With one round to go, Nakamura is still leading the top seed Dominguez by 1/2 point. Dominguez will have Black against Illescas tomorrow and Nakamura will have Black against Narcisco. It will be a very interesting finish.
Will Hikaru play safe to secure the top spot or will he be fearless and go all out as usual? What is your prediction? Hikaru is fearless so I predict that he will handle business himself.
Casino Barcelona ESP (ESP), 18-26 x 2007 cat. 15 (2607)
1. Nakamura, Hikaru g USA 2648 6
2. Dominguez Perez, Lenier g CUB 2683 5½
3. Gashimov, Vugar g AZE 2664 5
4. Beliavsky, Alexander G g SLO 2646 4½
5-6. Oms Pallise, Josep g ESP 2506 4
5-6. Krasenkow, Michal g POL 2668 4
7. Vaganian, Rafael A g ARM 2600 3½
8-9. Illescas C(‘o)rdoba,M g ESP 2598 3
8-9. Narciso Dublan, Marc g ESP 2546 3
10. Fluvia, Jordi m ESP 2508 1½
Here is the official website: www.escacs.cat/ciutat07
I see that in the latest round, white won every game! That is pretty unbelieveable to have 100% of the games end in decisive results in a GM tournament!
Nakamura clearly can beat anyone. But to be a top GM, he’ll have to become very hard to beat. That is one trait common to all of the super GM over time. There have always been really good GMs who on a good day can beat nearly anyone – Charousek, Janowski, Bogoljubov, Larsen, Timman, but to be in the top tier, become really hard to beat is very important.
I have to agree with anonymous :), though not necessarily everything (s)he says.
In the past Nakamura has always seemed very talented but rather undisciplined. Perhaps he’s in the process of buckling down, improving the technical side of his game and becoming a serious student of the openings.
He will play safe, essentially like a coward. What a waste of time, this blogging is.
of course naka will play for a win. he was never a drawmaster.
Chess is an intellectual game, excluding a component of chance. Let’s all agree on this and start making history.
Naka knows not what to do in the last game, I heard. Someone go help him decide, tell him to offer draw quickly or play to win, but with draw in pocket al time. Naka is low on psychology, high on double attacks and forks.
Nakamura lost. Enjoyable game. Definitely did not play “like a coward.”
Mark
What are you talking about Mark? The last round isn’t until Friday so Nakamura hasn’t played yet.