Four-Time U.S. Champion Hikaru Nakamura

Hikaru Nakmaura

Four-Time U.S. Champion, Super-Grandmaster, and Top 10 Player

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Birthday: December 9, 1987

City: Sunrise, FL

Hikaru Nakamura has played a fundamental role in top level American chess for many years. He is a four-time U.S. Champion, winning in 2005, 2009, 2012, and 2015. His first championship victory reset Bobby Fischer's record as the youngest player ever to become U.S. Champion. Nakamura also reset Fischer's record as the youngest American to earn the grandmaster title at age 15 (the current record holder is Samuel Sevian at age 13). One of Nakamura's greatest tournament performances was his victory at Tata Steel 2011, which was one of the few times in history that an American has won a super-tournament over a World Champion. The average rating of the tournament was 2740, and World Champion Magnus Carlsen as well as two former World Champions, Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik, were all among the field. Nakamura has been ranked within the top 10 players in the world for nearly every month since 2011 and has been as high as World #2 in October 2015. He is also one of only 12 players to have ever passed the 2800 FIDE threshold, reaching a peak rating of 2816 in 2015 and tying with Veselin Topalov for the 9th highest rating in history. Here is one of Nakamura's key victories from his stunning Tata Steel 2011 performance:

[pgn][Event "Tata Steel"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2011.01.17"] [Round "3"] [White "Hikaru Nakamura"] [Black "Alexey Shirov"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C78"] [WhiteElo "2741"] [BlackElo "2735"] [PlyCount "185"] [EventDate "2011.01.14"]1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 d6 8. a4 Rb8 9. d4 Bb6 10. axb5 axb5 11. Na3 O-O 12. Nxb5 Bg4 13. d5 Ne7 14. Bc2 Qd7 15. Na3 Nexd5 16. h3 Bh5 17. exd5 e4 18. Bg5 Bxf3 19. Qd2 e3 20. Bxe3 Bxe3 21. fxe3 Be4 22. Rxf6 Bxc2 23. Rf4 Bg6 24. Nc4 Ra8 25. Na5 Rfe8 26. Ra3 Be4 27. c4 g5 28. Rf1 g4 29. h4 Qe7 30. Qf2 Bg6 31. b4 h5 32. Rc3 Qe5 33. Rb3 Qe4 34. Rc3 Qe5 35. Rfc1 Be4 36. Qf4 g3 37. Qxe5 Rxe5 38. Ra3 Kg7 39. Rf1 Ree8 40. Rfa1 Re5 41. Nb3 Rxa3 42. Rxa3 Bxd5 43. Nd2 Be6 44. e4 Bg4 45. Rxg3 f5 46. Re3 Re8 47. Kf2 Ra8 48. exf5 Ra2 49. Rd3 Bxf5 50. Rd5 Be6 51. Rg5+ Kh6 52. Ke3 Ra3+ 53. Kd4 Ra1 54. g3 Rd1 55. Kc3 Rg1 56. b5 Rc1+ 57. Kd3 Bf7 58. Nb3 Rd1+ 59. Ke2 Rb1 60. Nd4 Bxc4+ 61. Kd2 d5 62. Nf5+ Kh7 63. Rxh5+ Kg6 64. Rg5+ Kf6 65. Ne3 Rb2+ 66. Kd1 Be2+ 67. Kc1 Rxb5 68. Kd2 Rb2+ 69. Kc3 Rb5 70. Nxd5+ Kf7 71. Re5 Bg4 72. Re7+ Kf8 73. Re4 Bf5 74. Nxc7 Rc5+ 75. Rc4 Re5 76. Rf4 Ke7 77. Kd4 Ra5 78. Nd5+ Ke6 79. Nc3 Ra8 80. g4 Bh7 81. Ke3 Rc8 82. Ne2 Ke5 83. Ra4 Rb8 84. Nd4 Rb1 85. Ra5+ Kf6 86. Kf4 Rf1+ 87. Nf3 Bc2 88. Kg3 Rb1 89. Ra6+ Kg7 90. Nd4 Bd3 91. Rd6 Kf7 92. Kf4 Ra1 93. h5 1-0[/pgn]