Nakamura’s nightmare in London continues in London as he loses 4 straight games. He just got into the top five and now most likely be out of the top 10 after this event. I hope he is OK physically and mentally.
Unofficial standings after 9 rounds
1 | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | 6 | |
2 | Grischuk Alexander | 5.5 | |
Topalov Veselin | 5.5 | ||
Gelfand Boris | 5.5 | ||
5 | Leko Peter | 5 | |
6 | Wang Hao | 4.5 | |
7 | Giri Anish | 4 | |
Kasimdzhanov Rustam | 4 | ||
Adams Michael | 4 | ||
Ivanchuk Vassily | 4 | ||
11 | Dominguez Perez Leinier | 3.5 | |
12 | Nakamura Hikaru | 2.5 |
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Nakamura is just letting his opponents catch up with him. He’ll teach them a lesson soon.
Sometimes something like this would happen to Topalov, too. And then in the 2nd half of the tournament he would come roaring back.
Unfortunately for Nakamura, the lesson he will be teaching his opponents seems to be:
“don’t agree to a draw with this guy, he is likely to crack and blunder soon”
Nakamura does seem to have a problem with his concentration going on here. This tournament is a lost cause, now, but I expect he’ll be a different man the next time we see him. He doesn’t seem like a fragile fellow to me.
Thanks for your kind words about Nakamura. You’re right, he must be sick or stressed or something – poor guy. He almost reached world #3 during the Olympiad! He’ll be back soon.
Nefarious doings.
This is the true Naka – all by himself w/o Gary’s Ideas. That is his level. To call him a phenom is an insult to that word. Call Magnus a phenom.. Gary Coached both for some time. Even the ever belittling Gary has good words for Mangus.. but Naka.. he tried to take the horse to the water… but could not make it drink
There is nothing physically wrong with him. This is simply ‘karma’, the universe’s way of making people who think they’re so much better than everyone else think otherwise. This has happened to Tiger Woods in a grander way. Hope Naka comes out of this with a little more humility.
The schadenfreude of some of the comments on this topic disturbs me. Anyone would think that Nakamura must have committed some terrible transgression which is now being avenged by the forces of righteousness.
I wonder what chess blogs would have said about the Buenos Aires, 1960, tournament, if the internet had existed back then. Possibly Fischer would have been ragged on the same way, and for similar reasons.
Nakamura was fine until he beat Kramnik at the Olympiad. Then he was drug-tested. Then his chess just collapsed. No coincidence.
Nakamura was fine until he beat Kramnik at the Olympiad. Then he was drug-tested. Then his chess just collapsed. No coincidence.