| 2011 Tal Memorial |
| By Ben Finegold, Grandmaster, special to the Beacon |
| Posted 11:18 am Wed., 11.16.11 |
|
I am reporting from the 2011 Tal Memorial, held Nov. 16-26 in Moscow. I am also 10 hours later than my St. Louis readers, so that means I am reporting from the future! The Tal Memorial is named after Mikhail Tal, the eighth World Chess Champion and a Soviet chess legend. This prestigious event features 10 players, all grandmasters, in a round-robin format, and this field is quite possibly the strongest of any tournament, ever. The players in the event, and their rating/world rank according to FIDE, the World Chess Federation, are as follows:
With seven of the top-10 players in the world, and three other very strong grandmasters, this tournament will present the biggest challenge yet for Nakamura, our hometown hero. I am accompanying Nakamura to Moscow to serve as his second, which means I will help him research his opponents, examine their past games for strengths and weaknesses, and help him prepare lines of attack and defense for every conceivable eventuality. Nakamura had the white pieces in round one against Gelfand, but after 34 moves, he had to settle for a peaceable draw. The newest issue of New in Chess, arguably the world’s most-read chess magazine, had a breaking story about Nakamura and his recent partnership with chess legend GM Garry Kasparov. Nakamura has been taking some intensive training sessions with Kasparov, who is considered by many to be the best chess player in the history of the game. In the final round, Nakamura has the white pieces against Carlsen, the highest-rated player in the world. Carlsen, 20, was a former pupil of Kasparov’s as well, and previous encounters between these two players indicate that this final round will see some fireworks. The players are staying at the fabulous Ritz-Carlton in Moscow, not far from Red Square, and the playing hall is a 15-minute walk from the hotel. Stay tuned for more updates from Moscow and to follow Nakamura’s results as he attempts to win what is arguably the strongest tournament ever organized. Source: http://www.stlbeacon.org |
Nakamura is a lot more talented than all these guys. He’ll win for sure.
As of now Naka is not at the level of Vishy, Vlady or Magnus..all perfect gentlemen who are not brash. Let him win a few tournaments ahead of them.. Does not the ratings show where he stands.. Vishy or Vlad did not need the booster rocket of Great Gary to propel them to 2800+.
Carlsen will win this unless he gets sick.
Naka will do well to come in 3-5.
I am glad Naka is working with Kasparov this will put to rest the ludicrous notion that Magnus is at 2800 due to Kasparov. It is possible he got there faster than wo K’s help but to quantify this ‘boost’ is hard and from comments we have heard lately I believe Magnus found K to come from a culture which does not jive well with what Norwegians are grown up with – and K also show some narcissistic tendencies. I am positive M is thrilled to not have to work with him anymore and not have every tournament victory questioned due to this collaboration. It might have helped a bit but by now it is old news and in the past. Magnus would have been at 2800+ on his own of that there is no doubt – just look at the trajectory he was on before he worked with K and also now afterwards.
Sure. Magnus would have reached 2800 w/o GK’s help. He was coasting towards
2800 and GK’s help would be the ‘tail wind’ effect. He would have gained
more in terms of psychological aspects of chess from Garry – like telling him
why he played the black side of the dragon against vishy in 95 match. The
collaboration hit turbulence because
a) GK’s overbearing style
b) Generation gap in work styles
c) Cultural as you mentioned
a and b are the primary cause and c the secondary cause.
BEFORE GK’s collaboration Magnus was in Tier 1; Naka is getting near Tier 1
AFTER joint venture with Garry. In other words, Magnus was/is a phenom.
– ChessOracle