Nakamura had an incredible year. He has established
himself on the International scene. This is the 2nd White Knight Award for
Hikaru Nakamura. In 2003, it was a great honor to give him the United
States True Grit award. In 2004 he showed his true grit by getting
to the 4th round at the 2004 FIDE Knockout. He had an incredible run.
Nakamura ousted Alexander Lastin (RUS), Aleksej Aleksandrov (BLR), and
Sergey Volkov (RUS). Nakamura was finally ousted by a
Michael Adams, who ranks in the top 10 of the world. Nakamura then
when on to win the 2005 US Championship. He was a front runner from the
start of the championship. He won the title in an incredible tie breaker
against Alexander Stripunsky.
Nakamura was not done yet, he then went on
to decisively defeat fellow wonder kid Sergey Karjakin in a 6 game match
in Mexico. It was an exciting match between two shooting stars of the chess
world. Nakamura won 4 games, lost one and drew one. Lets not forget it was
Sergey Karjakin who defeated
World champion Vladimir Kramnik in a blitz
playoff game at Dortmund in 2004. Nakamura at 16 years of age, has a very
bright future ahead of him. Without question, Hikaru Nakamura is the
United States Most Valuable Player.
I can see an International MVP in the
future. Mr. 3 time US Champion GM Alexander Shabalov made the
following comment "Hikaru Nakamura, though I still think he needs a
little work in this area (concentration). If he does solve it, none of us
will have a chance." Hikaru likes history and math. That doesn't
surprise me one bit, both are necessary components of a good chess player.
He is also a very good tennis player. His goal is to become World
Champion some day. In a recent interview, Nakamura make the following
MVP type remark, when he said "there is no point to accepting
draws."
Other accomplishments in 2004
First place at Western States Open
First place at the NY Masters
2nd place at the
32nd
World Open - .5 points behind Varuzhan Akobian
Nakamura also made his presence known in the international
area.
He place 4th place at 2004 Corus GM B group
He also finished 1.5 points from first place at the 2004 Reykjavik Open.
He took 23rd place out of 77.
This reporter expects to see
Nakamura
on the 2006 US Olympiad team
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