Hikaru Nakamura - The life of a chess genius
14/04/2023 - Actualizado: 21/06/2023
Hikaru Nakamura was born on December 9, 1987 in Hirakata, Japan. At the age of 2, his parents moved to the United States where he became one of the best chess players in the world.
Beginnings of Hikaru Nakamura
Christopher Hikaru Nakamura entered the world of chess just before the age of 5, introduced by Sunil Weeramantry, who became his mother's partner after her divorce from his father.
Sunil was a FIDE Master and as such was an excellent promoter of the game for his stepson, to the point that Hikaru Nakamura established himself as a chess Master within the USCF at only 10 years of age. This made him the first American to achieve the title of Master at such a young age.
But his success did not end there, 5 years later he would surpass Bobby Fischer to become an International Grandmaster.
In 2004, he began to gain more recognition due to his constant triumphs in competition against elite players such as Alexey Aleksandrov, Alexander Lastin and Segrey Volkov.
In 2005, his fame continued to grow as he played all the time on the Internet, chatting with his opponents and defeating them.
He Was Coached by Kasparov
Garry Kasparov's coaching of Nakamura was not long, but influential, as from then on he entered the list of the world's top 10 chess players.
Hikaru Nakamura eagerly accepted the offer to be coached by Kasparov, saying that it was an opportunity he could not pass up.
Hikaru Nakamura's Achievements from 2017 to 2019.
In 2017, Hikaru Nakamura emerged victorious in Gibraltar, defeating David Guijarro in the Chess Festival. A year later he participated online via the Chess.com website in the Speed Chess Championship, where he finished second.
Magnus Carlsen was his executioner in an unofficial tournament, defeating him 10-14. He then took third place in the Norwegian National Tournament.
Hikaru Nakamura took first place at the London Chess Classic 2018, after playing Fabiano Caruana in the semi-finals and Maxime Lagrave in the final of the tournament. But his success did not end there, in 2019 he participated in the U.S. Chess Championship and won.
In the same year he took second place in the Grand Chess Tour in its first phase. In addition, he faced great personalities of the sport in the Grand Prix held by FIDE; however, he could not beat Alexander Grischuk.
Rapid Chess in the Year 2020
Hikaru Nakamura has distinguished himself, among other things, by his skills in blitz and speed chess; since 2020, Hikaru Nakamura has been ranked among the top 4 players of this style within FIDE.
Before that, Nakamura was recognized as one of the best online chess players on sites such as Chess.com, a fact that was reinforced after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, because in the absence of face-to-face matches, the chess world began to rely on online matches to continue its activities.
This year Hikaru Nakamura participated in the so-called "Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour"; he was also the winner of the Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge, where he played and won against Carlsen in the semi-final, but was not so lucky in the final, being defeated by Daniil Dubov.
But not all of his life revolves around chess. In 2020 he hosted a charity event to raise funds for Doctors Without Borders, managing to raise an amount of USD$9,500 for the association. In addition, in November of the same year, together with others, he organized a televised fundraising event, the proceeds of which would go to CARE. The amount raised was USD$358,000.
Hikaru Nakamura as of 2021
This year he continued to participate in the Champions Chess Tour, where he did not make it to the end, losing to Sam Shankland without reaching the knockout phase.
However, in the next tournament of the same championship, the "Magnus Carlsen Invitational", Hikaru Nakamura qualified in the qualifying round, but did not go beyond this stage either. This was due to the fact that he was defeated by Ian Nepomniachtchi in the quarterfinals.
On the fifth day of the event, he finished second in the preliminary round and qualified for the qualifiers. However, as he was already in the final, he would lose again.
In addition to gaining experience from the previous tournaments, when board games returned, Hikaru Nakamura won the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz in its first edition.
In the Year 2022
Hikaru Nakamura was invited by FIDE to participate in the Grand Prix, starting in Group "A". Here he managed to take the lead in the five main rounds, and in the last round he managed to take his team to the semi-finals, where he played Richard Rapport, whom he defeated in this stage to advance to the final.
In the final, Nakamura played Levon Aronian and emerged triumphant. He won the rapid games 2 - 0 and was the undefeated player of the tournament.
Here you can find a compilation of their games
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