Table Of ContentThis the very first book to focus exclusively on
Hikaru Nakamura. the greatest American chess Also available:
player since the legendary Robert James Fischer.
The book features a prologue penned by Lubosh
MtlCHAJ.CHISHIN STETSKO
Kavalek, who was none other than Bobby's insider
Adrian Mikhalchishin
and supporter at the "match of the century" against
and Oleg Stetsko
Boris Spassky in 1972.
Fighting Chess
with Magnus Carlsen
That up to now there have been no books on
His Best Games annotated by
Hikaru Nakamura is nothing less than astonishing, Adrian Mikhalchishin and Oleg
given the fact that he is firmly established in the Stetsko. Translated and edited
United States as the legitimate successor to the by Ken Neat.
eleventh world champion. the great Robert James 280 pp with many diagrams.
Fischer. At the very least, this has been the case ISBN 978-3-283-01020-1
since his sensational triumph at the traditional Wijk
aan Zee chess festival -on 30 January 2011 in Boris Gelfand
Holland, where he finished ahead of reigning world My Most Memorable Games
261 pages with numerous diagrams.
champion Viswanathan Anand. ·
ISBN 978-3-283-00453-8
In this. book, grandmaster Karsten Muller from
Anatoly Karpov
Hamburg and chess journalist Raymond Stolze
My Best Games
from Berlin document the 24-year-old's fascin.a"t
With a Foreword by Igor Zaitsev. 295 pages with
ing journey to the top of world chess. Interestingly,
many diagrams. ISBN 978-3-283-01002-7
Hikaru was not a typical child prodigy, and at his
first Junior World Championships didn't even make
it onto the winners· podium. But he won a World
Cup medal aged just 13 and since then he has been
creating true miracles. Victor Korchnoi
My best Games
In ten chapters, the authors focus on the main rea
Updated and revised
sons for the success of Nakamura, who, like arch
anniversary edition.
rival Magnus Carlsen, was coached for nearly a Two volumes in one.
year by Garry Kasparov. Translated and edited by
Ken Neat. 435 pages with
In addition to an exclusive interview, of special in
numerous diagrams.
terest are contributions by prominent chess greats, ISBN 978-3-283-01019-5
such as three-time U.S. national champion Lubosh
Kavalek. Kavalek has been following Hikaru's as Victor Korchnoi
cent to the summit of chess at close range. Which Chess is my Life
is why he is ideally placed to deliver a reliable ver With a Preface by Garry Kasparov and a Foreword by
dict on this exceptional player. Many chess fans Sergey Ivanov. Including a CD-Rom with his complete
admire Hikaru Nakamura's furious attacking talent, games (in ChessBase format). 226 pages with
numerous photos and diagrams.
and wish him all the best for a successful career.
ISBN 978-3-283-00406-4
www.hikarunakamura.com
EDITION OLMS ZURICH EDITION OLMS ZURICH
www. e d iti o n-o I ms.com www. e d iti on-o I ms.com
Muller/Stolze Fighting Chess with Hikaru Nakamura
•
ProgressiifCfiess
Volume 32 of the ongoing series
Editorial board
GM Victor Korchnoi
GM Helmut Pfleger
GM Nigel Short
GM Rudolf Teschner
2012
EDITION OLMS
m
Karsten Muller
Raymund Stolze
FIGHTING CHESS WITH
HIKARU NAKAMURA
An American Chess Career in the
Footsteps of Bobby Fischer
Prologue by Lubosh Kavalek
Translated by Ian Adams
and edited by Ken Neat
2012
EDITION OLMS
m
@
4
The authors:
Karsten Muller (born 1970), has played for Hamburg SK in the Bundesliga since 1988 and has twice taken
third place in the German individual championships (1996 and 1997). A doctor of mathematics, he is an
internationally recognised endgame expert, who not only writes mainly English language books on this
subject but who also authors training DVDs for ChessBase and is responsible for the endgame columns in
ChessBase Magazine as well as the internet site ChessCafe.com. In addition he is much appreciated as a
successful coach of up-and-coming young players. For that reason in 2007 he was awarded the title of
"Trainer of the Year" by the German Chess Federation.
Raymund Stolze (born 1945) wrote his first chess book Umkiimpfte Krone -Die Due/le der Schachwelt
meister von Steinitz bis Kasparow (The fight for the throne -duels of chess world champions from Steinitz
to Kasparov), in the mid-1980s and it became a best-seller and went through several editions. A qualified
economist, he himself was a very successful chess player. Thus, for example, in 1963 he was junior
champion of East Berlin. A former editor-in-chief of the renowned Sportverlag Berlin, who developed and
published a three-volume series of manuals with Alexander Koblencs, the former trainer of World Champion
Mikhail Tai, since 2003 he has been responsible for the chess book section of EDITION OLMS.
Bibliographical Information published by The Deutsche
Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in
the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliografic
data is available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
Picture credits: Ray Morris Hill, London
Copyright © 2012 Edition Olms AG
Willikonerstr. 10 · CH-8618 Oetwil a. S./ZOrich, Switzerland
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet: www.edition-olms.com
All rights reserved. This work is protected by copyright. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic
tape, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher.
Printed in Germany
Printed on acid-free and ageing-resistant paper
Editor: Ken Neat
Translator: Ian Adams
Typeset: Arno Nickel· Edition Marco, D-14059 Berlin
Printed by: Druckerei Friedr. Schmucker GmbH, D-49624 Loningen
Cover: Niklas WeiB, D-79104 Freiburg
ISBN13: 978-3-283-01023-2
ct:J
5
Contents
About this book ... . . .. .. ... .. ... . ... .. ... .. ... ... .. .... .. .. . ... .. ... .. ... .... .. .. . .. . .. .. ... .. .. .. . .. .. ... .. ... .. .... ... ... .. .. . .. ... .. . 7
Prologue (Lubosh Kavalek) -Hikaru's rise to the heights .................................................. 10
(1] N.-0.Adu (Washington 1999) 11 (2] Ni Hua-N. (Seattle 2001) 13
(3] N. -N. De Firmian (San Francisco 2002) 15 (4] N. -S. Karjakin (Cuernavaca 2004) 18
(5] N.-1. Smirin (Foxwoods 2005) 19 [6] B. Macieja-N. (Turin 2006) 21
(7] N.-V. Epishin (Gibraltar 2007) 25 [8] A.Samsonkin-N. (Toronto 2009) 27
[9] N. -M. Barron (Toronto 2009) 28 (1 O] N. -M. Carlsen (Oslo 2009) 30
O Chapter 1 ........................................................................................................................... 33
Wijk aan Zee, 15th.January 2011, Round 1 (11] N.-A.Grischuk 33
Apprenticeship or the American way to success ................................................................. 36
(12] N. -E. Tomashevsky (Oropesa d.M. 1999) 43 (13] N. -F. Tahirov (Oropesa d.M. 1999) 45
(14] N.-D. Stellwagen (Oropesa d.M. 2000) 48 (15] N.-B. Predojevic (Oropesa d.M. 2001) 50
ZWISCHENZOGE (Bettina Trabert) -Reminiscences of a chess game ............................ 53
O Chapter 2 ........................................................................................................................... 56
Wijk aan Zee, 16th January 2011, Round 2 (16] L. Aronian-N. 56
Wijk aan Zee, 17th January 2011, Round 3 (17] N.-A. Shirov 58
The magic of openings ............................................................................................................ 62
A) Developing a repertoire 62 B) His score in the openings 64
(18] N.-M.Adams (London 2010) 65 (19] N. -V. Kramnik (Dortmund 2011) 67
[20] V.Anand-N. (Sao Paulo/Bilbao 2011) 70 (21] V.Anand-N. (London 2010) 71
[22] V. lvanchuk-N. (Reggio Emilia 2012) 72 (23] J. Smeets-N. (Wijk aan Zee 2010) 74
[24] S. Karjakin-N. (Bazna 2011) 75
C) Best novelties 76
[25] N. Vitiugov-N. (Reggio Emilia 2011) 76 (26] N.-D. Howell (London 2010) 77
ZWISCHENZOGE (Kris Littlejohn) -As Hikaru Nakamura's second .................................. 80
O Chapter 3 ............................................................................................................. 84
Wijk aan Zee, 18th January 2011, Round 4 (27] A. Giri-N. 84
Flying high with endgame skills ............................................................................................. 87
A) Pawn endings 89 B) Rook endings 90 C) Calculation 95
ZWISCHENZOGE -Endgame test .......................................................................................... 97
O Chapter IV ......................................................................................................................... 98
Wljk aan Zee, 20th January 2011, Round 5 (28] N. -A. Ponomariov 98
The tactical pro ...................................................................................................................... 10 0
ZWISCHENZOGE -Tactics test ............................................................................................ 105
6~
D Chapter 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 106
Wijk aan Zee, 21st January 2011, Round 6 [29] E. L'Ami -N. 106
No victory without a struggle -In Bobby Fischer's footsteps .......................................... 109
[30) N.-J. Bonin (New York 1997) 110 [31) A. Bisguier-N. (New Jersey 1998) 112
[32) N.-1.lbragimov (San Diego 2004) 114
D Chapter 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 125
Wijk aan Zee, 22nd January 2011, Round 7 [33) N.-J.Smeets 126
Hikaru Nakamura in an exclusive interview ........................................................................ 129
D Chapter 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Wijk aan Zee, 23rd January 2011, Round 8 [34] M. Carlsen -N. 141
The sky's the limit .................................................................................................................. 144
[35) N. -A. Morozevich (Reggio Emilia 2012) 150 [36) N.- A. Giri (Reggio Emilia 2012) 151
[37) L. Aronian-N. (Wijk aan Zee 2012) 154
D Chapter 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 157
Wijk aan Zee, 25th January 2011, Round 9 [38) N.-V.Anand 158
Wijk aan Zee, 26th January 2011, Round 10 [39) N.-M.V achier-Lagrave 160
The Gambler ........................................................................................................................... 164
ZWISCHENZUGE -1 :58 -Nakamura plays blitz ................................................................. 173
D Chapter 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Wijk aan Zee, 28th January 2011, Round 11 [40) l.Nepomniachtchi-N. 177
Wijk aan Zee, 29th January 2011, Round 12 [41) N.-V.Kramnik 181
Wijk aan Zee, 30th January 2011, Round 13 [42) Wang Hao-N. 183
His great love the King's Indian -a short repertoire a la Nakamura ................................ 186
D Chapter 10 Hikaru Nakamura's best games ............................................................... 198
[43) M. Krasenkow-N. (Barcelona 2007) 198 [44) B. Gelfand-N. (Bursa 2010) 201
[45) A. Beliavsky-N. (Amsterdam 2009) 203 [46) V. Kramnik-N. (London 2010) 206
[47] V.Anand-N. (London 2011) 209
Epilogue .................................................................................................................................. 215
Appendix
Solutions ............................................................................................................................... 219
Important Tournaments, Matches and Team Competitions .................................................. 223
Rating development and world ranking of Hikaru Nakamura ............................................... 227
Index of games ..................................................................................................................... 228
Index of openings ................................................................................................................. 229
Bibliography .......................................................................................................................... 230
ltJ
7
About this book
"To be really good in chess you must love the game."
Robert James Fischer
3rd
September 1972 is a truly historic date fascinating way in which the now 24-year-old
in the history of chess. For the first time has reached the very top of the chess world.
there is an American chess world champion The start and finish of this journey of
-Robert James Fischer. In the match of the discovery with Hikaru Nakamura, who at the
century in Reykjavik in Iceland the 29-year age of two moved with his brother Asuka and
old never gave the Russian title defender their mother from Japan to the USA, is his
Boris Spassky the slightest chance in his magnificent victory in the traditional chess
12¥2-8¥2 victory. The challenger was even festival in the Netherlands in Wijk aan Zee in
able to afford a loss in a game for which he 2011. In it he sensationally stole the show
did not appear, because his "chess tech from the then top four players in the FIDE
nique bordered on the miraculous. He plays world ranking list, Magnus Carlsen, Viswa
quite a simple game of chess, and of course nathan Anand, Levon Aronian and Vladimir
he plays to win", was the enthusiastic com Kramnik.
ment of the ex-world champion and then It must be made absolutely clear, dear
president of FIDE Max Euwe. reader, that you should not be expecting a
Four decades after the Icelandic saga of biography, because Hikaru Nakamura him
1972 the same is being said increasingly self will certainly want to write that one day.
often about Christopher Hikaru Nakamura. When in the spring of 2011 we began our
After his triumph in Wijk aan Zee, that Mecca research for this project, we placed our trust
of chess, at the Tata Steel Tournament 2011 in the stable chess development of our
he is well on his way to storming the ap "hero" -at that point, he was in any case in
proaches to the chess summit. the world top ten for the first time. On the
Who is this new American hope, who other hand, we could not have been pre
came to chess almost by chance at the age dicted the totally amazing events which
of seven, and how has this youngster now would follow, for example his training col
managed to be counted amongst the very laboration with Garry Kasparov, which was
best players in the world? first reported in the autumn of the same year
It comes as a great surprise that as yet by the editor-in-chief of New in Chess Dirk
there is not a single book about this legi Jan ten Geuzendam, who published an in
timate successor to the legendary Robert terview by Macauley Peterson with Nakamura
James Fischer. So what we are presenting about the first nine months of his coopera
you with is an exciting chronicle of an extra tion with the 13th world champion.1
ordinary sporting career, documenting the Our own most important goal was to be as
1 See New in Chess 7/2011, ''The Spirit of Saint Louis'', pp.10-17
8 �
About this book
At Wljk aan Zee in 2011 Hikaru Nakamura stole the show from the established world elite.
He is considered the greatest American chess hope since Bobby Fischer.
