Chess is king
When I saw
The Queen’s Gambit for the first time, it was obvious that Netflix had struck gold. What I never expected was how the show would lead to a chess explosion.
While Netflix’s focus might merely be to create profitable content, the company is inadvertently sparking trends. The folks at Netflix are becoming the gatekeepers of culture and have somehow made a seemingly boring sport cool.
As a bookseller, it’s not the first time I’ve seen Netflix cause massive stirs in esoteric pop culture which leads to merchandise flying off the shelves. In 2019, the company brought
Nakamura casts doubt on whether GCT will take place
The world s no. 1 ranked blitz player Hikaru Nakamura opens up about his Grand Chess Tour absence, casts doubt on whether the five events will take place at all in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and states his belief that the future of top level chess will be online.
Hikaru Nakamura after winning the Paris Grand Chess Tour in 2018. The American will not be a regular player on the 2021 Grand Chess Tour, but reveals he may accept an invitation as a wildcard | photo: Lennart Ootes
As chess24 reported last week, the 2021 Grand Chess Tour announced a 10-player field without two of the sport s biggest stars, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura. While Carlsen s father said a busy schedule, including the Champions Chess Tour, Altibox Norway Chess and preparations for the next World Championship, was among their reasons for not playing, it was not immediately clear why Nakamura was not taking part this time.
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Carlsen & Nakamura missing in 2021 Grand Chess Tour field
The Grand Chess Tour will return in 2021, but chess fans will be missing two of the biggest names as both Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura declined invitations. The organisers have announced the ten participants and the tour schedule, which includes two classical events and three rapid/blitz events during three months this summer.
Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura turned down invitations to join the 2021 Grand Chess Tour as full participants, but could appear as wildcards in one or more events | photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour
In 2020 the tour had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but with vaccines being rolled out all over the world, there is some hope that life can go back to normal and over-the-board events can resume. Executive Director Michael Khodarkovsky commented:
Pentala Harikrishna, Poland s no. 2
Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Sweden s no. 1
Nils Grandelius are excellent replacements.
Then, on the eve of the tournament, Daniil Dubov was also forced to cancel after someone close to him tested positive for COVID-19. His late replacement is 22-year-old German Grandmaster
Carlsen has won the Masters group of the event a record 7 times since 2008, when he shared 1st along with Levon Aronian. Caruana is the reigning champion and in fact only three other players (Levon Aronian in 2012 and 2014, Hikaru Nakamura in 2011 and Wesley So in 2017) have managed to win the event in the last 10 years.
Whether Carlsen can triumph again may depend on whether he recovers his form from earlier in 2020. The 30-year-old had an immensely successful year, winning a total of 9 online events and one over-the-board event (Norway Chess), but Wesley So crashed his 30th birthday party by winning the Skilling Open final, while his Airthings Masters came to an end in