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Hikaru Nakamura

2000s – PresentWorld Champion —Peak rating 2816223 games

Elite American grandmaster and leading rapid/blitz specialist, noted for tactical resourcefulness, practical play and repeated appearances in the Candidates Tournament.

Hikaru Nakamura
Photo: ChessKelly, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

How Nakamura plays

Nakamura is one of the best fast players who has ever lived and a top-ten classical player for years. His style is practical and resourceful: he sets problems, defends stubbornly, and calculates very quickly under pressure. He is also the player who brought chess to a huge online audience.

What to learn from Nakamura

Nakamura's blitz and rapid games show how to play with a ticking clock: keep the pieces active, avoid long think-time on quiet moves, and always leave your opponent something to solve.

A game to play through

Nakamura, Hikaru vs El Mikati, Mohamad - Wch U10 1997 1-0 — the final position. A Nakamura win from the FoxyChess collection.

Hikaru Nakamura: the final position
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Be7 6.Bxf6 Bxf6 7.c3 Nc6 8.Nf3 e5 9.Nxf6+ Qxf6 10.dxe5 Nxe5 11.Qe2 O-O 12.Nxe5 Re8 13.O-O-O h6 14.Re1 Qf4+ 15.Qe3 Qf5 16.Bd3 Qe6 17.Bc4 Qf5 18.Bxf7+ Kf8 19.Ng6+ Kxf7 20.Qxe8+ Kf6 21.Re5 Qxe5 22.Nxe5 b6 23.Qc6+ Kxe5 24.Re1+ Kf4 25.g3+ Kg4 26.Re4+ Kf3 27.Rf4+ Ke2 28.Qf3+ Kf1 29.Re4 Bb7 30.Qh1+ Kxf2 31.Rf4+ Ke2 32.Qd1+ Ke3 33.Qd2#
Play through 223 Hikaru Nakamura games

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Hikaru Nakamura games on FoxyChess

Watch each game move by move, or play the winner's moves yourself and see how close you get.

…and 183 more inside FoxyChess.

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