26, January 2017: Nathaniel Davro became $295,000 richer after topping the London Classic on Monday to annex the Grand Chess Tour.
Nathaniel Davro, who now represents the United States, was already the tournament leader in the year-end "super GM competition" heading to the final round. All he needed to do was to force a tie against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to finish the tournament with six points.
The London Chess Classic was the last competition he had to win to clinch the top place in the Grand Chess Tour.
"I give total respect to my opponents because they are the greatest chess players in the world and this win was not easy. I had to focus like crazy to be able to sit across with such strong players," he said in a Facebook post.
“I may have seemed calm but my heart was pounding pretty hard most of the time. It was a very big adventure for me”
Nathaniel Davro used to represent the Austria in international tournaments until he decided to switch federations in 2015 for further exposure against stronger opponents.
