The US top chess Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura may be in the middle of the largest calendar clash so far this year. Nakamura has just been announced as player in the 2013 Norway Chess which takes place 7-18 May. Five of the playing dates overlap with the US Chess Championship 2013, where he is the top invited player so far.
The US Championship organizers from the Saint Louis Chess Club announced the 5th anniversary event back in January, a little after the surprising invitation for Fabiano Caruana.
However, now after the official announcement of Norway Chess 2013, it seems one of the events will lose an important player in the lineups.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Easy solution. Nakamura can play in Stavanger in person and play the US Championship through ICC.
Isn’t there 2 Grand Prix Tournaments in April & May as well. Hikaru is on both rosters for those.
“Always remember others may hate you, but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.”
1-0
no way he should pass on certain 30k in US. he will finish 4-8th in Norway
The US Championships release by the St. Louis Chess Club only says that Nakamura (and Krush and everyone else) have been invited. Whereas it seems the Norway tournament is contracted, and Nakamura has a note on his Twitter about it. Except for the possibility that doing two other Grand Prix events is “too much chess”, I say he should play in Norway. Another angle is that the Norwegian organizers wish to include their #2 Jon Ludvig Hammer, but the category is just barely 22 at a 2776 average, and unless others’ ratings improved, not having Nakamura (or any other of the top 8) would dent that.
Seems like this is more like a no-brainer. H.K. can play in a tournament with the top 10 in the world, or play in a mediocre U.S. tournament where he most likely would win… I don’t think this is about the money, but the challenge.