Qg5+ Kf8 24.Bd2 1-0
Click here to read my full analysis.
Kamsky is King! Nakamura needs to learn from Kamsky.
Let us support all of our players.
Both Kamsky and Nakamura are great players. Each is his own person.
I am sure that Kamsky and Nakamura try to help each other to win against players outside the USA. Let us stick together as a good family unit.
I hope all of us can appreciate the chess of both Kamsky and Nakamura equally. Each in its own way. Their styles are very different.
Kamsky plays a more cautious careful slower style. Nakamura likes to get them out of the book quickly and razzle dazzle checkmate them. I am glad we have both styles to cheer for.
Nakamura is still young and I guarantee that his style will change over time. When we are young we have the advantage of a fast mind and huge energy. When we get older we have the advantage of experience and better judgment coming out of our experience but we lose some of the youthful energy and speed.
Kamsky is one of the great players of our time. And that includes all his effort on making a University career for many years. I wish he will have a great come back!
Can´t forget the game: Kramnik-Kamsky, World Championship Quarter-Finals Match, New York 1994 ECO: A33, a brillinat game!
A.
Let us be polite.
For the record:
Judit Polgar is over 2700
Susan Polgar in under 2700
Maybe you got the 2 sisters confused.
The 3rd Polgar sister is Sophia.
Susan Polgar is a former Women’s World Champion.
Judit Polgar is playing for the Men’s World Championship.
All 3 sisters are wonderful people and great chess players.
Kamsky is the best American player since Fischer. Nakamura has a long way to go.
I have always loved Gata Kamsky’s chess games! He has a big fan base here in California. I even manded the Wall Chess Board during the US Chess Championship in LA but only did Gata’s games! My photo even appeared behind Gata in NIC during one of his games. I hope he plays more often in tournaments but have not seen him in the recent big tournaments. Is he getting invited?
Gata is still in the Candidates. There are a lot of players who would give up their position in tournaments for Gata’s position in the Candidates.
I know Gata is continuing to work on his chess and will be ready for the Candidates.
GO GATA GO.
“Let us be polite.
For the record:
Judit Polgar is over 2700
Susan Polgar in under 2700
Maybe you got the 2 sisters confused.”
No he/she is not confusing the 2 sisters. Susan claimed many times that her current rating might be around 2700. If you dig into the history of this blog, you’ll find out about that. I remember other people responding by her all time high rating being around 2565 or so.