[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Nakamura on playing computers, blitz records, and America's new youngest master

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Nakamura on playing computers, blitz records, and America's new youngest master
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1205036567.shtml


   Right [1]here. (HT: Brian Karen)
   I find his comments about playing long series with computers
   interesting - he does it to develop his mental toughness. As for
   Grischuk breaking his ICC blitz record, allegedly with Rauf Mamedov's
   help, I can't comment, but I do have something to say about his
   criticism of [2]Nicholas Nip. Nip is the San Francisco youngster who
   broke Nakamura's record for the youngest-ever American master, and
   apparently he gained a lot of the needed points in rated matches
   (rather than tournaments). Not knowing the principals, I can't offer
   any judgments about whether the matches were on the up-and-up, but I
   can't see anything wrong with using matches to boost one's rating - as
   long as the games are real.
   Matches are the classic chess confrontation. While a handful of chess
   tournaments remain famous to this day (Hastings 1895, New York 1924,
   Zurich 1953 and a very few others), chess fans remember many of the
   epic matches in history (Fischer-Spassky, just about all of Karpov's
   world championship matches, ditto for Kasparov, Alekhine's great upset
   of Capablanca in 1927, Tal's win over Botvinnik in 1960, Fischer's 6-0
   sweeps against Taimanov and Larsen, and so on). Many players consider
   it the truest test of strength, and so it's not surprising that
   amateurs want to try their hand at that discipline.
   Further, it's simply a practical expedient. When I was growing up, I
   lived in an area where there was approximately one tournament every
   other month, and I'd only get to play opponents near my rating in the
   last two rounds. I could - and often did - go 4.5/5 but only gain a
   handful of points. So in the early months of 1984, when I was close to
   master (my rating was 2184), I played a series of rated matches - both
   to get my rating over 2200 as soon as possible and for the training.
   It's far more interesting and useful to play a series of games with a
   tough opponent who has been preparing for you than the occasional odd
   game with said opponent.
   So if Nakamura's only concern is that Nip used matches, I say he
   should not only not complain about it, he should consider following
   suit. His current FIDE rating is 2686, 14 points from the "magic" 2700
   barrier. Rather than playing in a handful of round-robin events during
   the year, having to hope he's in good form, not nicked for draws by
   "ordinary" GMs significantly lower-rated than he is, etc., he might
   look for a quality match opponent to expedite his path to the elite
   circuit.

References

   1. http://hikarunakamura.com/main/Blog/tabid/57/EntryID/13/Default.aspx
   2. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1204835814.shtml