Hikaru Nakamura

## Background Information

Hikaru Nakamura is a Japanese-Born American Chess Grandmaster who is best known for his ability to play at a very fast pace. He has gained a huge internet personality through his Youtube and Twitch channels which gathered millions of viewers worldwide. In 2014, when the rapid and blitz ratings were released for the first time, Nakamura was rated number one ahead of then world champion Magnus Carlsen and other top players. Nicknamed "The Speed Demon", Hikaru is a super fierce competitor being able to defend positions despite being low on the clock. He is also incredibly fast in blitz and rapid time controls. His peak rating is 2816 in classical time controls.

## Notable Tournaments and Victories

In 2018, Nakamura played a rapid and blitz event sponsored by Tata Steel which was held in Kolkata India. Nakamura won the rapid portion with wins over Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Surya Shekhar Ganguly and Nihal Sarin which allowed him to finish with a score of 6/9. He came second in the blitz portion after losing the tiebreak to Vishy Anand.

* Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Hikaru Nakamura (0-1)
* Hikaru Nakamura vs Surya Shekhar Ganguly (1-0)
* Hikaru Nakamura vs Nihal Sarin (1-0)

 In the same year, he won the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament with a combined score of 22.5/36. This was enough for him to finish ahead of Mamedyarov and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. This victory was important in allowing him to qualify for the Grand Chess Tour finals held in London, England.

* Hikaru Nakamura vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (1-0)
* Levon Aronian vs Hikaru Nakamura (0-1)
* Hikaru Nakamura vs Leinier Dominguez Perez (1-0)

Nakamura won the Grand Chess Tour finals in London, defeating Caruana in the semi-finals and then defeating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the finals. This allowed him to become the 2018 Grand Chess Tour champion.

* Fabiano Caruana vs Hikaru Nakamura (0-1) [Rapid Game]
* Hikaru Nakamura vs Fabiano Caruana (1-0) [Blitz Game]
* Fabiano Caruana vs Hikaru Nakamura (0-1) [Blitz Game]
* Hikaru Nakamura vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (1-0) [Blitz Game]

In 2019, he won the U.S Chess championship for the fifth, finishing ahead of 2018 World Chess Championship Challenger Fabiano Caruana and his other compatriot Wesley So. Nakamura won the event with five wins over Varuzhan Akobian, Timur Gareyev, Samuel Sevian, Ray Robson and Jeffrey Xiong finishing with a score of 8/11.

* Hikaru Nakamura vs Samuel Sevian (1-0) [Round 3]
* Hikaru Nakamura vs Timur Gareyev (1-0) [Round 6]
* Varuzhan Akobian vs Hikaru Nakamura (0-1) [Round 7]
* Ray Robson vs Hikaru Nakamura (0-1) [Round 9]
* Jeffrey Xiong vs Hikaru Nakamura (0-1) [Round 11]

In September, Nakamura played a Chess960 match against Levon Aronian in a event titled "Chess 9LX" held by the Saint Louis Chess Club. Nakamura was trailing the match in Day 1 but managed to outwit his opponent in the end with a score of 14.5 - 11.5.

## Head to Head Against the World Champions

* Hikaru Nakamura vs Garry Kasparov (1 to 3 with five draws in favor of Kasparov)
* Hikaru Nakamura vs Anatoly Karpov (3 to 0 with two draws in favor of Nakamura)
* Hikaru Nakamura vs Viswanathan Anand (21 to 12 with 43 draws in favor of Nakamura)
* Hikaru Nakamura vs Vladimir Kramnik (15 to 10 with 28 draws in favor of Nakamura)
* Hikaru Nakamura vs Veselin Topalov (35 to 13 with 29 draws in favor of Nakamura)
* Hikaru Nakamura vs Magnus Carlsen (17 to 51 with 57 draws in favor of Carlsen)