Nakamura joins Aronian in lead
KOLKATA :When it comes to speed chess, Hikaru Nakamura of the US is far more accomplished in the shorter format of the game and his rating in rapid and blitz is higher than in the longer format.
With a rating of 2844, the 30-year-old American of Japanese origin is second only to Magnus Carlsen (2880) of Norway, which makes him the top seed at the Tata Steel Chess here.
At the end of three rounds on the first day, Nakamura had 1.5 points from three draws. On Saturday, he seems to have found his rhythm as he scored three wins out of three to position himself as the favourite for the title and the top prize of $10,000.
At the end of six rounds, Nakamura was sharing the top spot with Levon Aronian of Armenia with 4.5 points each with India’s Harikrishna following a point behind. Four players – India’s Viswanathan Anand, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, Wesley So of the United States and Sergey Karjakin ofrussia – were on 3.0 points.
The day belonged to Nakamura as he established his ascendancy with impeccable results. He started off with a creditable win against Mamedyarov, followed it up by outplaying local star Surya Shekhar Ganguly, who is going through horrendous time here, in the fifth round before another clinical win against local teenager Nihal Sarin.
The fourth round clash between Nakamura and Mamedyarov Round 4 – Aronian bt So; Ganguly lost to Karjakin; Harikrishna drew Sarin; Mamedyarov lost to Nakamura; Gujrathi drew Anand. Round 5 – Anand drew Harikrishna; Karjakin drew Aronian; Nakamura bt Ganguly; Sarin drew Mamedyarov; So bt Gujrathi.
Round 6 – Ganguly (1) lost to Aronian (4.5); Gujrathi (2.5) bt Karjakin (3); Harikrishna (3.5) drew So (3); Mamedyarov (3) drew Anand (3); Nakamura (4.5) bt Sarin (2).
was the match of the day as both are well accomplished in speed chess. However, things did not go as planned for Mamedyarov as he went for win from an equal position and, in his anxiety to conjure something, blundered and lost.
Having accounted for the overnight leader, Nakamura was merciless against Ganguly and capitalized on his mistakes to punish him thoroughly. In the sixth round match, teenager Nihal Sarin put up a better fight against Nakamura but lost the plot when the inexperienced 14-year-old tried to create pressure on his opponent from an equal position.
Anand’s search for his first win in Tata Steel Chess India continued as he played out three more draws on Saturday. The Indian maestro had promising positions in two games but that was not enough.