Hikaru Nakamura
Encyclopedia
Hikaru Nakamura is an American chess Grandmaster
(GM). He has been ranked among the top six players in the world by FIDE.
Nakamura's first supertournament victory came at Wijk aan Zee
2011, finishing clear first ahead of the four top-rated players in the world in a performance described by former World Champion
Garry Kasparov
as better than any tournament by Bobby Fischer
, and the best by an American in more than 100 years.
Nakamura was rated No. 1 in the United States according to the November 2011 FIDE ratings list, at 2758. He tied for No. 1 with Kamsky on the October 2011 USCF ratings list at 2840.
It has been revealed that Nakamura is now training with Kasparov.
, Japan, to a Japanese father and an American mother. At the age of two, he moved with his parents to the United States. He began playing chess prior to the age of five and was coached by his Sri Lankan stepfather, FIDE Master and chess author Sunil Weeramantry.
from the United States Chess Federation
(USCF), becoming the youngest American ever to earn the title and breaking the record previously set by Vinay Bhat
; Nakamura's record stood until 2008 when Nicholas Nip
achieved master at the age of 9 years and 11 months. In 1999, Nakamura won the Laura Aspis Prize
, given annually to the top USCF rated player under the age of 13. In 2003, at age 15 years and 79 days, Nakamura solidified his reputation as a chess prodigy
, becoming the youngest American to earn the grandmaster title, breaking by three months the record of Bobby Fischer
. This record has since been broken by Fabiano Caruana
and Ray Robson
.
games early, having once said in an interview that "there is no point of taking draws". He prefers instead to exploit all prospective winning chances, giving him a style of play described by the U.S. Chess Federation as marked by "astonishing creativity...relentless determination...[the making] of unexpected moves and a will to win".
Formerly a resident of White Plains, New York
, Nakamura often played in the weekly New York Masters chess tournament at the Marshall Chess Club
, which he won several times. He currently lives in St. Louis.
In April 2004 Nakamura achieved a fourth-place finish in the "B" group at the Corus tournament
at Wijk aan Zee
.
Nakamura qualified for the 2004 world chess championship
, contested in Tripoli
, Libya, and reached the fourth round, defeating grandmasters Sergey Volkov
, Aleksej Aleksandrov
, and Alexander Lastin
before falling to England's Michael Adams, the tournament's third-seeded participant and eventual runner-up.
On June 20, 2005, Nakamura was selected as the 19th Frank Samford Chess Fellow, receiving a grant of $32,000 to further his chess education and competition.
Nakamura won the 2005 U.S. Chess Championship
(held in November and December 2004), scoring seven points over nine rounds to tie grandmaster Alex Stripunsky for first place. Nakamura defeated Stripunsky in two straight rapid chess playoff games to claim the title and become the youngest national champion since Fischer. Nakamura finished the tournament without a loss and, in the seventh round, defeated grandmaster Gregory Kaidanov
, then the nation's top-ranked player.
Following that victory, Nakamura played a challenge match dubbed the "Duelo de Jóvenes Prodigios" in Mexico against Ukrainian
grandmaster Sergey Karjakin
and defeated his fellow prodigy, 4.5–1.5.
In November
and December 2005 Nakamura entered the FIDE World Chess Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk
, Russia, seeded 28th (of 128 players) but failed to advance beyond the first round. He lost each of his two games to Indian grandmaster Surya Ganguly.
In 2006, Nakamura helped the U.S. team win the bronze medal in the International Chess Olympiad
at Turin
, playing third board behind Gata Kamsky
and 2006 U.S. Champion Alexander Onischuk
. In the same year he won the 16th North American Open in Las Vegas.
In January 2007 Nakamura shared second place at the GibTelecom Masters
in Gibraltar
. He placed joint first in the tournament the following year, finishing with five straight wins to tie with Chinese GM Bu Xiangzhi
, whom he then proceeded to beat in the rapidplay play off.
In October 2007 Nakamura won the Magistral D'Escacs in Barcelona
and the Corsica
n circuit rapid chess tournament.
Nakamura won the 2008 Finite Chess960 Open (Mainz). In November 2008, he won the Cap d'Agde Rapid Tournament in Cap d'Agde
, defeating Anatoly Karpov
in the semifinals and Vassily Ivanchuk in the finals. In February 2009 he came joint third at the 7th Gibtelecom Masters in Gibraltar, again finishing strongly with 4½/5 to end the event on 7½/10.
, who shared second with 6½.
In July 2009, Nakamura won the Donostia-San Sebastian Chess Festival, tying with former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov
with 6.5/9 before defeating Ponomariov in a blitz playoff to win the title over a field including former undisputed world champion Anatoly Karpov
, former FIDE world champions Rustam Kasimdzhanov
and Ponomariov, 2009 World Junior champion Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
, and Peter Svidler
among others. In August 2009, Nakamura became the 960 World Chess Champion
, beating GM Levon Aronian 3.5–0.5 in Mainz, Germany.
In November 2009, Nakamura participated in the BNbank blitz tournament in Oslo, Norway. He reached the final by winning all 12 of his games. In the championship, he faced the world No. 2 and reigning World Blitz Champion Magnus Carlsen
. Nakamura won the match 3–1, further cementing his reputation as one of the best blitz players in the world, despite having not been invited to the 2009 World Blitz championship.
Nakamura skipped the Chess World Cup 2009
in favor of the London Chess Classic in December 2009. Although he drew with the black pieces against eventual winner Magnus Carlsen and with white against former world champion Vladimir Kramnik
, Nakamura failed to win a game during the tournament and ended in seventh place out of eight.
held in Bursa, Turkey. Nakamura's impressive performance, including a convincing win over world No. 6 and recent Chess World Cup winner Boris Gelfand
on the black side of a King's Indian Defense won him the individual gold medal for board one, and led the U.S. to a second place finish behind only Russia.
Nakamura participated in the 2010 Corus chess tournament in Wijk ann Zee. Winning over Loek van Wely
, Nigel Short
, early leader Alexei Shirov
, and drawing against world champion Viswanathan Anand
and world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen
, Nakamura was in second place after seven rounds. In the eighth round Nakamura faced former world champion Vladimir Kramnik
, to whom he lost playing with the black pieces in a Dutch Defense. Nakamura had an up-and-down tournament the rest of the way, but finished with a long endgame victory over Sergei Tiviakov
. Finishing with an overall +2 record, Nakamura tied for fourth with Viswanathan Anand
, behind Carlsen, Shirov, and Kramnik.
In May, Nakamura participated in the 2010 United States Chess Championship
in Saint Louis, Missouri attempting to defend his 2009 title. Seeded first, he scored 5/7 points to qualify for the round-robin stage against 1991 champion and current Candidates Player Gata Kamsky
, 2006 champion Alexander Onischuk
, and 2008 champion Yuri Shulman. In the round-robin stage, he drew Kamsky before losing to Shulman, with the white pieces in both games. The loss to Shulman eliminated him from defending his 2009 title.
Nakamura competed in the 39th Chess Olympiad, playing board one on the United States team featuring Gata Kamsky
, Alexander Onischuk
, Yuri Shulman, and Robert Hess
. Although he defeated Le Quang Liem
and drew Kramnik with the black pieces during the tournament, the U.S. team failed to medal.
From November 5 through 14th, Nakamura competed in the 2010 Mikhail Tal Memorial
in Moscow; the field consisted of world No. 3 Levon Aronian
, world No. 4 Vladimir Kramnik
, world No. 6 Alexander Grischuk
, world No. 8 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
, world No. 9 Sergey Karjakin
, Pavel Eljanov
, Boris Gelfand
, Alexei Shirov
, and Wang Hao
. The average Elo of the field was 2757, making it the third strongest tournament in chess history at the time. Nakamura finished at +1, defeating Eljanov and drawing every other player to finish in a tie for fourth place and missing out on a tie for first place by blundering into a draw in a winning position in the final round against Grischuk. Nakamura's round two win over Eljanov placed him in the world top-ten in the live ratings for the first time in his career. Nakamura's performance at this tournament, his first involving an entirely super-elite field allowed him to "force (the chess elite) to respect him", according to noted Russian commentator grandmaster Sergey Shipov.
From November 16 through 18th, Nakamura made his debut at the 2010 World Blitz Championship in Moscow. Despite a disastrous start and losing four of his first five games to Magnus Carlsen
, Vladimir Kramnik
, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
, and Sergey Karjakin
, he recovered to score 5/7 in the second half of the day and finished with a score of 7.5/14, 2.5 points behind coleaders Carlsen and Levon Aronian
, whom he defeated in their individual game. On the second day, Nakamura avenged his earlier losses against both Carlsen and Kramnik and scored 8/14, for a total of 15.5/28, three points behind Aronian and a point and a half behind Carlsen. Nakamura finished with 21.5/38 for fifth place behind Gelfand, Carlsen, Teimour Radjabov
and champion Aronian.
In December 2010 Nakamura finished fourth in the London Chess Classic
, among a field including Anand, Carlsen, Kramnik, Michael Adams, Nigel Short
, David Howell
, and Luke McShane
. This included a win with Black against Kramnik, evening their career head-to-head record at 2.5/2.5. The tournament was won by Magnus Carlsen. Nakamura's performance ensured that he would officially join the world top ten as of January 1, 2011.
Nakamura began training with former world champion Garry Kasparov
. The first of several training sessions was held in New York at the beginning of January.
From January 14 through January 30, Nakamura competed in the Tata Steel Grandmaster A tournament
in Wijk aan Zee
among a field of world No. 1 and defending champion Magnus Carlsen
, world champion
and world No. 2 Viswanathan Anand
, world No. 3 and reigning World Blitz champion Levon Aronian
, world No. 4 and former world champion Vladimir Kramnik
, world No. 7 Alexander Grischuk
, former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov
, reigning Russian champion Ian Nepomniachtchi
, reigning Chinese champion Wang Hao
, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
, Alexei Shirov
, Anish Giri
, Jan Smeets
, and Erwin L'Ami
. The average rating of the field was 2740, making this thirteen-round event a category 20 tournament. After twelve rounds, Nakamura was in clear first place with 8.5 points going into the final round, half a point ahead of Anand and a full point ahead of Carlsen and Aronian. In the final round, Nakamura drew against Hao with the black pieces in a King's Indian Defense. With the draw, Nakamura finished with 9/13 (+5), a tournament performance rating of 2879, and guaranteed at least a share of first place. With Anand's final round draw against Nepomniachtchi, Nakamura clinched sole possession of first place, making him the first American to win the Wijk aan Zee tournament since 1980. The win also guaranteed that Nakamura will join Carlsen (winner of the 2010 Pearl Spring chess tournament
) as qualifiers for Grand Slam Masters Final
2011 in September 2011. Nakamura after the tournament stated that his goal was to reach a 2800 rating by the end of the year; the win raised his rating from 2751 to 2774 and from world No. 10 to world No. 7 on the unofficial live rating list. The rating of 2774 is within 11 points of Bobby Fischer
's peak rating of 2785.
Former world champion Garry Kasparov
, considered by many to be the greatest chess player of all time, called Nakamura's victory the best by an American in more than 100 years:
Following his supertournament triumph, Nakamura was given the key to the city of Memphis, Tennessee
on February 15, 2011. The victory also opened the door for Nakamura to receive invitations from other supergrandmaster tournaments for the first time, and increased his world ranking to a career-high number eight. In May he contested a six-game match in the United States against world No. 11 Ponomariov where he lost the first game but rallied to win the match 3.5–2.5, raising his rating to 2777 and ranking to world No. 6 on the unofficial live rating list, both career-highs to date. From June 11–21, he made his debut at the Bazna Kings Tournament in Romania in a field including Carlsen, world No. 5 Vassily Ivanchuk, world No. 6 Sergey Karjakin
, world No. 13 Teimour Radjabov
and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
; the tournament was be a Category XXI event with an average ELO of 2760, making it the third strongest tournament in history; Nakamura finished 4.5/10; the tournament was won by Carlsen on tiebreak over Karjakin. Despite the disappointing performance at Bazna, he reached a new career-high world ranking of No. 6 in the July 2011 FIDE list with a 2770 rating.
From July 21 to 31st, Nakamura made his debut at the Dortmund Invitational
in Germany; the field was comprised of world No. 5 Kramnik, world No. 10 Ponomariov, world No. 27 Le Quang Liem
, world No. 40 Giri, and Georg Meier
. Nakamura had a second consecutive disappointing performance, beginning at −3 before winning his last two games, including a last round win over tournament winner Kramnik on the black side of the King's Indian Defense, to finish at 4.5/10.
Nakamura will next compete in the Grand Slam Masters Final
2011 in September, after which he will play in the Tal Memorial for the second consecutive year in a field comprised of Carlsen, Anand, Aronian, Karjakin, Kramnik, Ivanchuk, Gelfand, Hao, and Nepomniachtchi. He will then finish the year by participating in the London Chess Classic
for the third consecutive time.
, and has been called "easily the best blitz player in America" and "one of the best blitz players in the world."
Nakamura is well known in the chess community for playing on the Internet regularly. He plays primarily on two chess sites:
Internet Chess Club
('Smallville') ('Capilanobridge') and Playchess
('Star Wars'). He is the strongest bullet, blitz and standard player on the server and he has set many rating records under different categories.
Nakamura has served as a commentator and game annotator, most prominently on the ChessNinja website, operated by chess author Mig Greengard
.
Nakamura has been described as having an uncommon enthusiasm for chess and as being much more approachable than other players of his ability. For instance, just after winning his first U.S. Championship in 2005, he played numerous 1-minute games with all comers in the lobby of the hotel where the competition had taken place.
Nakamura attended Dickinson College
for a short while in Pennsylvania as a member of the class of 2010. He is also an avid hockey fan, and frequently attends games of the New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks.
Nakamura maintains a Twitter account under the username "GMHikaru".
Hikaru has set several "youngest-ever" records in U.S. chess history, including:
, played in the 29th New York Masters 2002. Nakamura's annotations are given along with the text.
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. f3 b5 8. Qd2 Nbd7 9. g4 Nb6 10. 0-0-0 Bb7 11. Nb3 Rc8 12. Na5 Ba8 13. a4!?
13... Nc4
14. Nxc4 bxc4 15. Qd4 Qc7 16. g5 Nd7 17. f4
17... h6 18. g6!?
18... fxg6
19. Rg1 Kf7
20. f5 gxf5
21. exf5 e5 22.Qh4?!
22... Nf6 23. Be2 Ke8 24. Rg6 Qf7 25. Qg3 Rb8 26. a5! Bc6 27. Bb6 h5
28. Qh4 d5 29. Qg3 Qe7 30. Bd4! Rxb2 31. Kxb2 exd4 32. Rxd4 Qa3+ 33. Kb1 Bd6?
34. Qe3+ Kd8 (see diagram) 35. Nxd5!!
35... Qxe3
36. Nxe3 Kc7 37. Rxg7+ Nd7 38. Nxc4 Rb8+ 39. Nb6 Re8 40. Bf3 Re1+ 41. Ka2 Ra1+!
42. Kxa1 Be5 43. c3 Bxg7 44. Bxc6 Bxd4 45. cxd4 1–0
Players who have been World Champion in boldface
Viswanathan Anand
+0−0=3 Magnus Carlsen
+0−3=5 Levon Aronian
+0−1=5 Vladimir Kramnik
+2−2=4 Veselin Topalov
+0−0=1 Sergei Karjakin +5−2=6 Anatoly Karpov
+1−0=0 Alexander Grischuk
+2−1=3 Ruslan Ponomariov
+2−3=6 Alexei Shirov
+2−0=1 Rustam Kasimdzhanov
+1−0=2 Boris Gelfand
+1−2=3 Vassily Ivanchuk +0−1=3 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
+1−3=2 Peter Svidler
+0−5=2 Michael Adams +0−1=3 Nigel Short
+2−0=1 Gata Kamsky
+0−0=4
International Grandmaster
The title Grandmaster is awarded to strong chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain....
(GM). He has been ranked among the top six players in the world by FIDE.
Nakamura's first supertournament victory came at Wijk aan Zee
Corus chess tournament
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament formerly called the Corus chess tournament takes place every year, usually in January, in a small town called Wijk aan Zee, part of the larger Beverwijk in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands...
2011, finishing clear first ahead of the four top-rated players in the world in a performance described by former World Champion
World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....
as better than any tournament by Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
, and the best by an American in more than 100 years.
Nakamura was rated No. 1 in the United States according to the November 2011 FIDE ratings list, at 2758. He tied for No. 1 with Kamsky on the October 2011 USCF ratings list at 2840.
It has been revealed that Nakamura is now training with Kasparov.
Early life
Nakamura was born in Hirakata, Osaka PrefectureOsaka Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the Kansai region on Honshū, the main island of Japan. The capital is the city of Osaka. It is the center of Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto area.- History :...
, Japan, to a Japanese father and an American mother. At the age of two, he moved with his parents to the United States. He began playing chess prior to the age of five and was coached by his Sri Lankan stepfather, FIDE Master and chess author Sunil Weeramantry.
Chess prodigy
At age 10 years and 79 days, Nakamura achieved the title of chess masterChess master
A chess master is a chess player of such skill that he/she can usually beat chess experts, who themselves typically prevail against most amateurs. Among chess players, the term is often abbreviated to master, the meaning being clear from context....
from the United States Chess Federation
United States Chess Federation
The United States Chess Federation is a non-profit organization, the governing chess organization within the United States, and one of the federations of the FIDE. The USCF was founded in 1939 from the merger of two regional chess organizations, and grew gradually until 1972, when membership...
(USCF), becoming the youngest American ever to earn the title and breaking the record previously set by Vinay Bhat
Vinay Bhat
Vinay Bhat is an American chess Grandmaster. Bhat earned his third Grandmaster norm in July 2007 at the age of 23, though he did not obtain the Grandmaster title immediately due to rating requirements. Bhat ultimately earned the Grandmaster title in October 2008...
; Nakamura's record stood until 2008 when Nicholas Nip
Nicholas Nip
Nicholas Nip is a United States Chess Federation National Master . In 2008, he became the youngest USCF Master in history, obtaining a rating of 2207 at the age of 9 years, 11 months and 26 days, a record that was surpassed in 2010 by Samuel Sevian.Nip's feat broke the record held for a decade...
achieved master at the age of 9 years and 11 months. In 1999, Nakamura won the Laura Aspis Prize
Laura Aspis Prize
The Laura Aspis Prize was an award in the game of chess. Beginning in 1980, it was awarded annually to the number one ranked American chess player under the age of 13 by the nonprofit educational foundation Chess-in-the-Schools until 1999.The prize offered a trophy and $1,500...
, given annually to the top USCF rated player under the age of 13. In 2003, at age 15 years and 79 days, Nakamura solidified his reputation as a chess prodigy
Chess prodigy
Chess prodigies are children who play chess so well that they are able to beat Masters and even Grandmasters, often at a very young age. Chess is one of the few sports where children can compete with adults on equal ground; it is thus one of the few skills in which true child prodigies exist...
, becoming the youngest American to earn the grandmaster title, breaking by three months the record of Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
. This record has since been broken by Fabiano Caruana
Fabiano Caruana
Fabiano Luigi Caruana is Grandmaster and chess prodigy with dual citizenship of Italy and the United States.On 15 July 2007 Caruana became a Grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, 20 days – the youngest Grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the United States.In the November 2011...
and Ray Robson
Ray Robson
Ray Robson is an American chess player who holds the title of Grandmaster. In October 2009, about two weeks before turning 15, he became the youngest grandmaster-elect in history who plays for the United States .Robson's norms were gained at the Arctic Chess...
.
Chess career
Nakamura is generally regarded as an aggressive player who is reluctant to drawDraw (chess)
In chess, a draw is when a game ends in a tie. It is one of the possible outcomes of a game, along with a win for White and a win for Black . Usually, in tournaments a draw is worth a half point to each player, while a win is worth one point to the victor and none to the loser.For the most part,...
games early, having once said in an interview that "there is no point of taking draws". He prefers instead to exploit all prospective winning chances, giving him a style of play described by the U.S. Chess Federation as marked by "astonishing creativity...relentless determination...[the making] of unexpected moves and a will to win".
Formerly a resident of White Plains, New York
White Plains, New York
White Plains is a city and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in south-central Westchester, about east of the Hudson River and northwest of Long Island Sound...
, Nakamura often played in the weekly New York Masters chess tournament at the Marshall Chess Club
Marshall Chess Club
The Marshall Chess Club in New York City is one of the oldest chess clubs in the United States, located in Greenwich Village. The club was formed in 1915 by a group of players led by Frank Marshall. It is a non-profit organization.-History:...
, which he won several times. He currently lives in St. Louis.
In April 2004 Nakamura achieved a fourth-place finish in the "B" group at the Corus tournament
Corus chess tournament
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament formerly called the Corus chess tournament takes place every year, usually in January, in a small town called Wijk aan Zee, part of the larger Beverwijk in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands...
at Wijk aan Zee
Wijk aan Zee
Wijk aan Zee is a small town on the coast of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk in the province of North Holland of the Netherlands. The prestigious Tata Steel chess tournament formerly Corus chess tournament and before that called Hoogovens tournament takes place there every year.Due...
.
Nakamura qualified for the 2004 world chess championship
FIDE World Chess Championship 2004
The FIDE World Chess Championship, 2004 was held at the Almahary Hotel in Tripoli, Libya, from June 18 to July 13.It was won by Rustam Kasimdzhanov, who beat Michael Adams in the final by a score of 4½-3½...
, contested in Tripoli
Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...
, Libya, and reached the fourth round, defeating grandmasters Sergey Volkov
Sergey Volkov (chess)
Sergey Viktorovich Volkov is a Russian chess Grandmaster.Volkov has been in the FIDE world's top 50 list and has enjoyed many tournament successes, including victory at the 2000 Russian Chess Championship in Samara...
, Aleksej Aleksandrov
Aleksej Aleksandrov
Aleksej Aleksandrov is a chess grandmaster .-Selected tournament results:* 1991: Victory at the USSR Junior Chess Championship* 1992: Victory at the European Junior Chess Championship...
, and Alexander Lastin
Alexander Lastin
Alexander Lastin is a Russian chess Grandmaster. In 2002 he won the Russian Chess Championship. His current rating 2659 is also his peak rating.-Notable Games:Russian Men's Championship 2009, Rnd. 4...
before falling to England's Michael Adams, the tournament's third-seeded participant and eventual runner-up.
On June 20, 2005, Nakamura was selected as the 19th Frank Samford Chess Fellow, receiving a grant of $32,000 to further his chess education and competition.
Nakamura won the 2005 U.S. Chess Championship
U.S. Chess Championship
The U.S. Chess Championship is an invitational tournament held to determine the national chess champion of the United States. Since 1936, it has been held under the auspices of the U.S. Chess Federation. Until 1999, the event consisted of a round-robin tournament of varying size...
(held in November and December 2004), scoring seven points over nine rounds to tie grandmaster Alex Stripunsky for first place. Nakamura defeated Stripunsky in two straight rapid chess playoff games to claim the title and become the youngest national champion since Fischer. Nakamura finished the tournament without a loss and, in the seventh round, defeated grandmaster Gregory Kaidanov
Gregory Kaidanov
Gregory Kaidanov is a Grandmaster of chess.As of April 2007, his Elo rating was 2587, making him the #9 player in the US and the 179th-highest rated player in the world. His peak rating was 2646 in 2002....
, then the nation's top-ranked player.
Following that victory, Nakamura played a challenge match dubbed the "Duelo de Jóvenes Prodigios" in Mexico against Ukrainian
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
grandmaster Sergey Karjakin
Sergey Karjakin
Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was a chess prodigy and holds the record for both the youngest International Master, eleven years and eleven months, and grandmaster in history, at the age of twelve years and seven months...
and defeated his fellow prodigy, 4.5–1.5.
In November
November 2005
November 2005 is the eleventh month of that year. It began on a Tuesday and ended after 30 days on a Wednesday.-Portal:Current events:-News collections and sources:See: Wikipedia:News collections and sources....
and December 2005 Nakamura entered the FIDE World Chess Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk
Khanty-Mansiysk
Khanty-Mansiysk experiences a subarctic climate . The climate is extreme, with temperatures as low as -49 C° and as high as 34.5 C°. On average, however, the region is very cold, with an average tempurature of -1.1 C°...
, Russia, seeded 28th (of 128 players) but failed to advance beyond the first round. He lost each of his two games to Indian grandmaster Surya Ganguly.
In 2006, Nakamura helped the U.S. team win the bronze medal in the International Chess Olympiad
Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation.-Birth of the Olympiad:The first Olympiad was unofficial...
at Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
, playing third board behind Gata Kamsky
Gata Kamsky
Gata Kamsky is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster, and the current World Rapid Chess Champion. He is also the current United States Chess Champion. As of September 2011, he is rated No. 1 in the United States and No...
and 2006 U.S. Champion Alexander Onischuk
Alexander Onischuk
Alexander Onischuk is an American chess grandmaster. Originally from Ukraine, he immigrated to the US in 2001 and currently lives in Northern Virginia. He was the 2006 U.S. Chess Champion...
. In the same year he won the 16th North American Open in Las Vegas.
In January 2007 Nakamura shared second place at the GibTelecom Masters
Gibraltar Chess Festival
The Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival is a chess tournament played annually at the Caleta Hotel in Gibraltar since 2003.- List of Winners :Since 2007, the Masters has had a tie-break for first place.-References:* - Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Website....
in Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
. He placed joint first in the tournament the following year, finishing with five straight wins to tie with Chinese GM Bu Xiangzhi
Bu Xiangzhi
Bu Xiangzhi is a Chinese chess grandmaster. In 1999, he became China's 10th Grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 10 months, 13 days, at the time the youngest in history. In April 2008, Bu and Ni Hua became the second and third Chinese players to pass the 2700 Elo rating line, after Wang Yue...
, whom he then proceeded to beat in the rapidplay play off.
In October 2007 Nakamura won the Magistral D'Escacs in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
and the Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
n circuit rapid chess tournament.
Nakamura won the 2008 Finite Chess960 Open (Mainz). In November 2008, he won the Cap d'Agde Rapid Tournament in Cap d'Agde
Cap d'Agde
Cap d'Agde is the seaside resort of the town of Agde, France, on the Mediterranean sea in the département of Hérault, within the région of Languedoc-Roussillon. Agde can be reached by TGV SNCF train direct from Paris or Lille whilst the closest airports are Béziers-Cap d'Agde en Languedoc, with...
, defeating Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once...
in the semifinals and Vassily Ivanchuk in the finals. In February 2009 he came joint third at the 7th Gibtelecom Masters in Gibraltar, again finishing strongly with 4½/5 to end the event on 7½/10.
2009: Second U.S. Championship and other tournament successes
Nakamura won the 2009 U.S. Chess Championship (St Louis, Missouri, May 2009), scoring 7/9 to take clear first ahead of 17-year-old GM-elect Robert HessRobert Hess (chess player)
Robert Lee Hess is an American chess Grandmaster. As of September 2011, his FIDE rating was 2625, fifth in the United States .-IM:...
, who shared second with 6½.
In July 2009, Nakamura won the Donostia-San Sebastian Chess Festival, tying with former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov
Ruslan Ponomariov
Ruslan Olegovich Ponomariov is a Ukrainian chess player and former FIDE World Champion.-Early career:Ponomariov was born in Horlivka in Ukraine. In 1994 he placed third in the World Under-12 Championship at the age of ten. In 1996 he won the European Under-18 Championship at the age of just...
with 6.5/9 before defeating Ponomariov in a blitz playoff to win the title over a field including former undisputed world champion Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once...
, former FIDE world champions Rustam Kasimdzhanov
Rustam Kasimdzhanov
Rustam Kasimdzhanov is an Uzbekistani chess Grandmaster, best known for winning the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004. He was born in Tashkent, in the former Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic...
and Ponomariov, 2009 World Junior champion Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is a French chess Grandmaster and the 2009 World Junior Chess Champion.-Grandmaster norms:He completed his final grandmaster norm at age 14 years, 4 months, in 2005....
, and Peter Svidler
Peter Svidler
Peter Veniaminovich Svidler is a Russian chess grandmaster.He is six-time Russian champion ....
among others. In August 2009, Nakamura became the 960 World Chess Champion
Chess960
Chess960 is a chess variant invented and advocated by former World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer, originally announced on June 19, 1996 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It employs the same board and pieces as standard chess, but the starting position of the pieces is randomized along the players' home...
, beating GM Levon Aronian 3.5–0.5 in Mainz, Germany.
In November 2009, Nakamura participated in the BNbank blitz tournament in Oslo, Norway. He reached the final by winning all 12 of his games. In the championship, he faced the world No. 2 and reigning World Blitz Champion Magnus Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess Grandmaster and chess prodigy who is currently the number-one ranked player in the world. In January 2010 he became the seventh player ranked number one in the world on the official FIDE rating list...
. Nakamura won the match 3–1, further cementing his reputation as one of the best blitz players in the world, despite having not been invited to the 2009 World Blitz championship.
Nakamura skipped the Chess World Cup 2009
Chess World Cup 2009
The Chess World Cup 2009 was a 128-player single-elimination tournament, played between 20 November and 14 December 2009, in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The Cup winner qualified for the Candidates stage of the World Chess Championship 2011. Boris Gelfand defeated Ruslan Ponomariov in the...
in favor of the London Chess Classic in December 2009. Although he drew with the black pieces against eventual winner Magnus Carlsen and with white against former world champion Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...
, Nakamura failed to win a game during the tournament and ended in seventh place out of eight.
2010: Gold medalist and top-ten player
Nakamura began 2010 playing first board for the United States at the World Team Chess ChampionshipWorld Team Chess Championship
The World Team Chess Championship is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of 10 countries whose chess federations dominate their continent.-Men's team medals:-Women's team medals:-References:*...
held in Bursa, Turkey. Nakamura's impressive performance, including a convincing win over world No. 6 and recent Chess World Cup winner Boris Gelfand
Boris Gelfand
Boris Abramovich Gelfand is a Belarus-born Israeli chess Grandmaster. He won the 2011 Candidates Tournament and will challenge Viswanathan Anand for the World Chess Championship 2012.-Biography:...
on the black side of a King's Indian Defense won him the individual gold medal for board one, and led the U.S. to a second place finish behind only Russia.
Nakamura participated in the 2010 Corus chess tournament in Wijk ann Zee. Winning over Loek van Wely
Loek van Wely
Loek van Wely is a chess Grandmaster from the Netherlands. He won the Dutch Chess Championship six times straight from 2000 through 2005. He was rated among the world's top ten in 2001. In 2002, in Maastricht, Netherlands, van Wely took on the computer program Rebel in a four-game match. The...
, Nigel Short
Nigel Short
Nigel David Short MBE is an English chess grandmaster earning the title at the age of 19. Short is often regarded as the strongest English player of the 20th century as he was ranked third in the world, from January 1988 – July 1989 and in 1993, he challenged Garry Kasparov for the World Chess...
, early leader Alexei Shirov
Alexei Shirov
Alexei Dmitrievich Shirov is a Soviet-born Latvian chess grandmaster. He has consistently ranked among the world's top players since the early 1990s, and reached a ranking as high as number four in 1998...
, and drawing against world champion Viswanathan Anand
Viswanathan Anand
V. Anand or Anand Viswanathan, usually referred as Viswanathan Anand, is an Indian chess Grandmaster, the current World Chess Champion, and currently second highest rated player in the world....
and world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess Grandmaster and chess prodigy who is currently the number-one ranked player in the world. In January 2010 he became the seventh player ranked number one in the world on the official FIDE rating list...
, Nakamura was in second place after seven rounds. In the eighth round Nakamura faced former world champion Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...
, to whom he lost playing with the black pieces in a Dutch Defense. Nakamura had an up-and-down tournament the rest of the way, but finished with a long endgame victory over Sergei Tiviakov
Sergei Tiviakov
Sergei Tiviakov is a naturalised Dutch chess Grandmaster.Tiviakov won the Dutch Chess Championship in 2006 and 2007. In 2008, in Plovdiv, he won the European Individual Chess Championship with 8.5/11....
. Finishing with an overall +2 record, Nakamura tied for fourth with Viswanathan Anand
Viswanathan Anand
V. Anand or Anand Viswanathan, usually referred as Viswanathan Anand, is an Indian chess Grandmaster, the current World Chess Champion, and currently second highest rated player in the world....
, behind Carlsen, Shirov, and Kramnik.
In May, Nakamura participated in the 2010 United States Chess Championship
U.S. Chess Championship
The U.S. Chess Championship is an invitational tournament held to determine the national chess champion of the United States. Since 1936, it has been held under the auspices of the U.S. Chess Federation. Until 1999, the event consisted of a round-robin tournament of varying size...
in Saint Louis, Missouri attempting to defend his 2009 title. Seeded first, he scored 5/7 points to qualify for the round-robin stage against 1991 champion and current Candidates Player Gata Kamsky
Gata Kamsky
Gata Kamsky is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster, and the current World Rapid Chess Champion. He is also the current United States Chess Champion. As of September 2011, he is rated No. 1 in the United States and No...
, 2006 champion Alexander Onischuk
Alexander Onischuk
Alexander Onischuk is an American chess grandmaster. Originally from Ukraine, he immigrated to the US in 2001 and currently lives in Northern Virginia. He was the 2006 U.S. Chess Champion...
, and 2008 champion Yuri Shulman. In the round-robin stage, he drew Kamsky before losing to Shulman, with the white pieces in both games. The loss to Shulman eliminated him from defending his 2009 title.
Nakamura competed in the 39th Chess Olympiad, playing board one on the United States team featuring Gata Kamsky
Gata Kamsky
Gata Kamsky is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster, and the current World Rapid Chess Champion. He is also the current United States Chess Champion. As of September 2011, he is rated No. 1 in the United States and No...
, Alexander Onischuk
Alexander Onischuk
Alexander Onischuk is an American chess grandmaster. Originally from Ukraine, he immigrated to the US in 2001 and currently lives in Northern Virginia. He was the 2006 U.S. Chess Champion...
, Yuri Shulman, and Robert Hess
Robert Hess (chess player)
Robert Lee Hess is an American chess Grandmaster. As of September 2011, his FIDE rating was 2625, fifth in the United States .-IM:...
. Although he defeated Le Quang Liem
Le Quang Liem
Lê Quang Liêm is a leading Vietnamese chess player. He was the Under-14 World Youth Chess Champion in July 2005. He competed for Vietnam at the Chess Olympiads in 2006 and 2008....
and drew Kramnik with the black pieces during the tournament, the U.S. team failed to medal.
From November 5 through 14th, Nakamura competed in the 2010 Mikhail Tal Memorial
Mikhail Tal Memorial
The Tal Memorial is a chess tournament played in Moscow each year since 2006, to honour the memory of the former World Champion Mikhail Tal who died in 1992....
in Moscow; the field consisted of world No. 3 Levon Aronian
Levon Aronian
Levon Grigor Aronian is an Armenian chess Grandmaster and the reigning World Blitz Chess Champion. On the September 2011 FIDE list, he has an Elo rating of 2807, making him number three in the world and Armenia's number one...
, world No. 4 Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...
, world No. 6 Alexander Grischuk
Alexander Grischuk
Alexander Igorevich Grischuk is a Russian chess grandmaster and Russian Champion in 2009.-Chess career:In the FIDE World Chess Championship 2000, Grischuk he made it to the semifinals, losing to Alexei Shirov....
, world No. 8 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Shakhriyar Hamid oglu Mammadyarov , also known for his Shah nickname, is a chess Grandmaster. On the September 2010 FIDE rating list he was ranked number nine in the world with an Elo rating of 2756....
, world No. 9 Sergey Karjakin
Sergey Karjakin
Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was a chess prodigy and holds the record for both the youngest International Master, eleven years and eleven months, and grandmaster in history, at the age of twelve years and seven months...
, Pavel Eljanov
Pavel Eljanov
Pavel Eljanov is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster.In 1999, he was a member of the Ukrainian national youth team, which won the U-16 Chess Olympiad in Artek, Ukraine.Eljanov won the Corus B 2007 in Wijk aan Zee, Holland with a score of 9/13...
, Boris Gelfand
Boris Gelfand
Boris Abramovich Gelfand is a Belarus-born Israeli chess Grandmaster. He won the 2011 Candidates Tournament and will challenge Viswanathan Anand for the World Chess Championship 2012.-Biography:...
, Alexei Shirov
Alexei Shirov
Alexei Dmitrievich Shirov is a Soviet-born Latvian chess grandmaster. He has consistently ranked among the world's top players since the early 1990s, and reached a ranking as high as number four in 1998...
, and Wang Hao
Wang Hao (chess player)
Wang Hao is a Chinese chess Grandmaster. In November 2009, Wang Hao became the fourth ever Chinese player to cross the 2700 Elo rating mark. He is the reigning Chinese Chess Champion, with a ranking of No. 1 in China, No. 2 in Asia behind Viswanathan Anand and No. 19 in the world...
. The average Elo of the field was 2757, making it the third strongest tournament in chess history at the time. Nakamura finished at +1, defeating Eljanov and drawing every other player to finish in a tie for fourth place and missing out on a tie for first place by blundering into a draw in a winning position in the final round against Grischuk. Nakamura's round two win over Eljanov placed him in the world top-ten in the live ratings for the first time in his career. Nakamura's performance at this tournament, his first involving an entirely super-elite field allowed him to "force (the chess elite) to respect him", according to noted Russian commentator grandmaster Sergey Shipov.
From November 16 through 18th, Nakamura made his debut at the 2010 World Blitz Championship in Moscow. Despite a disastrous start and losing four of his first five games to Magnus Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess Grandmaster and chess prodigy who is currently the number-one ranked player in the world. In January 2010 he became the seventh player ranked number one in the world on the official FIDE rating list...
, Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...
, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is a French chess Grandmaster and the 2009 World Junior Chess Champion.-Grandmaster norms:He completed his final grandmaster norm at age 14 years, 4 months, in 2005....
, and Sergey Karjakin
Sergey Karjakin
Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was a chess prodigy and holds the record for both the youngest International Master, eleven years and eleven months, and grandmaster in history, at the age of twelve years and seven months...
, he recovered to score 5/7 in the second half of the day and finished with a score of 7.5/14, 2.5 points behind coleaders Carlsen and Levon Aronian
Levon Aronian
Levon Grigor Aronian is an Armenian chess Grandmaster and the reigning World Blitz Chess Champion. On the September 2011 FIDE list, he has an Elo rating of 2807, making him number three in the world and Armenia's number one...
, whom he defeated in their individual game. On the second day, Nakamura avenged his earlier losses against both Carlsen and Kramnik and scored 8/14, for a total of 15.5/28, three points behind Aronian and a point and a half behind Carlsen. Nakamura finished with 21.5/38 for fifth place behind Gelfand, Carlsen, Teimour Radjabov
Teimour Radjabov
Radjabov's knight sacrifice, 21. ... Ngxe5, was praised by several strong players for its bravery, including English grandmaster Nigel Short. Said Short of the move, "Radjabov plays very imaginatively... he just won't give up, he is extremely tenacious and will always find a way to muddy the...
and champion Aronian.
In December 2010 Nakamura finished fourth in the London Chess Classic
London Chess Classic
The London Chess Classic is a festival of the game of chess held at the Olympia Conference Centre, West Kensington, London. The flagship event is a strong invitational tournament between some of the world's top grandmasters...
, among a field including Anand, Carlsen, Kramnik, Michael Adams, Nigel Short
Nigel Short
Nigel David Short MBE is an English chess grandmaster earning the title at the age of 19. Short is often regarded as the strongest English player of the 20th century as he was ranked third in the world, from January 1988 – July 1989 and in 1993, he challenged Garry Kasparov for the World Chess...
, David Howell
David Howell (chess player)
David Wei Liang Howell is an English chess player. He is the youngest chess Grandmaster in the United Kingdom, a title he earned when he came second during the 35th Rilton Cup in Stockholm on 5 January 2007 when he was 16...
, and Luke McShane
Luke McShane
Luke James McShane is an English chess player. A former World Youth Champion and prodigious talent in chess, he has become one of England's leading players and a member of the Olympiad team. He has also been a trader in London's financial sector.- Early career :McShane won the World Under-10...
. This included a win with Black against Kramnik, evening their career head-to-head record at 2.5/2.5. The tournament was won by Magnus Carlsen. Nakamura's performance ensured that he would officially join the world top ten as of January 1, 2011.
2011: First superGM tournament championship and continued rise
In the January 2011 FIDE rating list Nakamura was ranked number 10 in the world with a rating of 2751, his highest ranking to date.Nakamura began training with former world champion Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....
. The first of several training sessions was held in New York at the beginning of January.
From January 14 through January 30, Nakamura competed in the Tata Steel Grandmaster A tournament
Corus chess tournament
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament formerly called the Corus chess tournament takes place every year, usually in January, in a small town called Wijk aan Zee, part of the larger Beverwijk in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands...
in Wijk aan Zee
Wijk aan Zee
Wijk aan Zee is a small town on the coast of the North Sea in the municipality of Beverwijk in the province of North Holland of the Netherlands. The prestigious Tata Steel chess tournament formerly Corus chess tournament and before that called Hoogovens tournament takes place there every year.Due...
among a field of world No. 1 and defending champion Magnus Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess Grandmaster and chess prodigy who is currently the number-one ranked player in the world. In January 2010 he became the seventh player ranked number one in the world on the official FIDE rating list...
, world champion
World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....
and world No. 2 Viswanathan Anand
Viswanathan Anand
V. Anand or Anand Viswanathan, usually referred as Viswanathan Anand, is an Indian chess Grandmaster, the current World Chess Champion, and currently second highest rated player in the world....
, world No. 3 and reigning World Blitz champion Levon Aronian
Levon Aronian
Levon Grigor Aronian is an Armenian chess Grandmaster and the reigning World Blitz Chess Champion. On the September 2011 FIDE list, he has an Elo rating of 2807, making him number three in the world and Armenia's number one...
, world No. 4 and former world champion Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...
, world No. 7 Alexander Grischuk
Alexander Grischuk
Alexander Igorevich Grischuk is a Russian chess grandmaster and Russian Champion in 2009.-Chess career:In the FIDE World Chess Championship 2000, Grischuk he made it to the semifinals, losing to Alexei Shirov....
, former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov
Ruslan Ponomariov
Ruslan Olegovich Ponomariov is a Ukrainian chess player and former FIDE World Champion.-Early career:Ponomariov was born in Horlivka in Ukraine. In 1994 he placed third in the World Under-12 Championship at the age of ten. In 1996 he won the European Under-18 Championship at the age of just...
, reigning Russian champion Ian Nepomniachtchi
Ian Nepomniachtchi
Ian Aleksandrovich Nepomniachtchi is a Russian chess grandmaster and the chess champion of Russia in 2010. , he was listed by FIDE as having an Elo rating of 2730....
, reigning Chinese champion Wang Hao
Wang Hao (chess player)
Wang Hao is a Chinese chess Grandmaster. In November 2009, Wang Hao became the fourth ever Chinese player to cross the 2700 Elo rating mark. He is the reigning Chinese Chess Champion, with a ranking of No. 1 in China, No. 2 in Asia behind Viswanathan Anand and No. 19 in the world...
, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is a French chess Grandmaster and the 2009 World Junior Chess Champion.-Grandmaster norms:He completed his final grandmaster norm at age 14 years, 4 months, in 2005....
, Alexei Shirov
Alexei Shirov
Alexei Dmitrievich Shirov is a Soviet-born Latvian chess grandmaster. He has consistently ranked among the world's top players since the early 1990s, and reached a ranking as high as number four in 1998...
, Anish Giri
Anish Giri
Anish Giri is a chess prodigy. He met his final grandmaster norm at the age of 14 years, 7 months and 2 days when he beat Venezuelan GM Eduardo Iturrizaga in the C Group of the 2009 Corus Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands....
, Jan Smeets
Jan Smeets
Jan Smeets is a Dutch chess player with the title Grandmaster. He was the Netherlands' national champion in 2008. In 2009 he did not take part, but in 2010 he successfully reclaimed the championship.-Competitive beginnings:...
, and Erwin L'Ami
Erwin l'Ami
Erwin l'Ami is a chess Grandmaster. He has emerged, along with Jan Smeets, Daniel Stellwagen and Jan Werle, as one of a new generation of talented young players from the Netherlands.-Early years:...
. The average rating of the field was 2740, making this thirteen-round event a category 20 tournament. After twelve rounds, Nakamura was in clear first place with 8.5 points going into the final round, half a point ahead of Anand and a full point ahead of Carlsen and Aronian. In the final round, Nakamura drew against Hao with the black pieces in a King's Indian Defense. With the draw, Nakamura finished with 9/13 (+5), a tournament performance rating of 2879, and guaranteed at least a share of first place. With Anand's final round draw against Nepomniachtchi, Nakamura clinched sole possession of first place, making him the first American to win the Wijk aan Zee tournament since 1980. The win also guaranteed that Nakamura will join Carlsen (winner of the 2010 Pearl Spring chess tournament
Pearl Spring chess tournament
The Pearl Spring Chess Tournament is a double round robin chess tournament event featuring six super-GM players that takes place in Nanjing, China. The first edition in December 2008 was won by Veselin Topalov...
) as qualifiers for Grand Slam Masters Final
Bilbao Chess Masters Final
The Bilbao Chess Masters Final is one of the most important annual chess tournaments thanks to the level of the participants and the prizes at stake. It is a double round robin tournament typically featuring the winners of the grand slam chess tournaments which are part of the Grand Slam Chess...
2011 in September 2011. Nakamura after the tournament stated that his goal was to reach a 2800 rating by the end of the year; the win raised his rating from 2751 to 2774 and from world No. 10 to world No. 7 on the unofficial live rating list. The rating of 2774 is within 11 points of Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
's peak rating of 2785.
Former world champion Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....
, considered by many to be the greatest chess player of all time, called Nakamura's victory the best by an American in more than 100 years:
In an e-mail, Kasparov said, "Fischer never won a tournament ahead of the world champion. He was second in Santa Monica", referring to the Second Piatigorsky Cup. "Of course, there were far fewer such events back then, and Fischer had several great tournament results like Stockholm 62", the interzonal qualifier for the world championship. "Reuben Fine only equaled Keres on points at AVRO in 38." Referring to the breakout performance of Frank J. Marshall, the United States Champion from 1909 to 1936, Mr. Kasparov continued, "Then you have Marshall at Cambridge Springs in 1904 ahead of Lasker, though Tarrasch wasn’t there. So unless you include Capablanca as an American player, I think you can go back to Pillsbury at Hastings 1895 for an American tournament victory on par with Nakamura’s."
Following his supertournament triumph, Nakamura was given the key to the city of Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
on February 15, 2011. The victory also opened the door for Nakamura to receive invitations from other supergrandmaster tournaments for the first time, and increased his world ranking to a career-high number eight. In May he contested a six-game match in the United States against world No. 11 Ponomariov where he lost the first game but rallied to win the match 3.5–2.5, raising his rating to 2777 and ranking to world No. 6 on the unofficial live rating list, both career-highs to date. From June 11–21, he made his debut at the Bazna Kings Tournament in Romania in a field including Carlsen, world No. 5 Vassily Ivanchuk, world No. 6 Sergey Karjakin
Sergey Karjakin
Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was a chess prodigy and holds the record for both the youngest International Master, eleven years and eleven months, and grandmaster in history, at the age of twelve years and seven months...
, world No. 13 Teimour Radjabov
Teimour Radjabov
Radjabov's knight sacrifice, 21. ... Ngxe5, was praised by several strong players for its bravery, including English grandmaster Nigel Short. Said Short of the move, "Radjabov plays very imaginatively... he just won't give up, he is extremely tenacious and will always find a way to muddy the...
and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu is a Romanian chess grandmaster. His peak FIDE rating was 2707 in October 2005, when he was ranked fifteenth in the world, and the highest ranked Romanian player ever...
; the tournament was be a Category XXI event with an average ELO of 2760, making it the third strongest tournament in history; Nakamura finished 4.5/10; the tournament was won by Carlsen on tiebreak over Karjakin. Despite the disappointing performance at Bazna, he reached a new career-high world ranking of No. 6 in the July 2011 FIDE list with a 2770 rating.
From July 21 to 31st, Nakamura made his debut at the Dortmund Invitational
Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting
The Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting is an elite chess tournament held every summer in Dortmund, Germany.Dortmund is an invite-only event, and only the strongest grandmasters are invited...
in Germany; the field was comprised of world No. 5 Kramnik, world No. 10 Ponomariov, world No. 27 Le Quang Liem
Le Quang Liem
Lê Quang Liêm is a leading Vietnamese chess player. He was the Under-14 World Youth Chess Champion in July 2005. He competed for Vietnam at the Chess Olympiads in 2006 and 2008....
, world No. 40 Giri, and Georg Meier
Georg Meier (chess player)
Georg Meier is a German grandmaster of chess.His top Elo rating is 2667, recorded in January 2011. In December 2009, he tied for 1st-4th with Julio Granda, Viktor Láznička and Kiril Georgiev in the 19th Magistral Pamplona Tournament....
. Nakamura had a second consecutive disappointing performance, beginning at −3 before winning his last two games, including a last round win over tournament winner Kramnik on the black side of the King's Indian Defense, to finish at 4.5/10.
Nakamura will next compete in the Grand Slam Masters Final
Bilbao Chess Masters Final
The Bilbao Chess Masters Final is one of the most important annual chess tournaments thanks to the level of the participants and the prizes at stake. It is a double round robin tournament typically featuring the winners of the grand slam chess tournaments which are part of the Grand Slam Chess...
2011 in September, after which he will play in the Tal Memorial for the second consecutive year in a field comprised of Carlsen, Anand, Aronian, Karjakin, Kramnik, Ivanchuk, Gelfand, Hao, and Nepomniachtchi. He will then finish the year by participating in the London Chess Classic
London Chess Classic
The London Chess Classic is a festival of the game of chess held at the Olympia Conference Centre, West Kensington, London. The flagship event is a strong invitational tournament between some of the world's top grandmasters...
for the third consecutive time.
Other
Nakamura is very skilled at blitz chessBlitz chess
Fast chess, also known as blitz chess, lightning chess, sudden death, speed chess, bullet chess and rapid chess, is a type of chess game in which each side is given less time to make their moves than under the normal tournament time controls of 60 to 180 minutes per player.-Overview:The different...
, and has been called "easily the best blitz player in America" and "one of the best blitz players in the world."
Nakamura is well known in the chess community for playing on the Internet regularly. He plays primarily on two chess sites:
Internet Chess Club
Internet Chess Club
The Internet Chess Club is a commercial Internet chess server devoted to the play and discussion of chess and chess variants. ICC currently has over 30,000 subscribing members...
('Smallville') ('Capilanobridge') and Playchess
Playchess
Playchess is a commercial Internet chess server edited by ChessBase devoted to the play and discussion of chess and chess variants. As of February 2011, Playchess has over 31,000 players online, including many internationally titled players who remain pseudo-anonymous and other masters whose...
('Star Wars'). He is the strongest bullet, blitz and standard player on the server and he has set many rating records under different categories.
Nakamura has served as a commentator and game annotator, most prominently on the ChessNinja website, operated by chess author Mig Greengard
Mig Greengard
Michael "Mig" Greengard, is an American chess author and journalist who currently lives in New York City. Greengard also maintains the official English website of the Russian pro-democracy coalition, The Other Russia.-Journalism:Greengard's online column "Mig on Chess" appeared from 1997 to 1999...
.
Nakamura has been described as having an uncommon enthusiasm for chess and as being much more approachable than other players of his ability. For instance, just after winning his first U.S. Championship in 2005, he played numerous 1-minute games with all comers in the lobby of the hotel where the competition had taken place.
Nakamura attended Dickinson College
Dickinson College
Dickinson College is a private, residential liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Originally established as a Grammar School in 1773, Dickinson was chartered September 9, 1783, five days after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, making it the first college to be founded in the newly...
for a short while in Pennsylvania as a member of the class of 2010. He is also an avid hockey fan, and frequently attends games of the New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks.
Nakamura maintains a Twitter account under the username "GMHikaru".
Hikaru has set several "youngest-ever" records in U.S. chess history, including:
- Youngest to defeat an International Master in a USCF-rated game (10 years, 0 months); later surpassed by Praveen Balakrishnan at 9 years 29 days;
- Youngest to defeat a Grandmaster in a USCF-rated game (10 years, 117 days; later surpassed by Fabiano CaruanaFabiano CaruanaFabiano Luigi Caruana is Grandmaster and chess prodigy with dual citizenship of Italy and the United States.On 15 July 2007 Caruana became a Grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, 20 days – the youngest Grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the United States.In the November 2011...
at 10 years, 61 days); - Youngest International Master (13 years, 2 months; later surpassed by Ray RobsonRay RobsonRay Robson is an American chess player who holds the title of Grandmaster. In October 2009, about two weeks before turning 15, he became the youngest grandmaster-elect in history who plays for the United States .Robson's norms were gained at the Arctic Chess...
at 13 years, 1 month).
Sample game
The following game is Nakamura–NovikovIgor Novikov (chess player)
Igor A. Novikov is a chess Grandmaster and former Chess Champion of Ukraine. He has American citizenship and is currently registered with the US Chess Federation who lists him as one of their top players. While living in Brooklyn he won the Marshall Chess Club Championship in 2002...
, played in the 29th New York Masters 2002. Nakamura's annotations are given along with the text.
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. f3 b5 8. Qd2 Nbd7 9. g4 Nb6 10. 0-0-0 Bb7 11. Nb3 Rc8 12. Na5 Ba8 13. a4!?
- This rare line has only been played two times, both games were draws. (13.g5 Nfd7 14.a4 b4 15.Na2 Nxa4 16.Bxa6 Qxa5 17.Bxc8 Ndb6=/+ Perez–Novikov, Aosta Open Italy 2002.)
13... Nc4
- 13...d5 14.g5 Nfd7 15.exd5 Bxd5 16.axb5 Bb4 17.Nc6 Bxc6 18.bxc6 Rxc6 19.Bxb6 Rxb6 20.Qd4 0-0 21.Na4! Rb8 22.Qxd7 Qxg5+ 23.f4 Qxf4+ 24.Kb1+/− Andreev–Voitsekhovsky, 2000.
14. Nxc4 bxc4 15. Qd4 Qc7 16. g5 Nd7 17. f4
- 17.h4 e5 18.Qa7 Qxa7 19.Bxa7 h6 20.Bh3+/= De la Villa GarciaJesús de la VillaJesús María de la Villa Garcia is a chess Grandmaster born in Spain. He won the Spanish Chess Championship twice, in 1985 and 1988. He is a chess author and coach. In 2010 he was awarded the title of FIDE Senior Trainer.-External links:...
–ȘubăMihai SubaMihai Șubă is a Romanian chess Grandmaster. FIDE awarded him the International Master title in 1975 and the International Grandmaster title in 1978. He won the Romanian Chess Championship in 1980, 1981 and 1985. He first came to wide attention in 1982 when he finished second, after Zoltán Ribli,...
, Benasque Open 1995.
17... h6 18. g6!?
- The idea behind sacrificing the pawn is to weaken the e6 and g6 pawns, and force Black to move his king to f7. (18.gxh6 Rxh6 19.f5 Rh7 [19...Rh4 20.fxe6 fxe6 21.Bf2 Rh7 22.Bg3!+/=] 20.fxe6.)
18... fxg6
- Novikov accepts the challenge. Perhaps f5 was better because once he takes on g6 his pieces get tied down, and Black ends up with a very passive position. (18...f5!? 19.Bg2 Nf6~~.)
19. Rg1 Kf7
- 19...e5?! 20.Qd2 g5 (20...exf4 21.Bxf4 Qb6 22.Rxg6 Rb8 23.b3 cxb3 24.Re6+ Kf7 25.Bc4+/− ; 20...Qb7 21.Qd5! Qxd5 22.Nxd5+/=) 21.fxg5 hxg5 22.Nd5+/=.
20. f5 gxf5
- 20...exf5 21.exf5 gxf5 22.Bh3→.
21. exf5 e5 22.Qh4?!
- Missing a chance to get a winning position. (22.Qg4! Nf6 23.Qg6+ Ke7 24.Bg2+/−.)
22... Nf6 23. Be2 Ke8 24. Rg6 Qf7 25. Qg3 Rb8 26. a5! Bc6 27. Bb6 h5
- This is the only move which makes any sense here, but it allows White to win the exchangeThe exchange (chess)The exchange in chess refers to a situation in which one player loses a minor piece but captures the opponent's rook. The side which wins the rook is said to have won the exchange, while the other player has lost the exchange, since the rook is usually more valuable...
. Maybe Novikov felt like giving up the exchange to get some counterplay because if he does not play h5 White has all the play.
28. Qh4 d5 29. Qg3 Qe7 30. Bd4! Rxb2 31. Kxb2 exd4 32. Rxd4 Qa3+ 33. Kb1 Bd6?
- 33...Qb4+ 34.Kc1 Bd6~~ After the game, when I analysed with Novikov, he suggested this line. I did not find anything which was winning for White, and I think that Black is at least even in this position if not better.
34. Qe3+ Kd8 (see diagram) 35. Nxd5!!
- Clearly Novikov did not see this brilliant tactical shot as he used up most of his time trying to come up with a good move. In the end he had to settle for a losing endgame down an exchange.
35... Qxe3
- 35...Bxd5 36.Qxa3 Bxa3 37.Bxc4 Bc5 38.Rd3+−; 35...Qxa5 36.Nxf6 Qe1+ 37.Qc1+−; 35...Nxd5 36.Qxa3 Bxa3 37.Rxc6+−.
36. Nxe3 Kc7 37. Rxg7+ Nd7 38. Nxc4 Rb8+ 39. Nb6 Re8 40. Bf3 Re1+ 41. Ka2 Ra1+!
- Desperation.
42. Kxa1 Be5 43. c3 Bxg7 44. Bxc6 Bxd4 45. cxd4 1–0
- 45.cxd4 Kxc6 46.d5+ Kd6 47.Nxd7 Kxd7 48.f6+−.
Head-to-head record versus top players
(Rapid, blitz and blindfold games not included; listed as +wins −losses =draws as of August 1, 2011.)Players who have been World Champion in boldface
Viswanathan Anand
Viswanathan Anand
V. Anand or Anand Viswanathan, usually referred as Viswanathan Anand, is an Indian chess Grandmaster, the current World Chess Champion, and currently second highest rated player in the world....
+0−0=3 Magnus Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess Grandmaster and chess prodigy who is currently the number-one ranked player in the world. In January 2010 he became the seventh player ranked number one in the world on the official FIDE rating list...
+0−3=5 Levon Aronian
Levon Aronian
Levon Grigor Aronian is an Armenian chess Grandmaster and the reigning World Blitz Chess Champion. On the September 2011 FIDE list, he has an Elo rating of 2807, making him number three in the world and Armenia's number one...
+0−1=5 Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...
+2−2=4 Veselin Topalov
Veselin Topalov
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He currently has the sixth highest rating in the world, and was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2010, losing the match 6½–5½....
+0−0=1 Sergei Karjakin +5−2=6 Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was the official world champion from 1975 to 1985 when he was defeated by Garry Kasparov. He played three matches against Kasparov for the title from 1986 to 1990, before becoming FIDE World Champion once...
+1−0=0 Alexander Grischuk
Alexander Grischuk
Alexander Igorevich Grischuk is a Russian chess grandmaster and Russian Champion in 2009.-Chess career:In the FIDE World Chess Championship 2000, Grischuk he made it to the semifinals, losing to Alexei Shirov....
+2−1=3 Ruslan Ponomariov
Ruslan Ponomariov
Ruslan Olegovich Ponomariov is a Ukrainian chess player and former FIDE World Champion.-Early career:Ponomariov was born in Horlivka in Ukraine. In 1994 he placed third in the World Under-12 Championship at the age of ten. In 1996 he won the European Under-18 Championship at the age of just...
+2−3=6 Alexei Shirov
Alexei Shirov
Alexei Dmitrievich Shirov is a Soviet-born Latvian chess grandmaster. He has consistently ranked among the world's top players since the early 1990s, and reached a ranking as high as number four in 1998...
+2−0=1 Rustam Kasimdzhanov
Rustam Kasimdzhanov
Rustam Kasimdzhanov is an Uzbekistani chess Grandmaster, best known for winning the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004. He was born in Tashkent, in the former Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic...
+1−0=2 Boris Gelfand
Boris Gelfand
Boris Abramovich Gelfand is a Belarus-born Israeli chess Grandmaster. He won the 2011 Candidates Tournament and will challenge Viswanathan Anand for the World Chess Championship 2012.-Biography:...
+1−2=3 Vassily Ivanchuk +0−1=3 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Shakhriyar Hamid oglu Mammadyarov , also known for his Shah nickname, is a chess Grandmaster. On the September 2010 FIDE rating list he was ranked number nine in the world with an Elo rating of 2756....
+1−3=2 Peter Svidler
Peter Svidler
Peter Veniaminovich Svidler is a Russian chess grandmaster.He is six-time Russian champion ....
+0−5=2 Michael Adams +0−1=3 Nigel Short
Nigel Short
Nigel David Short MBE is an English chess grandmaster earning the title at the age of 19. Short is often regarded as the strongest English player of the 20th century as he was ranked third in the world, from January 1988 – July 1989 and in 1993, he challenged Garry Kasparov for the World Chess...
+2−0=1 Gata Kamsky
Gata Kamsky
Gata Kamsky is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster, and the current World Rapid Chess Champion. He is also the current United States Chess Champion. As of September 2011, he is rated No. 1 in the United States and No...
+0−0=4