Hikaru Nakamura

Nakamura was born on December 9, 1987, in Hirakata City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, to a Japanese father and an American mother, Carolyn Nakamura Weeramantry; he has an older brother, Asuka Nakamura.⁠[1]

In 1995, at age 7, he began playing chess regularly, coached by his stepfather, FIDE master Sunil Weeramantry. On February 26, 1998, at 10 years and 79 days, he became the youngest American chess master up to that time.⁠[1]

In February 2003 he earned the grandmaster title at 15 years and 2 months, breaking the record for youngest American grandmaster set by Bobby Fischer in 1958; he had earlier won the 2001 U.S. Junior Championship and a silver medal at that year’s World Youth Championships. In June 2004 he reached the round of 16 at the FIDE World Championship knockout in Tripoli, Libya.⁠[2]

He won the U.S. Chess Championship in 2005, 2009, 2012 and 2015, represented the United States at six Chess Olympiads, winning two team bronze medals and, in 2016, the country’s first team gold in 40 years; in 2018 he won the Grand Chess Tour by beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the final in London.⁠[3]

In 2018 he began streaming chess on Twitch; by August 2020 his channel had more than 500,000 followers, leading to a sponsorship deal with esports marketing firm TSM, and on February 15, 2021, it passed 1 million followers.⁠[4]

At the 2019 U.S. Championship in Saint Louis he entered the final round tied for the lead with Leinier Domínguez and Fabiano Caruana and was the only one of the three to win his last game, claiming his fifth national title.⁠[5]

During the pandemic a wave of newcomers flocked to his channel, where he explained his games and coached beginners. He said streaming was a way to reach people who play only occasionally or are just starting; some, he noted, feel that popularizing chess risks “cheapening the game.”⁠[6]

In 2022 he won the first leg of the FIDE Grand Prix and reached the semifinals of the third leg in Berlin, securing a place in the 2022 Candidates Tournament together with Richard Rapport.⁠[7]

FIDE says that after a two-year break devoted to streaming he came back to win the 2022 FIDE Grand Prix and finished fourth at that year’s Candidates Tournament.⁠[8]

After Magnus Carlsen lost to Hans Niemann at the Sinquefield Cup in September 2022 and withdrew, accusing him of cheating, Nakamura and Chess.com voiced similar suspicions. Niemann admitted cheating online as a youth but denied cheating over the board, and sued for defamation.⁠[9]

On October 17, 2022, he appeared on episode 330 of the Lex FridmanLex FridmanLex Fridman is a Soviet-born, US-raised computer scientist and podcast host who works as an MIT research scientist on human-AI interaction and autonomous driving. His Lex Fridman Podcast is known for hours-long conversations with guests including heads of state and technology leaders.Open the full entry Podcast, discussing a private game against Magnus Carlsen, openings and mental preparation, the Hans Niemann cheating scandal, the greatest chess player of all time, life as a streamer and depression.⁠[10]

On October 30, 2022, he beat Ian Nepomniachtchi in an Armageddon tiebreak in the final of the FIDE Fischer Random World Championship in Reykjavik, winning his first world title and $150,000.⁠[11]

In June 2023 a US federal judge dismissed Niemann’s $100 million defamation suit against Chess.com, Carlsen and Nakamura; in August Chess.com announced an agreement with Niemann and reinstated him.⁠[12]

In 2023 he won the Airthings Masters, the American Cup and the Chessable Masters, rose to world No. 2 in FIDE’s July rankings after winning Norway Chess, and finished second at the FIDE Grand Swiss, qualifying for the 2024 Candidates Tournament.⁠[8]

On October 4, 2025, in the headline game of the exhibition Checkmate: USA vs India in Arlington, Texas, he checkmated world champion Gukesh Dommaraju in a bullet game to complete a 5–0 US sweep; he then tossed Gukesh’s king into the crowd, sparking debate on social media, and co-host Julia Schulman explained that the gesture fit the etiquette of that exhibition.⁠[13]

In autumn 2025 he played a series of small open tournaments across North America to reach FIDE’s 40-game requirement, and after winning the Washington Dulles Open in November all but secured the 2026 Candidates rating spot.⁠[14]

At the 2026 Candidates near Paphos, Cyprus, he scored his first win of the event in round eight, against Fabiano Caruana.⁠[15]

Javokhir Sindarov won the tournament with a round to spare on 9.5 points, earning the right to challenge world champion Gukesh.⁠[16]

X: Public account: https://x.com/GMHikaru (opens in a new window)⁠[11]

Twitch: Public channel: https://www.twitch.tv/gmhikaru (opens in a new window)⁠[4]