“The cruel and harsh reality of playing in a team chess event is that you are only as good as your teammates.”
Reported by SPs blog today as alledgedly being a tweet by GM Nakamura after the China match.
Nakamura did not deny saying that and has since tried some political backpedaling to clarify what he really meant. But, the cruel and harsh reality of what he meant is “The cruel and harsh reality of playing in a team chess event is that I am only as good as my teammates.”
I don’t think it’s either. Nakamura is having an outstanding event - his 2856 performance rating is second only to Aronian’s 2862, and his win over Kramnik may be the single-game sensation of the tournament. His teammates - rightly or wrongly - have not been able to keep the same pace. Other than Varuzhan (do you want a draw?) Akobian, Nakamura is the only US player to be undefeated, and in an Olympiad, you simply can’t afford to lose many games.
That said, both Kamsky and Onishuk are outperforming their rating - the real trouble has been on board four.
Delete the “cruel and harsh” from his tweet and his statement would be just another oft-heard sports cliche.
The terms “cruel and harsh” are what has opened him up to questions.
So, you’d rather he stuck to oft-heard sports cliches? I just don’t get what the fuss is about.
@ GM Nakamura
Life just ain’t fair, kid. Get over it.
Thank you, GM Nakamura for playing in the Olympiad.
Indeed. He had a fine tournament.
Yes he did. The Kramnik game was brilliant especially c8 = N+.
It will be interesting to see if he is through with team play.
Can you post a link to the Krammnik game? Thanks!
Now THAT’S disinformation!
@ seki
Google: Nakamura vs Kramnik 2012
I defer.
Not that much different than any other team. It is difficult for a QB, for example, to
help his team score enough points to overcome a horrible defense. The college I went
to lost a football game 76-64. Can’t blame the offense for that.
Rob Jones
THIS IS JUST MY OPINION!
On a chess team, each player is his/her own offense and defense. In football sometimes the offense carries the team, sometimes the defense carries the team. In chess teams each player carries him/herself. If effect, noone can carry the team. A chess team member can only keep his/her fingers crossed and hope for the best. What is actually going on is four different football games simultaneously. No single player can say “I carried the team.” If they do, it’s all about “them”.
THIS IS JUST MY OPINION!
It’s not quite the same as four different games since the match score is what rules. If one player wins early then that puts more pressure on all of the opponents still playing because now they have to score better than 50% or lose the match.
One time in high school at the conference tournament I had a drawish game that was the last one going (board one). We had a lead in the match and that put a great deal of pressure on my opponent with the result that he overextended himself going for the win, allowing me to get the board trophy for a perfect score. In that case my team actually did carry me to my personal trophy.
At the regional tournament the situation was exactly reversed (same opponent) with the exception that my all-out attempt was underestimated and I pulled off a win to win the match, so in that case it could be said that I carried the team (well, actually it was our heavily out-rated fourth board that pulled out a totally unexpected win that set up the final game, so he really had a better claim).
With his performance, he dosn’t need to get over anything.