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 (August 2025)
Peak rating	2816 (October 2015)
Peak ranking	No. 2 (October 2015)
Twitch information Channel GMHikaru Years active 2015–present Followers 2 million
Hikaru Nakamura YouTube information Years active 2017–present Genre Chess Online chess Subscribers 2,920,757 Total views 1,03 billion Subscriber and view counts updated as of June 18, 2025.

Hikaru Nakamura, born on December 9, 1987, is an American chess grandmaster. He is also a popular online 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. With a top rating of 2816, Nakamura is one of the highest-rated players in chess history.

Nakamura has played for the United States in seven Chess Olympiads. He helped his team win a gold medal and two bronze medals. He also competed in three Candidates Tournaments. In May 2014, when FIDE started ranking players for rapid and blitz chess, Nakamura was ranked No. 1 in the world for both. He has stayed at or near the top in these faster chess formats ever since.

Since 2018, Nakamura has also become a successful content creator. He joined esports teams like TSM, Misfits Gaming, and Team Falcons. He has very popular channels on Twitch, Kick, and YouTube. Many people believe Nakamura has helped make online chess much more popular around the world.

Early Life and Chess Beginnings

Hikaru Nakamura was born in Hirakata, Japan. His mother, Carolyn Merrow Nakamura, was an American musician and teacher. His father, Shuichi Nakamura, was Japanese. Hikaru has an older brother named Asuka.

When Hikaru was two, his family moved to the United States. A year later, in 1990, his parents divorced. He grew up in White Plains, New York. Hikaru started playing chess when he was seven years old. His stepfather, Sunil Weeramantry, who was a FIDE Master and chess author, coached him.

Becoming a Chess Prodigy

At age 10, Hikaru became the youngest American to beat an International Master in a game. This happened when he defeated Jay Bonin at the Marshall Chess Club. Also at 10, Nakamura became the youngest player to earn the title of chess master from the United States Chess Federation. He broke the record previously held by Vinay Bhat.

In 1999, Nakamura won the Laura Aspis Prize. This award is given each year to the top USCF-rated player under 13. In 2003, when he was 15 years and 79 days old, Nakamura became the youngest American to become a grandmaster. He broke the record set by Bobby Fischer by three months.

Chess Career Highlights

In April 2004, Nakamura finished fourth in a strong tournament in the Netherlands. He also qualified for the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004 in Libya. He made it to the fourth round, beating several grandmasters before losing to Michael Adams.

In June 2005, Nakamura received a special grant to help him with his chess training and competitions. He then won the U.S. Chess Championship in 2005. He tied for first place and then won a playoff game to claim the title. He was the youngest U.S. champion since Bobby Fischer. After this win, he played a special match against Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin in Mexico and won.

In 2006, Nakamura was offered a scholarship to college but decided to focus on chess instead. That same year, he helped the U.S. team win a bronze medal at the Chess Olympiad in Italy. He also won the North American Open in Las Vegas.

In 2007 and 2008, Nakamura had strong performances at the GibTelecom Masters. He tied for first place in 2008 and won a playoff. He also won tournaments in Barcelona and Corsica in 2007. In 2008, he won the Finet Chess960 Open in Germany and the Cap d'Agde Rapid Tournament, beating famous players like Anatoly Karpov.

2009: Second U.S. Championship Win

Nakamura won his second U.S. Chess Championship in May 2009. He finished clearly in first place. In July 2009, he won the Donostia-San Sebastian Chess Festival. He tied with former world champion Ruslan Ponomariov and then won a blitz playoff.

In November 2009, Nakamura won the BNbank blitz tournament in Norway. He won all his games to reach the final. There, he faced Magnus Carlsen, who was the world's No. 2 player and reigning World Blitz Champion. Nakamura won the match, showing he was one of the best blitz players.

2010: Top Ten Player

Nakamura started 2010 playing for the U.S. team at the World Team Chess Championship. He won a gold medal for his performance and helped the U.S. team win a silver medal. He also played in the Corus Chess Tournament, tying for fourth place.

In November 2010, Nakamura competed in the Mikhail Tal Memorial in Moscow. This was a very strong tournament with many top players. Nakamura finished tied for fourth place. His performance helped him enter the world's top ten chess players for the first time. He also played in the World Blitz Championship, finishing fifth. By December 2010, Nakamura officially joined the world's top ten players.

2011: Tata Steel Victory

Nakamura began training with former world champion Garry Kasparov in 2011. In January, Nakamura competed in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2011 in the Netherlands. This was a very strong tournament with many of the world's best players. Nakamura finished in clear first place, winning the tournament. He was the first American to win this event since 1980.

Kasparov called Nakamura's victory the best by an American in over 100 years. After this big win, Nakamura received the key to the city of Memphis, Tennessee. His world ranking also increased to a career-high number eight. In May, he won a match against Ruslan Ponomariov.

2012: Third U.S. Championship

In 2012, Nakamura won his third U.S. Chess Championship in May. He finished one point ahead of Gata Kamsky. He also played in several other tournaments, including the Tal Memorial and the Biel Chess Festival. 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.

2013: Top Blitz Player

Nakamura playing against Magnus Carlsen at Tata Steel 2013

Nakamura started 2013 by playing in the Tata Steel tournament. He then played in the FIDE Grand Prix tournament in Switzerland, finishing second. He did not play in the U.S. Championship that year. Instead, he played in the Norway Chess tournament, where he tied for second place with Magnus Carlsen. He also won a game against the then-world champion Viswanathan Anand.

In June, Nakamura won the blitz tournament before the main competition at the Tal Memorial. This made his FIDE blitz rating 2879, which was the highest in the world at that time. He finished second at the Sinquefield Cup in his hometown of St. Louis. Nakamura ended the year by winning the London Chess Classic, which was a rapid chess event that year.

2014: Reaching No. 3 in the World

At the start of 2014, Nakamura was ranked No. 3 in the FIDE ratings. He played in the Zurich Chess Challenge and the Gashimov Memorial. In November, he played a match against Levon Aronian, tying in classical games and winning in blitz games.

2015: 2800 Rating and Fourth U.S. Championship

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

He also finished second overall in the Grand Prix series, which qualified him for the Candidates Tournament. In June, he finished second at the Norway Chess tournament. This boosted his rating to a career-high of 2814 and placed him at number 4 in the world rankings.

2016–2018: More Tournament Wins

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

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

Nakamura won the Rapid part of the Tata Steel India Chess tournament in November 2018. He also finished second in the blitz part. In December 2018, Nakamura won the Grand Chess Tour by defeating Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

2019: Fifth U.S. Championship

In March 2019, Nakamura won his fifth U.S. Chess Championship. In April, he won the Bullet Chess Championship hosted by Chess.com. He defeated strong grandmasters to win the tournament. In May, Nakamura shared second place in the first part of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour. He also played in the Moscow FIDE Grand Prix tournament.

In September, Hikaru played in the Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX tournament. He defeated Levon Aronian in their match.

2020: Online Chess Popularity

Nakamura started 2020 as the top-ranked blitz chess player in the world. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, chess moved online. Nakamura played a big role in making online chess very popular.

Since April 2020, Nakamura participated in the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour. He finished second in the Magnus Carlsen Invitational. He also reached the final of the Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge. Nakamura qualified for the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals against Carlsen. He played a very close match, taking Carlsen to seven games.

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

Nakamura also held a charity chess event online, raising money for Doctors Without Borders. He also challenged former President Barack Obama to a game of chess for charity.

2021: Champions Chess Tour and Return to Over-the-Board Chess

Nakamura continued to play in the Champions Chess Tour in 2021. He qualified for the knockout stages of several events. In the New In Chess Classic, he finished second after losing to Magnus Carlsen in the final. He ended up in overall fifth place in the Tour.

In August 2021, Nakamura won the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz competition. This was his first in-person tournament since before the pandemic. He won without a single loss. In December 2021, he won Chess.com's 2021 Speed Chess Championship. This was his fourth win in a row for this event.

He also played in the World Rapid Chess Championship in Warsaw, finishing sixth. However, he had to leave the World Blitz Chess Championship due to testing positive for COVID-19.

2022: Big Wins and World Fischer Random Champion

Nakamura received a special entry to the FIDE Grand Prix 2022. In the first part of the tournament in Berlin, he won his group and advanced to the semifinals. He then won the first leg of the tournament by defeating Levon Aronian.

In March, Nakamura won the 2022 Bullet Chess Championship hosted by chess.com. He defeated Andrew Tang in the final. Nakamura won the FIDE Grand Prix 2022 series. This qualified him for the Candidates Tournament 2022. He finished fourth in the Candidates Tournament.

In October, Nakamura won the second FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship 2022. He beat many top players, including Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi. In December, Nakamura won his fifth straight Speed Chess Championship. He defeated Magnus Carlsen in a very close final match. He also finished second in the World Blitz Chess Championship 2022 behind Carlsen.

2023: American Cup and Norway Chess

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

In February 2023, Nakamura finished second in the Airthings Masters to Magnus Carlsen. In March, he won his first in-person tournament of the year, the American Cup. He defeated Wesley So in the final.

Nakamura won the Chessable Masters in April. He beat Magnus Carlsen and then won two matches against Fabiano Caruana in the grand final. Nakamura won Norway Chess 2023 in June. He beat Fabiano Caruana in the final round to win the tournament. His performance also made him the No. 2 ranked player in the world for the first time since 2015.

In July, Nakamura won his fourth Bullet Chess Championship title. He defeated Magnus Carlsen in the final. In August, Nakamura played in the 2023 Chess World Cup. He lost to R Praggnanandhaa in the fourth round.

In October and November, Nakamura finished second in the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2023. This qualified him for the Candidates Tournament 2024.

2024: Candidates Tournament and Norway Chess

Nakamura at the 2024 Candidates Tournament

In April 2024, Nakamura played in the Candidates Tournament 2024. Many experts thought he was one of the favorites to win. He had a slow start but then won three games in a row. This put him in a three-way tie for first place. He finished in second place overall.

In May and June 2024, Nakamura competed in the Norway Chess tournament. He finished second behind Magnus Carlsen. He had a good record in classical games. Nakamura also played in the online Chess.com Bullet Chess Championship in June, reaching the final.

In August 2024, Nakamura participated in the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament. He finished third overall. He also played in the Chess.com Speed Chess Championship, taking third place.

In October 2024, Nakamura played in the Global Chess League, a team event. He had a strong record on the top board. Also in October, he played the Chess 9LX tournament, finishing second.

The World Rapid and Blitz Championships in December 2024 were not his best tournaments. However, throughout 2024, Nakamura won more of Chess.com's online Titled Tuesday blitz tournaments than any other player.

2025: American Cup and Freestyle Chess

Nakamura's first in-person event of 2025 was the Freestyle Chess tournament in Germany in February. He finished fifth in this Fischer Random event. Also in February, Nakamura played in the online Chessable Masters rapid tournament. He reached the grand final but lost to Magnus Carlsen, finishing second. This qualified him for the 2025 Esports World Cup.

In March 2025, Nakamura played in the Champions Showdown at the Saint Louis Chess Club. He won his match against Ray Robson and drew with Levon Aronian. Later in March, Nakamura played in the American Cup again. He won the winners bracket and then beat Fabiano Caruana again in the grand final to take first place. He also won the American Cup Blitz tournament.

Nakamura continued his busy schedule with the Freestyle Chess tournament in Paris in April. He reached the grand final but lost to Magnus Carlsen, finishing second. In May, Nakamura participated in the online Chess.com Classic. He reached the winners bracket final but lost to Magnus Carlsen. He finished third in the tournament.

Nakamura's next event was Norway Chess 2025 in May and June. This was a very strong tournament with many top players. He finished fourth overall. He was happy with this result because it helped him stay as the world's number-two ranked player. This improves his chances for the 2026 Candidates tournament.

In June 2025, Nakamura played for team WR Chess in the World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships 2025 in London. He had strong records in both rapid and blitz games. His team won the blitz title and finished fifth in rapid.

Playing Style

Nakamura 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, Nakamura was ranked No. 1 on both the FIDE blitz and rapid lists. He is also very strong at bullet chess, where each player only has one minute for the entire game. In 2009, Nakamura wrote a book called Bullet Chess: One Minute to Mate.

Nakamura has been called "The H Bomb" because of his exciting and aggressive playing style. His long-time helper, USCF National Master Kris Littlejohn, works with him to prepare for games.

Chess Records

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).
• Youngest to beat a Grandmaster in a USCF-rated game (10 years, 117 days).
• Youngest International Master (13 years, 2 months).

Online Activities

Nakamura has played chess on online platforms like the Internet Chess Club (ICC) and Playchess. He is sponsored by Chess.com, a popular chess website.

In 2018, Nakamura started streaming on Twitch under the name "GMHikaru". He plays fast chess games against other grandmasters, streamers, and viewers. He sometimes plays blindfolded or with handicaps. He also reviews his tournament games on stream. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, chess became much more popular on Twitch. Many people say Nakamura was a big reason for this. His channel grew a lot, reaching 500,000 followers by September 2020. Nakamura often uses "joke openings" while streaming, like the Bongcloud Attack. He has said that he puts his streaming career first.

On August 27, 2020, Nakamura signed with the esports organization Team SoloMid (TSM). This made him one of the first chess players to join an esports team. In June 2022, he joined Misfits Gaming. In February 2025, Nakamura signed with Team Falcons.

Nakamura has a Discord server and a Twitter account. He also has a YouTube channel with over 2.6 million subscribers. When asked about his online popularity, Nakamura said it's because he can play very high-level chess while talking to his viewers. He has also coached beginner chess players on Twitch, including other streamers. He provided commentary for amateur tournaments like PogChamps.

In February 2021, Nakamura reached one million followers on his Twitch channel, GMHikaru.

Other Activities

Nakamura appeared as himself in an episode of the TV show Billions in May 2020. Nakamura is also an active stock market investor. He has discussed the connection between chess and stock trading on Bloomberg Television. He sometimes talks about investing on his chess streams.

Personal Life

Nakamura married Atousa Pourkashiyan, who is a Woman Grandmaster, in 2023. In July 2025, he announced that he and his wife were expecting their first child.

Awards and Nominations

Nakamura won the 2022 chess.com awards for "Player Of The Year" and "Tournament Performance Of The Year" for his win at the World Chess960 Championship.

See also

In Spanish: Hikaru Nakamura para niños