Hikaru Nakamura

Hikaru Nakamura – 2012 U.S. Chess Champion Hikaru Nakamura (Heh-CAR-uh NAH-kuh-muh-rah) won the 2012 U.S. chess championship after defeating Yasser Seirwan in 30 moves. Nakamura was born on December 9, 1987 in Osaka, Japan. His father is Japanese and his mother is American. In 1990, his family moved to California, then later to New York. His mother, Carolyn, is a classically trained musician and former public school teacher. He began playing chess in 1993, at the age of 5. He was taught by his step-father, Sunil Weeramanty, who was a FIDE master. In 1994, Hikaru went to the U.S. Open in Concord, California, but did not play in the tournament. This was the first chess tournament he was around and he played chess in the Skittles room. In the April 1995 USCF rating list, Hikaru was rated 788. In May 1995, at the age of 7 years old, Hikaru began to play chess more regularly because his school (Ridgeway Elementary School) needed a fourth player for his older brother’s chess team. He was coached by his stepfather, Sunil Weeramantry, a FIDE master, who was a master at 15. At the time, Sunil was writing a book called Best Lessons of a Chess Coach, and made a video called Winning Chess for Kids. Sunil won the New York State Chess Championship in 1975. Sunil later became the executive director of the National Scholastic Chess Foundation and taught chess at Hunter Elementary School and other schools in Westchester County. In April 1995, Hikaru played in the 1995 National Elementary Championship in Little Rock, Arkansas, and took 140th place. His brother, Asuka, tied for 2nd in the 3rd Grade Open championship. In December 1995, Asuka Nakamura took 1st place in the National Grade 4 championship, held in Syracuse, New York. Hikaru tied for 2nd in the Grade 2 championship. In May 1996, Asuka Nakamura took 1st place in the U.S. Elementary Championship, held in Tucson. Hikaru took 31st place. In October 1996, Hikaru tied for 1st place for 3rd Grade in the National K-12 Grade School Championship, held in Terra Haute, Indiana. His rating was 1195 at the beginning of the year. In the January, 1997 USCF rating list, Hikaru Nakamura, age 9, was rated 1659. His brother was rated 2048. In the 1996 USCF yearbook, published in the April 1997 issues of Chess Life, Hikaru, age 9, was the 20th highest rated player under 13, with a rating of 1846. The list was led by Vinay Bhat, age 12, rated 2232. Jordy Mont-Reynaud, age 13, was rated 2236 (the highest 13 year old). In April 1997, Hikaru’s older brother, Asuka, age 11, took 1st place for those in 6th grade and younger in the 1997 Super Nationals Scholastic Chess Championships in Knoxville, Tennessee. Hikaru, age 9, took 1st place for 3rd grade, winning the National Primary Championship. There were 4,300 chess players participating. This was the first time that any sibling pair won first place in the championship section of their respective divisions. In 1997, Hikaru won the New York 3rd grade championship. In 1997 Hikaru won the 4th Grade championship in the National K-12 Grade School Championship, held in Parsippany, New Jersey. In October 1997, Hikaru represented the Boys Under 10 USA team in the 1997 FIDE World Youth Chess Championships, held in Cannes, France. Vinay Bhat and Jordy Mont-Reynaud represented the Boys Under 14. In October 1997, he attained an expert rating of 2027 at the age of 9 years and 10 months. On December 31, 1997, at the age of 10 years and 0 months, Hikaru defeated International Master Jay Bonin at the Marshall Chess Club in 36 moves, becoming the youngest USCF player ever to beat an IM up to that time. At the end of 1997 (December 1997 USCF rating list), Hikaru’s rating was 2019. In January 1998, Hikaru tied for 1st place in a New York tournament, ahead of his father, Sunil Weeramantry (2218), ahead of his older brother Asuka (2144), and ahead of Grandmaster Arthur Bisguier (2343). Hikaru drew two masters (Stephen Stoyko, rated 2338, and Ralph Zimmer, rated 2279. He defeated another master, Mark Kernighan, rated 2264. On February 26, 1998, at the age of 10 years and 79 days, Hikaru achieved the title of chess master, becoming the youngest American ever to earn the title. He broke the record previously set by Vinay Bhat, who in 1995 was a chess master at the age of ten years and six months. In 2008, Nicholas Nip earned the chess master title at 9 years and 11 months. Nakamura was playing in a tournament at the Marshall Chess Club when he earned his title and got a rating of 2203. He defeated Ilijas Terzic (rated 2392) in the 2nd round. After becoming America’s youngest master, Hikaru appeared on the CBS news and was featured on “Live With Regis and Kathie Lee.” On April 5, 1998, Hikaru, age 10 years 117 days, beat Grandmaster Arthur Bisguier, rated 2363, in 21 moves. He was the youngest player to beat a GM until Fabiano Caruana. The youngest player ever to defeat a GM in a USCF-sanctioned tournament was Fabiano Caruana, age 10 years 61 days, when he defeated GM Aleksander Wojtkiewicz in a USCF-rated event at the Marshall Chess Club. Hikaru was on the cover of the May 1998 issue of Chess Life, with the words, “Hikaru Nakamura the Youngest Master Ever!” In October-November 1998, Hikaru represented the USA in the under 12 boys division in the 1998 World Youth Championship, held in Spain. In December, 1998, Hikaru tied for 1st in the 5th grade National All-Grades Championship in Oak Brook, Illinois. His brother, Asuka, won the 7th grade National All-Grades championship. At the end of 1998, Hikaru’s rating was 2237. In February 1999, Hikaru beat Grandmaster Alexander Stipunsky in regulation time control, at the record age of 11 years and two months. In the April 1999 USCF rating list, Hikaru was the nation’s highest rated player under 13. He was age 10 and rated 2237. In July, 1999, Hikaru played in the U.S. Cadet Championship (under 16), held in Nashville and took 5th out of 8. Jordy Mont-Reynaud won the event. Hikaru won the best game prize, won in 23 moves. In 1999, he won the K-9 Junior High School Championship. In 1999, Hikaru Nakamura won the 20th annual Laura A. Aspis prize for the highest rated player under 13. He was rated 2359. At the end of 1999, Hikaru’s rating was 2346. In March 2000, Hikaru tied for 1st place with GM Jaan Ehlvest in the National Open Blitz Championship. In May 2000, Hikaru took 1st place in the National Elementary Championship, held in Dallas. There were 2,029 players in the event. In October 2000, Hikaru tied for 3rd in the under-14 section of the World Youth Championships. At the end of 2000, Hikaru’s rating was 2391. His FIDE rating was 2261. Hikaru was awarded the FIDE master title at the age of 12. In February 2001, Hikaru earned his third IM norm from a tournament in Eger, Hungary. In 2001, Hikaru earned the International Master title at the age of 13 years and 2 months, the youngest IM ever. In March 2001, Hikaru played for the USA in a China vs. USA match in Seattle. In April 2001, Hikaru tied for 1st in the Super Nationals in Kansas City. There were 4,606 players in the event. In 2001, Hikaru earned the silver medal for the U.S. at the 2001 World Youth Championships in Oropessa, Spain. In July 2001, Hikaru Nakamura, age 13, won the U.S. Junior Championship, held in Tulsa, Oklahoma. There were 10 players. Hikaru was the youngest person to win the U.S. Junior championship since Bobby Fischer. Hikaru appeared on the October 2001 issue of Chess Life for being America’s youngest International Master. At the end of 2001, Hikaru’s rating was 2476. In January 2002, Hikaru earned his first GM norm in Bermuda with a tie for 1st place. He beat four grandmasters. In June 2002, Hikaru played in the Pan American Junior Championship, held in Bolivia, and tied for 1st place. In August 2002, Hikaru won the 32nd Continental Open in Massachusetts. His performance rating was 2766 after beating three grandmasters. In September 2002, Hikaru played in the Imre Konig Memorial in San Francisco, beating grandmasters Nick de Firmian, John Fedorowicz, and Walter Browne. He missed a GM norm by ½ point. In 2002, Hikaru earned his second GM norm at the Copa Nazir Atallah Open in the Dominican Republic. At the end of 2002, Hikaru’s rating was 2614. His FIDE rating was 2520. In January 2003, he played in the U.S. Championship, held in Seattle, and took 9th-17th place. He missed a grandmaster norm by ½ point. On February 5, 2003, Hikaru Nakamura earned his third and final Grandmaster norm at 15 years and 79 days, breaking the record of Bobby Fischer, who earned the GM title at 15 years and 185 days on September 10, 1958. Nakamura earned his final GM norm at the Bermuda International Chess Festival where he took 2nd place. He also won the Bermuda blitz championship. His USCF rating was 2619. In June 2003, Hikaru tied for 1st place at the National Open in Las Vegas. In 2003, Hikaru won the Western States Open championship, held in Reno. His peak rating for 2003 was 2656. Hikaru qualified for the 2004 world chess championship in Tripoli, Libya. He lost to Michael Adams in the 4th round after defeating Sergey Volkov, Aleksey Aleksandrov, and Alexander Lastin. In 2004, Hikaru won the New York State championship. In 2004, Hikaru won the Western States Open championship in Reno, defeating grandmasters Wojtkiewicz, Kudrin, and Yermolinsky, in succession. In November-December, 2004, Hikaru won the 2005 U.S. Chess Championship at the age of 16 with a score of 7 out of 9, played in San Diego. He tied with Alex Stripunsky, but beat him in the playoff games. He is the second youngest player to become U.S. Chess Champion (behind Robert Fischer, who won it at age 14). Nakamura earned $25,000 for winning the US Championship. His rating at the end of 2004 was 2698. In 2005, Hikaru won the Foxwoods Open championship. In 2005, Hikaru won the North American Open. On June 20, 2005, Hikaru Nakamura was selected as the 19th Frank Samford Chess Fellow, receiving a grant of $32,000 to further his chess education. In November and December 2005, Hikaru entered the FIDE World Chess Cup, but lost to Surya Ganguly in the first round. At the end of 2005, Hikaru’s rating was 2762. In 2006, Hikaru played on the USA team in the 37th Chess Olympiad, held in Turin, Italy. The team won the bronze medal. Nakamura played board three, behind Gata Kamsky and Alexander Onischuk. In 2006, Hikaru won the North American Open chess championship. Hikaru’s peak rating for 2006 was 2774. In 2007, Hikaru won the National Open championship in Las Vegas. In 2007, Hikaru won the North American Open championship. In October 2007, Hikaru won an international tournament in Barcelona. At the end of 2007, Hikaru’s rating was 2740. In 2008, Hikaru won the Chicago Open championship. In 2008, Hikaru played for the USA team in the 38th Chess Olympiad in Dresden. The USA team won the bronze medal. In 2008, Hikaru won the Gibraltar Masters Open. At the end of 2008, Hikaru’s rating was 2760. His FIDE rating was 2704. In May 2009, Hikaru won the U.S. Chess Championship held in St. Louis, Missouri. He scored 7 out of 9. 2nd place went to GM-elect Robert Hess. Nakamura won $40,000 for his efforts. His pre-rating was 2751. His post rating was 2773. Nakamura was the 3rd highest rated player in the event, behind Gata Kamsky (2797) and Alexander Onischuk (2756). His FIDE rating was 2701, ranked #30 in the world. In August 2009, he became the Fischer Random 960 World Chess Champion. In 2010, he won the gold medal for board 1 at the World Team Chess Championship, held in Turkey. The USA team took the silver medal. In January 2011, he was ranked #10 in the world with an Elo rating of 2751. In 2011, he won the Tata Steel Grandmaster A tournament in Wijk aan Zee. He finished ahead of the four top-rated players in the world. In May 2012, his FIDE rating was 2775 and ranked #7 in the world. –Bill Wall Be Sociable, Share! inShare 3 Comments

The Night Before Christmas

Twas the Night Before Christmas Twas the night before Christmas, when all through ChessManic.com, Not a gambit was playing, not even a From. The pieces were hung by the patzers who created In hopes that some master would get mated. The players were nestled all around their chess game, While visions of checkmate would give them fame. And my opponent in his PJs, and I in my socks, Had just settled our brains for a long game with chess clocks. When out on the Internet there was such a chatter, I turned chat on to see what was the matter. Away to my Windows I downloaded my Flash, To open the file and hoped Windows wouldn’t crash. The text was a chess game written in PGN, it included a diagram showing all the chessmen. When, what to my wondering eyes should I see, But a miniature chess problem, with mate in three. With such a chess ending, so lively and quick, It had to be solved with some sort of trick. Perhaps White promotes to a knight or a rook, Whatever the solution, it’s not in the book. Now Sherzer! now Serper! now Polgar and Aronian! Oh Kramnik! Oh Gelfand! Oh Svidler and Carlsen! To the top of the FIDE list, to the top of the rating. Grandmasters all! You should all be mating. I returned to the Internet to play some more blitz, I got beaten, perhaps it was by Fritz. How is it that they play faster than Wall? Even in bullet chess, I usually beat them all! Perhaps I am playing some famous Grandmaster, Who knows how to play much, much faster. His moves are strong and I haven’t a clue, I feel like I am playing IBM’s Deep Blue. And then in a twinkling, I get checkmated, I lost another chess game that was rated. I offered a draw, but it was turned down, No perpetual check was ever found. I challenged him again, then fell into a trap, I have had enough of this chess crap. But as I was resigning and was leaving the site, My opponent emailed me “Happy Christmas to Wall, and to Wall a good-knight.” – Bill Wall

Fisher's Wife

Widow of Chess Champion Bobby Fischer to inherit his estimated $2 million estate. Fischer spent the last years of his life as a fugitive from U.S. authorities because he defied international sanctions against the former Yugoslavia, spending time in the Philippines and Japan before moving to Iceland, where he was offered citizenship in the mid-2000s. Miyoko Watai of Japan had claimed before the court she was Fischer’s wife and heir while two of the chess master’s nephews had questioned the legitimacy of the marriage. In 2009 Iceland’s Supreme Court overturned a municipal court decision that Watai was the rightful heir, saying definite proof of the marriage had not been made available. On Wednesday Reykjavik’s municipal court judge Ingridur Eiriksdottir ruled the marriage was legal and declared that Fischer’s nephews must pay Watai 6.65 million Iceland crowns ($57,520) in costs. Fresh documentation was provided for the latest judgment. Fischer, a child prodigy became the United States’ only world chess champion by defeating Soviet masters, but refused to defend his title and relinquished it to the Soviet champion Anatoly Karpov in 1975. He died in Reykjavik at the age of 64. The nephews’ lawyer told Icelandic state radio they would appeal the court ruling. Be Sociable, Share!

Svetozar Gligoric

Chess Player, GM Svetozar Gligoric, at 88 turns to Music GM Svetozar Gligoric According to the Huffington Post “he was one of the world’s leading chess players in the 1950s and 1960s and the Yugoslav player of the 20th century. After nearly seven decades playing chess, the legendary grandmaster Svetozar Gligoric turned to music. Last month, shortly after his 88th birthday, Gligoric presented his first music album in Belgrade. How I survived the 20th century is a collection of 12 compositions, mostly jazz, blues and rap. Gliga or Gligo, as his friends call him, wrote the music and texts and invited some known Serbian musicians to perform with him. The central theme of his work is expressed in the song Life is all we have. Gligoric pointed out the similarity between music and chess: “Each note is like a chess move and from these elements you create your own architecture within known rules.”” Svetozar Gligorić (Serbian Cyrillic: Светозар Глигорић) (born February 2, 1923) is a Serbian chess grandmaster. He won the championship of Yugoslavia a record twelve times, and is considered the best player ever from Serbia. in 1958 he was declared for the best athlete of Yugoslavia. During the 1950s and 1960s, he was one of the top ten players in the world, also among the world’s most popular, owing to his globe-trotting tournament schedule and a particularly engaging personality that is reflected in the title of his autobiography, I Play Against Pieces (i.e., with no hostility to the opponent, or playing differently for “psychological” reasons against different players; playing the board not the man). Life Svetozar Gligorić was born in Belgrade to a poor family. According to his recollections, his first exposure to chess was as a small child watching patrons play in a neighborhood bar. He began to play at the age of eleven, when taught by a boarder taken in by his mother (his father had died by this time). Lacking a chess set, he made one for himself by carving pieces from corks from wine bottles — a story paralleling the formative years of his great contemporary, the Estonian grandmaster Paul Keres.Gligorić was a good student during his youth, with both academic and athletic successes that famously led to him being invited to represent his school at a birthday celebration for Prince Peter, later to become King Peter II of Yugoslavia. He later recounted (to International Master David Levy, who chronicled his chess career in The Chess of Gligoric), his distress at attending this gala event wearing poor clothing resulting from his family’s impoverished condition. His first tournament success came in 1938 when he won the championship of the Belgrade Chess Club; however, World War II interrupted his chess progress for a time. During the war, Gligorić was a member of a partisan unit. A chance encounter with a chess-playing partisan officer led to his removal from combat.Following the World War II, Gligorić worked several years as a journalist and organizer of chess tournaments. He continued to progress as a chessplayer and was awarded the chess International Master (IM) title in 1950 and the Grandmaster (GM) title in 1951, eventually making the transition to full-time chess professional, continuing active tournament play well into his sixties. Gligorić was one of the most successful tournament players of the middle of the century, with a number of tournament titles to his credit, but was less successful in competing for the World Chess Championship. He was Yugoslav champion in 1947 (joint), 1948 (joint), 1949, 1950, 1956, 1957, 1958 (joint), 1959, 1960, 1962, 1965 and 1971.He represented his country (Yugoslavia) with great success in fifteen Chess Olympiads from 1950 to 1982 (thirteen times on first board), playing 223 games (+88 =109 -26). In the first post-war Olympiad, on home soil at Dubrovnik 1950, Gligoric played on first board and led Yugoslavia to a historic result, the team gold medal. The Yugoslav team was usually second or third in the world during the 1950s.His list of first-place finishes in international chess competitions is one of the longest and includes such events as Mar del Plata 1950, Stockholm 1954, Belgrade 1964, Manila 1968, Lone Pine 1972 and 1979, etc. He was a regular competitor in the series of great tournaments held at Hastings, with wins (or ties for first) in 1951–2, 1956–7, 1959–60, 1960–61, and 1962–3.His record in world-championship qualifying events was mixed. He was a regular competitor in Zonal and Interzonal competitions with several successes, e.g. zonal wins in 1951, 1960 (joint), 1963, 1966, and 1969 (joint) and finishes at the Interzonals of 1952, 1958, and 1967 high enough to qualify him for the final “Candidates” events the following year. However, he was not as successful in any of the Candidates events, with mediocre results in the 1953 and 1959 Candidates Tournaments and a match loss to Mikhail Tal in the 1968 Candidates match series.

Youngest US Chess Master

Samuel Sevian Becomes Youngest US Chess ‘Master’ A 9-year-old California boy has become the youngest-ever chess “master” in the United States. Samuel Sevian, of Santa Clara, earned the title after a match in San Francisco. Born on December 26, 2000 he is an American chess player and was the youngest chess player to attain the United States Chess Federation classification of an expert, accomplishing the feat in February 2009, at the age of 8 years and 64 days. On December 11, 2010, he became the youngest National Master in USCF history with a rating of 2201 at the age of 9 years, 11 months and 15 days. Sevian started his chess career in on August 12, 2006. His first major success occurred when he became the youngest expert in US history, an achievement that was featured in an article of the ‘Los Angeles Times” by International Master Jack Peters. He wrote that Sevian learned to play chess at age five and earned a modest Elo rating system|rating of 315 from his first chess tournament, when he was living in Florida. By the time his family moved to California in 2007 (when he was seven years old) his rating had risen to 1614, higher than most adults. In February 2009 he was named the Bay Area Chess Player of the Month. Sevian earned a spot on both the 2009 and 2010 All-America Chess Team. In 2009, at the age of eight, Sevian defeated his first National Master in tournament play. In January 2010 with a of 2119, FIDE Rating Progress Chart for Sevian, Samuel(USA) he became the highest rated chess player in the world for his age. He also qualified for the 2010 World Youth Chess Championship, and has reached the norms for the USCF Candidate Master title. On December 11, 2010, his rating rose from 2187 to 2201, making him at 9 years, 11 months and 15 days, the youngest-ever American master and breaking the record previously held by Nicholas Nip. Be Sociable, Share!

The Act of Preparation in the game of Chess

The Act of Preparation in the game of chess The inexperienced (and not only) players often ask themselves what is the most appropriate way to prepare for a game. Should it be a general opening preparation, or a psychologically orientated work against a concrete player? I believe that both should be recommended and applied. The first thing that we do is to build an opening repertoire, a stable home-made weapon that will keep us away from great surprises. We need to have reliable lines against each of the opponents’ principled possibilities. These lines have not only to be memorized well, but to be well understood. If a line ends up with the verdict +/=, minimal advantage for white, and we are that side, we will definitely be satisfied with the opening part. However, we should not forget that after this stage, there comes the middlegame, and this advantage should be increased, and finally converted. That means that we need to know what to do after achieving the advantage, to have a general plan. Do we play on the king’s flank, in the center, or on the queen’s wing? These questions should be answered at home. Every quality opening preparation should end up with a good plan. The assessment is not that important, even an equal position can be in our favour, if we like the character of the arising positions, have the general idea what to do, and like what we are about to do. Here comes also the concrete approach. Let’s say that tomorrow we shall play against an opponent who enjoys positional maneuvering, plays well and loves endgames, but calculates poorly lines and does not feel comfortable in complications. Let’s imagine that we have the black pieces, and he plays 1.e4- open games. Let’s also imagine that we play both 1…e5, and 1…c5. Which move shall we choose against him? The answer comes in accordance with his style; the natural decision is to go for the sharp Sicilian, where the chances for mistakes from him are more significant. Our style will also guide us in building the repertoire. If we are aggressive players, with strong memories, we should opt for active lines straight from the opening. Quiet lines as the Exchanged Ruy Lopez are not our cup of tea! After we know ourselves, we go to the next stage- collecting the chess material. We choose a line to play, and then try to find as many annotated games by experts (masters and grandmasters) to understand the arising positions. Those men have worked on these lines, there is nothing wrong to use their know-how. Have a look at the recently published analyses by IM K. Karakehajov here: online-chess.eu, you might find something interesting to build up your foundation. After this process, we are already quite sufficiently armed. We can make a couple of things in addition: analyze alone, or with a friend of ours some more games in the line, and play some friendly games in the chosen opening. This will help us memorize the lines, and avoid some typical mistakes. We are now sufficiently armed, and have no fear of anyone. P.S. This will not end the process of the preparation, as the lines are nowadays developing with enormous speed. Whenever we have time, we can have a look at the fresh games and analyses of our openings and upgrade them. Good luck! GM Dejan Bojkov - www.dejanbojkov.blogspot.com Be Sociable, Share! O

Magnus Carlsen

Magnus Carlsen number one rated chess player in the world! Magnus Carlsen (born Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen on 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess Grandmaster and chess prodigy currently ranked number one in the world on the official FIDE rating list. He has achieved a rating exceeded only by Garry Kasparov. On 26 April 2004 Carlsen became a Grandmaster at the age of 13 making him the third-youngest Grandmaster in history. On 1 January 2010 the new FIDE rating list was published, and at the age of 19 he became the youngest chess player in history to be ranked world number one, breaking the record previously held by Vladimir Kramnik. Carlsen is also the 2009 World blitz chess champion. His performance at the September–October 2009 Nanjing Pearl Spring tournament has been described as one of the greatest in history and lifted him to an Elo rating of 2801, making him the fifth player to achieve a rating over 2800 – and aged 17 years 10 months at the time, by far the youngest to do so. Ahead of 2010, Carlsen said that he would be playing in fewer tournaments the coming year. The cooperation with Kasparov continued until March that year. Carlsen won the Corus chess tournament played January 16–31 with 8½ points (five wins, seven draws, one loss). His ninth-round loss to Kramnik ended a streak of 36 rated games undefeated. Carlsen appeared to struggle in the last round against Fabiano Caruana, but saved a draw leaving him half a point ahead of Kramnik and Shirov. The March 2010 FIDE rating list showed Carlsen with a new peak rating of 2813, a figure that only Kasparov has bettered. In the same month it was announced that Carlsen had split from Kasparov and would no longer be using him as a trainer, although this was put into different context by Carlsen himself in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel stating that they would remain in contact and that he would continue to attend training sessions with Kasparov. Carlsen shared first place alongside Ivanchuk in the Amber 2010 blindfold and rapid tournament. Carlsen scored 6½ points in the blindfold and 8 points in the rapid, giving 14½ points from a possible 22 points. In May 2010 it was revealed that Carlsen had helped Viswanathan Anand prepare for the World Chess Championship 2010 against challenger Veselin Topalov, which Anand won 6½-5½ to retain the title. Carlsen had also helped Anand prepare for the World Chess Championship 2007 and World Chess Championship 2008. In his first tournament since his announced departure from Kasparov, Carlsen played in the Bazna Kings Tournament in Romania from June 14th through June 25th. The tournament was a double round robin event involving Wang Yue, Boris Gelfand, former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov, Teimour Radjabov, and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu. After drawing his first three games, Carlsen won his next four and set a personal livechess rating peak of 2825,1. He finished with 7½/10 and a 2918 performance rating, winning the tournament by two points over Radjabov and Gelfand. The victory ensured that Carlsen remained at the top of the Elo rating list. His official rating hit 2826, a figure exceeded only by Kasparov and just 25 points shy of tying Kasparov’s all-time record. Carlsen then played in a rapid tournament from August 28th to August 30th at the Arctic Securities Chess Stars tournament in Kristiansund, Norway. The field featured world champion Viswanathan Anand, female world #1 Judit Polgar, and Jon Ludvig Hammer. In the preliminary round robin, Carlsen scored 3½/6 to qualify for the final, second behind Anand. In the final, Carlsen defeated Anand 1½-0½ to win the championship. Following this event, Carlsen will take part in the 39th Chess Olympiad from September 19th to October 4th. As winner of three of the previous year’s four Grand Slam chess events (2009 Nanjing Pearl Spring, 2010 Corus, 2010 Bazna Kings), Carlsen has automatically qualified for the final of the Grand Slam Chess Masters supertournament to be held in Bilbao from October 9th to October 15th, 2010. Along with Carlsen, the finals will consist of World Champion Viswanathan Anand and the highest two scorers from the preliminary stage held in Shanghai in September, which featured Vladimir Kramnik, Levon Aronian, Alexei Shirov, and Wang Hao; Shirov and Kramnik qualified. The official September 2010 ratings of Carlsen, Anand, Kramnik and Shirov will make the Grand Slam final the strongest tournament in chess history, with an average ELO of 2789. Following the Grand Slam Chess Masters final, Carlsen will attempt to defend his 2009 title at the 2010 Pearl Spring chess tournament, which will run from October 17th to 29th in Nanjing, China and feature Anand, world #2 Veselin Topalov, Vugar Gashimov, Wang Yue, and Etienne Bacrot. This will be the only tournament in 2010 to feature Anand, Carlsen and Topalov, currently the top three players in the world. It is presumed, but unknown whether Carlsen will participate in the 2010 World Blitz Championship, currently scheduled to be held in Moscow from November 15th to 16th following the 2010 Tal Memorial. Carlsen will attempt to defend his title in the London Chess Classic in December 2010; the field will include world champion Viswanathan Anand, former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, American number one Hikaru Nakamura, and British players Michael Adams, Nigel Short, David Howell, and Luke McShane.