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Hikaru Nakamura | ||||||||||
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_(cropped)_(cropped).jpg) Nakamura at the 2016 Chess Olympiad | ||||||||||
| Born | Christopher Hikaru Nakamura December 9, 1987 Hirakata, Japan | |||||||||
| Citizenship |
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| Alma mater | Dickinson College | |||||||||
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1998–present | |||||||||
| Spouse | ||||||||||
| Relatives | Sunil Weeramantry (stepfather) | |||||||||
| Japanese name | ||||||||||
| Kanji | 中村 光 | |||||||||
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| Chess career | ||||||||||
| Country | United States | |||||||||
| Title | Grandmaster (2003) | |||||||||
| FIDE rating | 2802 (February 2025) | |||||||||
| Peak rating | 2816 (October 2015) | |||||||||
| Ranking | No. 3 (February 2025) | |||||||||
| Peak ranking | No. 2 (October 2015) | |||||||||
Twitch information | ||||||||||
| Channel | ||||||||||
| Years active | 2015–present | |||||||||
| Followers | 1.9 million | |||||||||
Last updated: November 20, 2024 | ||||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Channel | ||||||||||
| Years active | 2017–present | |||||||||
| Genres | ||||||||||
| Subscribers | 2.73 million[1] | |||||||||
| Total views | 937 million[1] | |||||||||
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Last updated: January 9, 2025 | ||||||||||
Christopher Hikaru Nakamura[2] (born December 9, 1987) is an American chess grandmaster, streamer, YouTuber, five-time U.S. Chess Champion, and the reigning World Fischer Random Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he earned his grandmaster title at the age of 15, the youngest American at the time to do so. With a peak rating of 2816, Nakamura is the tenth-highest-rated player in history.
Nakamura has represented the United States at seven Chess Olympiads (2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018), securing a team gold medal and two team bronze medals, and participated in three Candidates Tournaments, finishing second in 2024 edition, fourth in 2022 edition, and seventh in the 2016 edition. In May 2014, when FIDE began publishing official rapid and blitz chess ratings, Nakamura ranked No. 1 in the world on both lists;[3] he has remained at or near the No. 1 rank in rapid and blitz ever since.[4][5]
Since 2018, Nakamura has pursued a career as a content creator and subsequently signed with an esports organization TSM, later joining Misfits Gaming. Having popular channels on Twitch, Kick and YouTube, Nakamura is the most popular chess streamer and has been credited with contributing to the growth in popularity of online chess.[6][7]
- ^ a b "About GMHikaru". YouTube.
- ^ Memorandum in Support of Defendant Christopher Hikaru Nakamura's Motion to Dismiss Archived December 9, 2022, at the Wayback Machine, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, December 7, 2022
- ^ "FIDE Publishes Rapid and Blitz Rating Lists. Nakamura Heads Both". Chess-News. Archived from the original on May 19, 2014. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
- ^ "FIDE rating list comparison". Archived from the original on August 24, 2022. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
- ^ "FIDE Publishes Rapid and Blitz Rating Lists. Nakamura Heads Both". Chess-News. Archived from the original on May 19, 2014. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
- ^ Barton, Jamie. "'What has happened online actually dwarfs what Magnus has done': Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura on chess' streaming revolution". CNN. Archived from the original on December 2, 2024. Retrieved December 1, 2024.
- ^ Brookwell, Ilya. "Chess is taking over the online video game world — and both are changing from this unlikely pairing". Salon.com. Archived from the original on December 2, 2024. Retrieved December 1, 2024.