Lately I’ve been distracted from studying this free book by John Bartholomew on the 1.d4 opening by the FIDE Grand Prix, after all, one of my favorite players is taking part so I am trying to watch most games. Hikaru!!!
Hikaru Nakamura is an American chess grandmaster who has been ranked among the top two players worldwide by FIDE, and happens to be one of my favorite players. He was born on 9th December 1987 in Hirakata, Japan. When he was two years old, he moved with his mother and his brother to the United States where he began playing chess at the age of 7.
In January 2011, Hikaru won the prestigious Tata Steel Invitational in Netherlands. From the date he earned his grandmaster title, he has been a regular participant in many chess tournaments around the world. He has posted victories against Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik of Russia and grandmaster Viswanathan Anand of India.
In short, Hikaru is well known as the best blitz player as well as the best at bullet chess. He is simply awesome. In 2009, he defeated Magnus Carlsen in a four game match during the finals of BNBank Blitz challenge which took place in Oslo.
He is a four time United States champion having won the title in 2005, 2009, 2012 and 2015.
The fact that he is rated number one in the United States and number two worldwide gives him high probability of winning 2017 FIDE Grand Prix.
For now though, Hou Yifan a female player from China leads after winning the first round of the FIDE Grand Prix by defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi with the black pieces. The following are standings after round one. Come on Hikaru, you can do it! 🙂
|
Name |
FED |
Ratings |
Points |
|
| 1. | Hou Yifan | CHN | 2652 | 1,0 |
| 2. | Vachier-Lagrave Maxime | FRA | 2795 | 0,5 |
| 3. | Nakamura Hikaru | USA | 2786 | 0,5 |
| 4. | Giri Anish | NED | 2785 | 0,5 |
| 5. | Ding Liren | CHN | 2773 | 0,5 |
| 6. | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | AZE | 2772 | 0,5 |
| 7. | Svidler Peter | RUS | 2755 | 0,5 |
| 8. | Grischuk Alexander | RUS | 2750 | 0,5 |
| 9. | Harikrishna P. | IND | 2750 | 0,5 |
| 10. | Adams Michael | ENG | 2747 | 0,5 |
| 11. | Inarkiev Ernesto | RUS | 2727 | 0,5 |
| 12. | Gelfand Boris | ISR | 2724 | 0,5 |
| 13. | Radjabov Teimour | AZE | 2710 | 0,5 |
| 14. | Vallejo Pons Francisco | ESP | 2710 | 0,5 |
| 15. | Tomashevsky Evgeny | RUS | 2696 | 0,5 |
| 16. | Salem A.R. Saleh | UAE | 2633 | 0,5 |
| 17. | Hammer Jon Ludvig | NOR | 2621 | 0,5 |
| 18 | Nepomniachtchi Ian | RUS | 2751 | 0,0 |
