The traditional ČEZ Chess Trophy 2014 Festival took place from 6th to 10th June, 2014 at the marvelous Michna Palace in Prague, the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic.
The 4 game match between GM Hikaru Nakamura (2775) and the best Czech player GM David Navara (2724) finished 3,5-0,5 in favor of the American guest.
Nakamura started with a bang, outplaying his opponent in the first round after a brilliant pawn sacrifice with Black pieces in the King’s Indian Defence.
In the second game Navara was the one who gave a pawn for an initiative, but didn’t manage to convert and lost again.
The only draw in the match was saved by Nakamura. The 2014 Czech champion had an advantage and transformed it into a pawn up rook endgame, still not enough for a win.
The great ČEZ Chess Trophy 2014 Festival finished with a beautiful checkmate delivered by the American top player, thus setting up the final result 3,5-0.5.
Official website/ More information here/ Replay the games with triple engine analysis
No doubt that Nakamura is the best match player. He crushed a 2700 plus player like a bug.
Let’s not get carried away… He is a great payer and not yet in his best years as a chess professional but he clearly has his demons. That said ,it is no Trivial task to defeat a 2700+ player 3.5-0.5 in a match. Kudos to him. Hopefully his games in events this summer are just as strong. I just found out he is engaged to an Italian lady which explains all the time spent in Europe outside of chess tournaments. If and when he does tie the knot I expect the usual nosedive in rating points so we will see how he recovered from that and possibly fatherhood. Maybe that will give him the edge he needs to finally vanquish his demons.
Nakamura is a great player so why isn’t he playing in Norway with the big boys instead of hiding in Prague.
@ Mr Shane Nakamura was actually invited in Norway but he DECLINED/ REFUSED for reasons known only to him. Nakamura is not playing chess that good nowadays and has difficulties beating elite chess players. Perhaps he is in a “SLUMP” right now and avoiding playing in strong tournaments like the 2014 Norway Chess will be more beneficial to his career. Nakamura is performing subpar nowadays and very erratic/unstable chess play, if he were to go play in Norway Chess he would surely be battered a lot by that much prepared strong opponents and will not only hurt his ego and confidence but will also cause a significant drop in his elo points rating and chess ranking. Choosing to play a 4 game natch against Navarra is a good confidence building effort plus he can pad his elo points against the relatively weak 2700+ Navarra. By destroying Navarra, he does not only increase his confidence, add elo points, send him back to top 5 and reach the 2790+ rating points BUT it will also maki him look good in the chess world. This is a SMART DECISION by Nakamura given his current play status which is subpar, erratic and unstable which he himself admitted. Great job Nakamura wise ass lol
Why should he have to play in every elite event worldwide and run like a puppy wherever Carlsen goes? What kind of man does that? Nakamura should do what he wants. He made a commitment the better part of a year ago to play the Match and he followed through. This was schedule before Norway chess even had a date for 2014. Should he have cancelled the Navara match to chase Carlsen and Aronian around? What kind of person breaks their promises and violates their contracts?
Well that post is nonsense. Lets see In tata Steel he finished -1 over 11 games. In Zurich he finished -1 over 5 games in Gashimov memorial he finished Even over 10 games. So over the last 26 games he was -2. Erratic? If that is erratic then what is Stable? Then over his last 6 games he has 6 wins and 1 draw. 3.5-.5 over any super GM is a great result. By the way his last 4 losses? 3 to Carlsen and one to Aronian. Both of whom are superior players. Nakamura has been very stable 2770-2780 player for 3 years now. You guys are a little crazy.
Oh Nakamura is defending himself posting under the guise of Mr Anonymous lol Its easy to shut the mouth of the critics, play in strong tournaments. If he did not play a 4 match game with Navarra after declining the Norway Chess, it would have been just fine citing resting. But ditching Norway Chess in favor of a 4 game with Navarra over the same time period as Norway Chess speaks a lot. No matter how you justify it, in the eyes of the chess fans Nakamura AVOIDED/CHICKEN-OUT/GOT SCARED from participating in that tourney. Nakamura himself admitted he is playing poorly, havent you watch it? Grow up dude and stop being a jerk Nakamura lol
Perhaps thats what happen when a chessplayer has a LOUD MOUTH – that is, ALWAYS running his mouth that his this or that but can’t even walk the talk so to speak. To shut the critics, all you have to do is play chess… LET YOUR PLAY DO THE TALKING and NOT YOUR MOUTH. Let other people talk how great you are because your playing great NOT telling other how great you are and proclaim to the world your the only who can beat Carlsen. That’s being a FOOL and a JERK.
Why are you yelling? No reason for all the Caps. Relax it is only a game, friend. If Nakamura wanted to avoid Carlsen he would not have been in Zurich or Gashimov memorial. He would not player Tal memorial or Sinqufield Cup. He would not play in the Olympiad or even attempt the GP cycle. The Navara match was scheduled before Norway chess had a date in 2014. Have a good day. And by attacking Navara’s strength you attack every other 2700+ GM which is not the right thing to do.
Another thing. World Blitz and Rapid is in a day or two. Why schedule a 10 round event with the world elite players when Nakamura is serious about a nice performance in the World Blitz and Rapid? Your arguments are strained and make little sense. You behave like Nakamura broke ito your house and stole your laptop.