American Chess Players #gettingafterit

This probably isn’t news to anyone following chess in the last few years, but I’ve just come to realize that it’s a great time to be following the elite international chess circuit if you’re an American. There are three(!) Americans in the top ten rated grandmasters right now. I’m not enough of a chess historian to know whether that’s ever happened before, but I strongly suspect this is the first time.

There’s even a high level tournament going on right now in Norway. World champion Magnus Carlsen has been a little shaky. Rumor has it he’s got a new girlfriend or something. Whatever it is, he’s in ninth place out of ten as of today. American Hikaru Nakamura is currently in second place, just a half point out of first.

I know it’s totally dorky, but I’m enjoying the hell outta following this!