Originally posted by Data FlyTal was up 4-0 from that one Candidates tournament. Whereas Naka has been losing to Carlsen over several years.
In this sort of situation I always think back to Tal and Fischer. At one stage Tal was 4-0 up in head-to-heads against Fischer, but Fischer finally turned it round and I think they were 4-4 in the end.
Originally posted by SwissGambitTrue. Nakamura / Carlsen is not exactly analogous with Fischer / Tal. Nevertheless I still feel that there's a possibility that Naka may one day raise his game by enough to make him at least Carlsen's equal. However at the moment it seems that Caruana is the next Big Thing.
Tal was up 4-0 from that one Candidates tournament. Whereas Naka has been losing to Carlsen over several years.
Here is one of my favourite games. I think it was the first time that Fischer beat Tal:
Originally posted by Data FlyI think Nakamura is a swashbuckler / risk-taker at heart. His competitive drive and amazing strength of will have allowed him to play with enough control to make the world's top 10. But, I think he will be forever fighting himself rather than playing as an extension of his natural tendencies. This gets exposed big-time when he plays someone like Carlsen.
True. Nakamura / Carlsen is not exactly analogous with Fischer / Tal. Nevertheless I still feel that there's a possibility that Naka may one day raise his game by enough to make him at least Carlsen's equal. However at the moment it seems that Caruana is the next Big Thing.
Here is one of my favourite games. I think it was the first time that Fischer bea ...[text shortened]... 3 41. Re1+ Kf8 42. Rxb5 Kg7 43. Rb6 Qg3 44. Rd1 Qc7
45. Rdd6 Qc8 46. b3 Kh7 47. Ra6 1-0
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Originally posted by SwissGambitI think this is perfectly stated. Nakamura's style simply does not match up well with Carlsen.
I think Nakamura is a swashbuckler / risk-taker at heart. His competitive drive and amazing strength of will have allowed him to play with enough control to make the world's top 10. But, I think he will be forever fighting himself rather than playing as an extension of his natural tendencies. This gets exposed big-time when he plays someone like Carlsen.
It's possible he can learn and change. Kasparov did not match up well against Karpov at first, but during the first match he took an early beating without going down, learned from the games, and emerged much stronger for it.
There is also a quote from Tal I have been trying to find, but I have been unsuccessful so far. In the quote he talks about all the top Soviet GMs of the era, and how "A beats B, B beats C, C beats D, and D beats A", and how they joke about it or some such. I'll keep looking.
