Hikaru Nakamura is an American Chess Grandmaster with Elo ratings exceeding 2700, making him one of the few players on earth known as a Super Grandmaster.
“Take the Juicer!”
– Hikaru
Full Name: Hikaru Nakamura
Title: Grandmaster
Born: December 9th, 1987
Place of birth: Hirakata
Nakamuru’s success and abilities in the game of chess are highlighted in his individual rating scores. This esteemed player has a World Ranking of 19, a Rapid ranking of 2836, a Blitz rating of 2884, and a Classical rating of 2774. When rating a chess player, the low scale begins at 400 reaching to over 2000 exhibiting an exceptionally strong player. After each participation in a rated tournament, the participant’s name is entered into a database of players and points are calculated to make up the total score for each category.
International players such as Nakamuru have two ranks, International Master or Grand Master. A ranking over 2500 gives the player the title Grandmaster, although they must also meet participation requirements and consistently be able to win their matches against other professional players.
Biography
Hikaru Nakamura is well known in the chess industry. His successes as the winner of the 2011 Tata Steel Chess Tournament, United States winner five times over, and winner of two team gold medals and two bronze medals for five different Chess Olympiads representing the United States has led him to excel quickly as a chess prodigy.
Born on December 9, 1987 in Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, he quickly made his mark on the esteemed game of chess. By the age of 10 years old he won a match against another International Master at the Marshall Chess Club. It was in this game that he broke age record for youngest Chess Master.
He continued to excel in his industry with amazing accomplishments. When he was 15, he broke the record of the youngest American to become a Grand Master chess player. Throughout his adolescence and into his teenage years he continued to achieve victories with his superior game-playing skills. By the young age of 19, he remarkable earned a paid scholarship to Texas University although he declined. He took a break, and then began attending Dickinson College on a partial scholarship.
Today he continues to excel in his career and his love and skill for the game of chess has led him to countless notable victories and titles. Along the way, he has developed a strong virtual presence with a high-traffic social media following. This interesting man has a lot to show for his hard work and skill playing the prestigious game of chess.
Early Life
From the beginning. Hikaru was born to play chess. He was born in Japan on December 9, 1987. His mother was an American and was trained in the art of classical music. She was also a former public school teacher. He has one older brother by the name of Asuka. At the young age of 2, he, his mother, father, and older brother sought a new beginning in the United States.
When he was 3 years old, his parents were divorced and at seven, he began playing the game of chess coached by his step father, Sri Lankan. His first big victory was as a 10 year old when he broke the record for the youngest player to achieve the title of chess master. This was just the beginning for Hikaru. He then went on to win the Laura Aspis Prize, which is awarded to one recipient annually who wins the rating of best USCF player under age 13.
Achievements
Hikaru Nakamura’s achievement list is broad and quite extensive. He has over 40 notable achievements dating all the way back to 2001 when he achieved US Junior Champion to one of his most recent victories at St Louis, Missouri as the winner of the 2021 St Louis Rapid and Blitz.
Some of his highly esteemed positions he earned a chair to participate in are as follows, the 2009 Second U.S. Championship, 2010 Gold medalist player holding a spot in the test best players, the 2011 Tata Steel Group A victory, Third U.S. Championship in 2012, 2013 Highest of FIDE blitz ratings, and in 2014 he ranked third in the Zurich Chess Challenge.
In 2019, he achieved victory in the Fifth U.S. Championship and also in the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour of 2020. In all of these, he ranked superiorly with stellar performance. His career achievements led him to place 56th at the 30th annual World Open Tournament in Philadelphia, USA in 2002. In 2004, he ranked for admission into the FIDE World Chess Championship in Tripoli Libya and made it to the fourth round defeating top renown many grand masters.
He earned the title 19th Frank Samford Chess Fellow in 2005, awarding him a $32,000 scholarship to go toward his future chess education. In 2006, he and his team achieved the bronze medal in the Chess Olympiad at Turnin, Italy and also won 16th in the Las Vegas match the North American Open that year. In 2011, he reached a remarkable high of number 10 worldwide with a rating of 2751. In May 2012, he came first in the US Championship. In 2016, he won the Gibraltar Chess Festival twice consecutively as well as the Zurich Chess Challenge.
The list goes on and on for this esteemed professional player with his most recent victory in August of 2012 at The Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz.
Playstyle
While at the top of his game in Rapid and Blitz Chess matches, Hikaru does have a general passion for the game of chess. His particular style allows him to complete his moves at a quick pace in accordance with time controls. In bullet chess, he has excelled greatly being able to keep up with the rapid time controls which gives the players under three minutes each to complete their moves and still remain on top of his game. Although he is fond of the versions of the game of chess that require a quick mind and rapid skill set, he is still able to conform to the demands of the modern day Grand Master achieving victory in almost any playing system.
He is highly skilled, maintaining a repertoire of a large scale of chess openings and a broad familiarity of the game as a whole. His playing style has been dubbed by his peers as unpredictable, decent, wild, and aggressive. However his approach to his art of playing the game is perceived, it has resulted in great success for this mastermind chess player.
Notable Games
Of all of his achievements, several notable games stand out among the rest to create a respectable name for him in his career.
Tata Steel 2011
In 2011, he won the Tata Steel 2011 with the game Queen’s Gambit Declined, Ragozin Variation (D38). Developed by the Soviet chess grandmaster Viacheslav Ragozin, the opening of this move is flexible. It can be reached through several different move orders. This theory is based around equality for Black in the Queen’s Gambit and Nimzo-Indian.
Another significant victory to note was the 2013 London Chess Victory. In this rapid style game he showed his skill in the game of London Super Sixteen. In this game, the top players of the world compete against the best British players creating an exciting event. The flexible opening of this game allows White to use virtually any Black’s setups. This specific version of chess has very few solid draws and has many traps, blunders, and crazy and wild games.
Playing in Switzerland, Hikaru went up against Viswanathan Anand in a rapid Armageddon tie-break match. This is a rapid game and one of the most exciting and controversial forms of chess around. In this tiebreak game, players draw lots to determine what color they would like to be. Generally, the player with the white piece is given five minutes on the clock while the black player has four minutes to complete their move. This approach to the timing of the game ensures that the match is broken quickly so that the tiebreaker is not drawn out.
Where Will He Go From Here
With Nakamuru’s high level of success in this game, the excitement to think what is next for him makes him an interesting player to follow. He has proven steady success throughout his career with no signs of slowing down his game anytime soon.
Nakamuru took his game to the next level on the virtual platform known as Twitch. He has used this platform to gain popularity and has reached over 500,000 followers. He was one of the first players to participate virtually on a team like this in August 2020 and has a YouTube channel of over 1,000,000,000 subscribers.
It is safe to say that the best is yet to come for this motivated player. Nakamuru is a divine example for players in his industry how dedication and the ability to adapt playing methods to the current technology trends will ensure a fresh-face and a competitive game.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Hikaru Nakamura’s IQ?
Hikaru has mentioned his IQ score of 102 from a test he took in the past. However, this is not an accurate IQ score because Hikaru did not finish the test because he lost track of the time limit he has on the test.
What is Hikaru Nakamura’s Net Worth?
Non-credible sources state that his net worth is north of 20 million, however Hikaru himself has suggested that his net worth is around 5 million.
What age Did Hikaru Nakamura Become a Grandmaster?
Hikaru earned the Grandmaster title at the tender age of 15 years and 79 days in 2003. He was the youngest American to achieve the Grandmaster title at the time.
If you liked learning about Hikaru, you may also be interested in reading about other top players like Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So.