A Super-GM in the Wild: Nakamura's Candidates Quest Ends Successfully in Virginia

GM Hikaru Nakamura’s recent quest for a ratings-based spot in the Candidates Tournament has taken him to some places you wouldn’t think a super-grandmaster would go: the Louisiana Championship on Labor Day weekend, the Iowa Championship in mid-September, and the Washington Dulles Open last weekend.

Nakamura has a high enough rating to get into the Candidates; he just needed to rack up enough FIDE-rated games to be considered active, and that’s what’s led him to the relative boondocks of the chess world. He swept the Louisiana and Iowa tournaments, his highest-rated opponents still ceding more than 500 points to him; in Virginia, he drew quickly in the last round with GM Praveen Balakrishnan to tie for first with Daniel Girsh.

While some observers in the online world have criticized Nakamura for playing down in his quest for qualification, it didn’t appear anyone at the Washington Dulles Open minded much. His hallway analysis sessions were mobbed, and autograph-seekers (among others) made his trip through the lobby a marathon punctuated by rapid-fire smiles for dozens of phone cameras.

Searching for Nakamura: the super-GM was mobbed by fans in between rounds. (Photo by Rick Massimo)

The five-time U.S. Champion didn’t give a lot of notice before the start of the tournament, and organizers described a scramble of preparations, albeit one they were happy to deal with.

On Thursday morning, IA Anand Dommalapati got a phone call from FM Sunil Weeramantry, Nakamura’s stepfather, asking about the Dulles Open.

“I thought maybe it's [for] one of his students or somebody,” Dommalapati said. “I said it was a decent tournament to play in.”

That evening, Dommalapati got a phone call from fellow US Chess Executive Board member John Fernandez, asking whether Dommalapati could get his hands on a DGT board to allow for streaming of Nakamura’s games, and to run the apparatus.

He managed to lay hands on one (and later three more were found for the other top boards), but with a trip to India coming up the day after the tournament, he probably had other plans. Still, he thought “I didn't have any issues with running it,” Dommalapati said, crediting high schooler Ananya Ananth for helping out; “it's just the time. But it all worked out. Everybody wants to come and play, and they want to say hi to him. So I'm happy to do it.”

The GM’s presence led to a particularly long weekend for Assistant TD Josh Hiban, but he also said it was worth it, not least for the bump in attendance that the candidate’s appearance inspired. They were expecting about 90 players and ended up with 122, with about 30 players registering after Thursday evening, when Nakamura signed up.

That caused some logistical problems, Hiban said: The other ballrooms in the hotel were already spoken for, so the options were to hold games in the lobby or pack the main tournament room. “People are packed in there like sardines,” Hiban said during Round 2. “But everybody, I think, is just happy to see Hikaru. They don't mind being squeezed in a little bit.”

When word got out that the grandmaster might be playing, Hiban said he got about 100 emails asking about it: “Is he really playing?” “Does he have any byes?” “I might come tomorrow during Round 2; is he going to be there?” Between the emails, directing Round 1 of the 3-day schedule, and setting up for Nakamura’s appearance, Hiban said, he got to bed at about 5 a.m. Saturday, with a scholastic tournament set to start at 9.

“So we've been busy working around the clock, right, right? But you love it. I mean, we're not complaining. It's awesome.”

For Nakamura’s part, his social media presence indicates that he’s been enjoying getting back to the roots of the tournament experience. He congratulated Louisiana resident FM Nick Matta as “the REAL Louisiana State Champ,” said from Iowa that “being at these state championships brings back all the nostalgia,” and from Virginia that there’s “nothing like a good weekender in the US.”

And mission accomplished: The last-round game with Balakrishnan was Nakamura’s 40thFIDE-rated game of the year, making him eligible for the Candidates.