Hikaru Nakamura facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Hikaru Nakamura
Nakamura at the 2016 Chess Olympiad
Born	Christopher Hikaru Nakamura (1987-12-09) December 9, 1987 (age 37) Hirakata, Japan
Citizenship	United States
Alma mater	Dickinson College
Occupation	Chess Grandmaster Streamer Author
Years active	1998–present
Spouse(s)	Atousa Pourkashiyan ​ (m. 2023)​
Relatives	Sunil Weeramantry (stepfather)
Japanese name
Kanji	中村 光
Transcriptions Romanization Nakamura Hikaru
Chess career
Country	United States
Title	Grandmaster (2003)
FIDE rating	2736 (June 2025)
Peak rating	2816 (October 2015)
Peak ranking	No. 2 (October 2015)
Twitch information
Channel	GMHikaru
Years active	2015–present
Followers	1.9 million
Follower and view counts updated as of November 20, 2024.
Hikaru Nakamura YouTube information Years active 2017–present Genre Chess Online chess Subscribers 2.70 million Total views 937 million Subscriber and view counts updated as of January 9, 2025.

Christopher Hikaru Nakamura (born December 9, 1987) is a famous American chess grandmaster. He is also a popular streamer and YouTuber. Hikaru has won the U.S. Chess Championship five times. He is also the current World Fischer Random Chess Champion.

Hikaru was a chess prodigy, meaning he was incredibly talented at a young age. He became a grandmaster at 15. At that time, he was the youngest American to achieve this title. He reached a very high rating of 2816. This makes him one of the top chess players in history.

Nakamura has played for the United States in many Chess Olympiads. These are big team chess tournaments. He helped his team win a gold medal and two bronze medals. He has also played in three Candidates Tournaments. These tournaments decide who gets to challenge for the World Chess Championship.

Since 2018, Hikaru has become a big content creator online. He is known for his popular channels on Twitch and YouTube. Many people say he has helped make online chess much more popular.

Early Life and Chess Beginnings

Hikaru Nakamura was born in Hirakata, Japan, on December 9, 1987. His mother is American, and his father is Japanese. He has an older brother named Asuka. When Hikaru was two, his family moved to the United States. His parents divorced a year later. He grew up in White Plains, New York.

Hikaru started playing chess when he was seven years old. His stepfather, Sunil Weeramantry, coached him. Sunil was a FIDE Master and a chess author. He began coaching Hikaru and his brother after Asuka won a national chess championship in 1992.

Becoming a Chess Prodigy

When Hikaru was 10, he became the youngest American to beat an International Master. This happened when he defeated Jay Bonin. At the same age, he also became the youngest player to earn the title of chess master from the United States Chess Federation. He broke a record that was previously held by Vinay Bhat.

In 1999, Hikaru won the Laura Aspis Prize. This award goes to the top U.S. chess player under 13. In 2003, when he was 15 years and 79 days old, Hikaru became a grandmaster. He broke Bobby Fischer's record by three months. This achievement showed everyone he was a true chess prodigy.

Key Chess Achievements

Early Tournament Successes

In July 2002, Hikaru played in the 30th annual World Open in Philadelphia. He finished in 56th place. In April 2004, he took fourth place in the "B" group at the Corus tournament in the Netherlands.

Hikaru qualified for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004 in Tripoli, Libya. He reached the fourth round, beating several grandmasters. He was eventually defeated by Michael Adams, who was a top player in the tournament.

In 2005, Hikaru was chosen as a Frank Samford Chess Fellow. He received $32,000 to help him with his chess training and competitions.

Winning the U.S. Championship

Nakamura won the U.S. Chess Championship in 2005. He scored seven points out of nine. He tied with grandmaster Alexander Stripunsky for first place. Hikaru then beat Stripunsky in a playoff to win the title. He became the youngest national champion since Bobby Fischer. He did not lose any games in the tournament.

After this win, Hikaru played a special match in Mexico. It was called the "Duelo de Jóvenes Prodigios" (Duel of Young Prodigies). He played against Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin and won the match.

International Play and Team Medals

In 2006, Hikaru was offered a scholarship to the University of Texas, Dallas. But he chose to attend Dickinson College instead. He wanted a break from chess. Later that year, he decided to start playing again. He helped the U.S. team win a bronze medal at the Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy. He also won the 16th North American Open in Las Vegas.

In January 2007, Hikaru shared second place at the GibTelecom Masters. He tied for first place in the same tournament the next year. He won a rapidplay playoff against Chinese GM Bu Xiangzhi. In October 2007, he won tournaments in Barcelona and Corsica.

Nakamura won the 2008 Finet Chess960 Open in Germany. In November 2008, he won the Cap d'Agde Rapid Tournament. He beat Anatoly Karpov and Vassily Ivanchuk in the finals. In February 2009, he finished joint third at the Gibtelecom Masters.

More U.S. Titles and World Recognition

Nakamura won the U.S. Chess Championship again in 2009. He scored 7 points out of 9. In July 2009, he won the Donostia-San Sebastian Chess Festival. He tied with former world champion Ruslan Ponomariov and then beat him in a playoff. In August 2009, Hikaru became the 960 World Chess Champion. He beat GM Levon Aronian in Germany.

In November 2009, Hikaru won the BNbank blitz tournament in Norway. He won all 12 of his games to reach the final. He then faced Magnus Carlsen, who was the world's number 2 player. Hikaru won the match, showing he was one of the best blitz players.

Becoming a Top-Ten Player

In 2010, Hikaru played for the United States at the World Team Chess Championship in Turkey. He won an individual gold medal for playing on the first board. This helped the U.S. team finish in second place. He also played in the Corus Chess Tournament 2010 and finished tied for fourth.

In November 2010, Hikaru played in the Mikhail Tal Memorial in Moscow. This was a very strong tournament with many top players. Hikaru finished tied for fourth place. His performance helped him enter the world's top ten chess players for the first time.

In December 2010, Hikaru finished fourth in the London Chess Classic. His strong play meant he would officially be in the world's top ten in January 2011.

Tata Steel Victory and Career Highs

In January 2011, Hikaru was ranked number 10 in the world. He started training with former world champion Garry Kasparov.

From January 14 to 30, Hikaru played in the Tata Steel Grandmaster A tournament. This was a very strong event with many top players. Hikaru won the tournament with 9 points out of 13. He was the first American to win this tournament since 1980. This victory raised his rating and moved him to world No. 7. Kasparov called it the best win by an American in over 100 years.

After his big win, Hikaru received the key to the city of Memphis, Tennessee. His victory also led to invitations to other major tournaments. In May, he played a match against Ruslan Ponomariov and won. This pushed his rating even higher, to world No. 6.

Third U.S. Championship and Other Wins

In 2012, Hikaru tied for second place at the Reggio Emilia Tournament. He then finished fifth at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament. In May, he won the U.S. Chess Championship for the third time. He scored 8½ points, one point ahead of Gata Kamsky.

In June 2012, Hikaru played at the Tal Memorial in Moscow. He finished tied for eighth place. He also played in the Biel Chess Festival, finishing third. At the 2012 Chess Olympiad, he led the U.S. team to a fifth-place finish. He ended the year by winning three silver medals at the World Mind Games in Beijing.

Top Blitz Player

In 2013, Hikaru finished sixth at the Tata Steel tournament. He then played in the FIDE Grand Prix tournament in Switzerland, finishing second. Hikaru did not play in the 2013 U.S. championship. Instead, he played in the Norway Chess tournament, tying for second with Magnus Carlsen. He beat then-world champion Viswanathan Anand in one game.

Hikaru won the blitz tournament before the classical competition at the Tal Memorial. This raised his FIDE blitz rating to 2879, making him number one in the world at the time. He finished second at the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis. He also won the London Chess Classic, which was a rapid chess event that year.

Reaching No. 3 in the World

At the start of 2014, Hikaru was ranked No. 3 in the FIDE ratings. He played in the Zurich Chess Challenge and finished fourth. In April, he finished third at the Gashimov Memorial. He also won a match against Czech grandmaster David Navara. In November, Hikaru played a match against Levon Aronian. They tied in classical games, but Hikaru won the blitz games.

Fourth U.S. Championship and 2800 Rating

In January 2015, Hikaru won the Gibraltar Chess Masters tournament. In February, he won the Zurich Chess Challenge again. His strong play in February pushed his FIDE classical rating to 2798. This made him No. 3 in the world. In April, Hikaru won his fourth U.S. Chess Championship.

He also qualified for the Candidates tournament, which decides the challenger for the World Chess Championship. In June, he finished tied for second at the Norway Chess tournament. This boosted his rating to a career-high of 2814. He was ranked number 4 in the world in July 2015.

Tournament Wins and Grand Chess Tour

In February 2016, Hikaru won the Gibraltar Chess Festival for the second year in a row. He also won the Zurich Chess Challenge again. In March 2016, he played in the Candidates Tournament 2016, finishing seventh. In September 2016, Hikaru was part of the U.S. team that won the 42nd Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan.

In January–February 2017, Hikaru won the Gibraltar Chess Festival for the third time. In January 2018, he took second place in the Chess.com Speed Chess Championships. He won the Paris Grand Chess Tour Rapid and Blitz tournament in June 2018. He also won the St. Louis Rapid & Blitz tournament in August 2018.

In November 2018, Hikaru won the Rapid portion of the Tata Steel India Chess tournament. In December, he won the 2018 Grand Chess Tour. He defeated Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final matches.

Fifth U.S. Championship

In March 2019, Hikaru won his fifth U.S. Chess Championship. In April, he won the Bullet Chess Championship hosted by Chess.com. He beat several grandmasters to win the tournament. In May, he shared second place in the first part of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour.

In late May, Hikaru played in the Moscow FIDE Grand Prix. He reached the semi-finals but lost to Alexander Grischuk. In September, he played in the Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX tournament. He defeated Levon Aronian in a Chess960 match.

Online Chess and Streaming Success

Hikaru started 2020 as the top-ranked blitz chess player. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, chess moved online. Hikaru played a big role in making online chess popular.

Since April 2020, Hikaru has played in the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. He finished second behind Magnus Carlsen in the Magnus Carlsen Invitational. He also reached the finals of the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour against Carlsen. He played a very close match, taking it to seven games. Carlsen praised Hikaru's play after the match.

In September, Hikaru tied for first with Carlsen in Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX. He also finished third in St. Louis Rapid & Blitz. In December, Hikaru won the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship for the third time. He defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final.

In 2021, Hikaru continued to play in the Champions Chess Tour. He finished second in the New In Chess Classic tournament. He also won the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz competition in August. This was his first over-the-board tournament since before the pandemic. In December 2021, he won Chess.com's Speed Chess Championship for the fourth time in a row.

FIDE Grand Prix and World Fischer Random Champion

In February 2022, Hikaru played in the FIDE Grand Prix 2022 in Berlin. This was his first classical tournament in two years. He won the first part of the tournament. In March, he won the Bullet Chess Championship hosted by chess.com again.

Hikaru won the entire FIDE Grand Prix 2022 series. This meant he qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2022. He finished fourth in the Candidates Tournament. In October, Hikaru won the second World Fischer Random Chess Championship. He beat top players like Wesley So and Magnus Carlsen. In December, Hikaru won his fifth straight Speed Chess Championship. He defeated Magnus Carlsen in a very close final. He also finished as the runner-up in the World Blitz Chess Championship 2022.

Recent Tournaments

Nakamura with the trophy for second place in the FIDE Grand Swiss 2023

In February 2023, Hikaru finished second in the Airthings Masters. In March, he won his first over-the-board tournament of the year, the American Cup. He defeated GM Wesley So in the final.

Hikaru won the Chessable Masters in April. He beat Magnus Carlsen and then won two matches against Fabiano Caruana in the grand final. In June, Hikaru won Norway Chess 2023. He finished half a point ahead of Fabiano Caruana. His performance also made him the world's No. 2 player in FIDE's July rankings.

In July, Hikaru won his fourth Bullet Chess Championship title. He beat Magnus Carlsen in the final. In August, he played in the Chess World Cup 2023. He lost to Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa in the fourth round. In October and November, Hikaru finished second in the FIDE Grand Swiss 2023. This qualified him for the Candidates Tournament 2024.

In December, Hikaru played in the Champions Chess Tour Finals. He finished fifth. He won 18 Titled Tuesday online blitz tournaments in 2023, more than any other player.

2024 Tournaments

Nakamura at the 2024 Candidates Tournament

In April 2024, Hikaru played in the Candidates Tournament 2024. Many experts thought he might win. He had a slow start but then won three games in a row. He finished in second place, tied with Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana.

In May and June, Hikaru competed in the Norway Chess tournament. He finished second behind Magnus Carlsen. In June, he played in the online Chess.com Bullet Chess Championship. He reached the grand final but lost to Alireza Firouzja. In July, he played in the online CrunchLabs Masters tournament. He was eliminated after losing two matches.

In August, Hikaru played in the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament. He finished third. He also played in Chess.com's Speed Chess Championship. He reached the semifinals but lost to Alireza Firouzja. He won the match for third place.

In October, Hikaru played in the Global Chess League, a team event. His team finished fourth. He also played the Chess 9LX tournament in St. Louis. He finished second, with his only loss coming against the winner, Fabiano Caruana.

In December, Hikaru played in the World Rapid and Blitz Championships. He finished well behind the leaders in both events. For 2024, Hikaru won more of Chess.com's Titled Tuesday blitz tournaments than any other player. He earned the site's Titled Cup award for the year.

Hikaru's Playing Style

Hikaru is especially good at rapid and blitz chess. These are types of chess where players have less time to make their moves. In August 2022, he was ranked No. 1 in the world for both FIDE blitz and FIDE rapid chess. He is also very strong at bullet chess, where each player only has one minute for the whole game. In 2009, Hikaru wrote a book called Bullet Chess: One Minute to Mate.

Hikaru has been called "The H Bomb" because of his exciting and attacking style of play. His long-time assistant, USCF National Master Kris Littlejohn, helps him prepare for games.

Chess Records

Hikaru Nakamura has set several "youngest-ever" records in U.S. chess history:

• Youngest to beat an International Master in a USCF-rated game (10 years, 0 months). This record was later broken by other players.
• Youngest to beat a Grandmaster in a USCF-rated game (10 years, 117 days). This record was also later broken.
• Youngest International Master (13 years, 2 months). This record has since been broken by several younger players.

Online Presence

Hikaru has played chess online for a long time. He used to play on the Internet Chess Club (ICC) and Playchess. He is now sponsored by Chess.com, a popular chess website.

In 2018, Hikaru started streaming on Twitch as "GMHikaru". He plays fast chess games against other grandmasters, streamers, and his viewers. Sometimes he plays blindfolded or with handicaps. He also reviews his tournament games on stream. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, chess became much more popular on Twitch. Many people say Hikaru was a big reason for this. His channel grew a lot, and he gained many followers.

On August 27, 2020, Hikaru signed with the esports team Team SoloMid (TSM). This made him one of the first chess players to join an esports team. In June 2022, he joined Misfits Gaming.

Hikaru also has a YouTube channel called GMHikaru. It has over 2.6 million subscribers. He often talks about how he can play high-level chess while also talking to his viewers. People describe his style as a mix of teaching, amazing skills, and being very expressive.

Hikaru has also coached beginner chess players on Twitch. He gave lessons to streamers in tournaments like PogChamps. He also provided commentary for these events. At one point, PogChamps was the most-watched channel on Twitch. Hikaru believes these tournaments, with players of different skill levels, can become very popular. In February 2021, Hikaru reached one million followers on his Twitch channel.

Other Activities

Hikaru appeared as himself in an episode of the TV show Billions in May 2020. He is also interested in the stock market. In April 2017, he talked on Bloomberg Television about how chess and stock trading are similar. He sometimes discusses investing and money topics during his chess streams.

Personal Life

Hikaru Nakamura married Atousa Pourkashiyan, who is a Woman Grandmaster, in 2023.

Awards and Nominations

Images for kids

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  Nakamura vs Carlsen from the Tata Steel 2013

See also

In Spanish: Hikaru Nakamura para niños