Best of CLO 2011 #10- Nakamura in Brazil by GM Ian Rogers
January 20, 2012
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GM Ian Rogers, Photo Cathy Rogers
The #10 article in Best of CLO 2011 is  Nakamura in Brazil: From Fighting Anand to Miss USA by GM Ian Rogers. Rogers' piece focused on the first leg of Nakamura's experience at the Grand Slam Final in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The piece featured photographs by Cathy Rogers (Ian's wife), a professional photographer who travels with Ian on the international chess circuit. The most controversial part of Rogers' article was his exploration of the rumors (now confirmed) about Nakamura's training relationship with Kasparov:

Pundits immediately jumped to the conclusion that Nakamura was indirectly confirming the rumour - after all, why would he not deny the claim if it were untrue? And wasn't there significant circumstantial evidence supporting the rumor, such as Nakamura being in Croatia, the country of Kasparov's dacha, during the summer?

However anyone who saw the glint in Nakamura's eye as he made his response would know that there are plenty of other conclusions to be drawn....


Another CLO contributor, Macauley Peterson, confirmed the Kasparov-Nakamura partnership in New In Chess Magazine later in the Fall and went on to write a December CLO article that revealed the disintegration of Kasparov's training relationship with Hikaru.  

Rogers' other work for CLO has included Nakamura Sleeps Soundly at Last in Transylvania and Nakamura Close to Career-Best Triumph in Wijk aan Zee. Ian has also penned many articles for Chess Life Magazine , including a piece in the August issue Chess 1, Poker 0 on Boris Gelfand in the Candidates Matches and an April Chess Life cover story , Nakamura Silences the Critics in Wijk aan Zee.

Rogers also earned Best of CLO honors in 2009, for an article on GM Varuzhan Akobian in Australia. 

The Judges Sound Off

Read more about the judges here.

The rumors about Nakamura training with Garry Kasparov and dating Alyssa Campanella (Miss USA) have maintained media interest while Nakamura's game against Anand, well annotated by GM Rogers, maintained everyone else's interest. Good report with plenty of human interest—Myron Lieberman

GM Ian Rogers is a professional journalist/reporter and a fine Grandmaster, so it’s little surprise that his pieces are well written, entertaining and informative like this one.

A big plus of his articles are the highly interesting annotations that are particularly enjoyable and useful because, together with reading his Grandmaster’s level comments,  we can benefit of he’s being on site which brings us what he witnesses in terms of players’ behavior, expressions and time management, together with their own thought on the games---Janis Nisii

 This article reads like New in Chess Magazine because it features in-depth analysis of one chess game—Galen Pyle