Nakamura leads San Sebastian
While the traditional Dortmund tournament in Germany has been intermittently entertaining us, the newly minted Donostia/San Sebastian chess festival in Spain has been trying it's best to compete.
The showpiece event is a 10-player round-robin with an eclectic mix of talents from around the world.
| Name | Nat | FIDE | Born |
| Peter Svidler | RUS | 2739 | 1976 |
| Ruslan Ponomariov | UKR | 2727 | 1983 |
| Sergei Movsesian | SVK | 2716 | 1978 |
| Hikaru Nakamura | USA | 2710 | 1987 |
| Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | FRA | 2703 | 1990 |
| Francisco Vallejo Pons | ESP | 2693 | 1982 |
| Rustam Kasimdzhanov | UZB | 2672 | 1979 |
| Julio E Granda Zuniga | PER | 2647 | 1967 |
| Anatoly Karpov | RUS | 2644 | 1951 |
| Pablo San Segundo Carrillo | ESP | 2570 | 1970 |
The tournament runs from 7-16 July, and after the 6 completed rounds so far, Hikaru Nakamura (pictured, from David Llada's Donostia 2009 Flickr set) is storming through the opposition on a very impressive 5/6, a point clear of top seeds Svidler and Ponomariov. Nakamura's own thoughts on his games so far can be read at his blog.
The standings after 6 rounds:
| Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2710 |
5 |
| Svidler, Peter | RUS | 2739 |
4 |
| Ponomariov, Ruslan |
UKR | 2727 |
4 |
| Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | FRA | 2703 |
3½ |
| Vallejo Pons, Francisco | ESP | 2693 |
3 |
| Kasimdzhanov, Rustam | UZB | 2672 |
3 |
| Movsesian, Sergei | SVK | 2716 |
3 |
| Granda Zuniga, Julio E | PER | 2647 |
2 |
| San Segundo Carrillo, Pablo | ESP | 2570 |
1½ |
| Karpov, Anatoly | RUS | 2644 |
1 |
Games start at 4:30 pm local time, and the official site with photos and live games can be found here. The time control being used is the nerve-jangling G/90 min plus 30 sec increment. Selected games below.
