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A shocking development

Shankland
| 15

Having been an active member of the US Chess scene for many years, as a player of many different levels throughout my life, I've definitely come to notice those who inspire us and make the biggest contributions to our community. There are many big names on the list, though few would argue that two of the biggest are Hikaru Nakamura, the strongest player in the US and consistently in the top 10 and ever-popular with his entertaining and dynamic play, and Susan Polgar, who has brought so many strong foreigners to our community with all of her philanthropic work at Webster University and organizes some really great tournaments. However, I got to thinking, with these two people being such active members of the US Chess scene and frequently making such amazing contributions, why is it that I have never seen them in the same place, or even a picture of them together? Why has Naka never played in any of the very formidable SPICE cups? And why did Susan, a strong grandmaster, give up on her playing career at precisely the same time Naka started playing? And how did Naka get to GM level so quickly? It took me a long time, but just as Lois Lane once realized that Clark Kent was never there to witness superman save the world, I came to a shocking revelation...

 

 

Anyone see any similarities? Of course any two players can play a similar game, but when I looked over some old photos of previous US Championships, I found one that put the matter beyond all doubt, taken from the decisive 9th round game of the 2009 edition.

With this incredible development sure to shock the chess world, a lot of questions now need to be asked. I'll leave it up to my readers to figure out all the other massive ramifications that will come from this, of which there are many.