Here’s why Hikaru Nakamura, the world’s No. 2 chess participant, is gaming the system with ‘Mickey Mouse’ tournaments

As far as chess tournaments go, the Louisiana State Championship and Iowa Open should not what you’d describe as big-time occasions.

The highest-ranked gamers from both occasion final yr did not even rank within the prime 10,000 of the world FIDE rankings, or the highest 1,000 amongst U.S. gamers. They are held in lodge ballrooms, with first-place prizes within the a whole bunch of {dollars}. These are tournaments principally for native fans, enjoying as a result of they get pleasure from chess. Some of them are kids.

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So that begs a query: What was Hikaru Nakamura, the 37-year-old world No. 2 chess participant and a person who makes a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars} per yr as a streamer, doing at these tournaments this yr?

The reply is concurrently humorous, questionable, bureaucratic and weird.

The No. 2 chess participant on this planet is making an attempt to brute pressure his option to the world chess championship

At the chance of explaining the apparent to followers, let’s rapidly undergo the essential construction of elite chess.

Everyone desires to be the world chess champion, however solely a valuable few are able to even knocking on the door. The world chess championship is held each two years and options two gamers, often the reigning champ and a challenger, enjoying a number of video games till certainly one of them clinches the vast majority of factors out there. Last yr, Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju defeated champion Ding Liren with three wins, two losses and 9 ties in 14 video games.

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Next yr’s championship will see Gukesh face a challenger, and that challenger is set by the Candidates Tournament, an expertise arguably extra brutal than the championship itself. Each yr, eight of the most effective non-champion gamers on this planet play one another in a spherical robin, with the highest participant successful a shot on the champ.

There are a number of methods to get one of many eight spots within the Candidates Tournament. Seven gamers will qualify for 2026 by performing properly in certainly one of three occasions: the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament, the FIDE World Cup and the FIDE Circuit (which is itself a sequence of tournaments).

However, one final spot is reserved for the non-qualified participant with the very best common score from the earlier August to January. And that’s the place Nakamura is available in.

The American has beforehand competed in three Candidates Tournaments and got here simply quick final yr, ending a half-point behind Gukesh. He desires to play within the 2026 Candidates Tournament, however doesn’t plan to compete within the required tournaments. So he is going for the score spot as a substitute, which comes with some strings hooked up.

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Most notably, Nakamura is required to compete in 40 FIDE-sanctioned video games throughout that six-month interval through which he needs to be the highest-ranked eligible participant (luckily for him, world No. 1 and former champion Magnus Carlsen has no plans to compete for his abdicated title once more).

That left Nakamura needing to play a sure variety of video games, ideally with out risking his No. 2 rating. As he defined a number of months in the past, via sponsor Chess.com, his plan was to “go and find some Mickey Mouse tournaments and get to 40 games,” relatively than face elite opponents and danger decreasing his score.

And that is why probably the greatest chess gamers on this planet is competing at a number of the most random tournaments possible, as a result of the one factor he cannot do is lose. He ran the desk in Louisiana and Iowa this month, and nonetheless must play 11 extra video games by the tip of the yr.

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What are these chess video games like?

If you want a visible for what a recreation between a participant with Nakamura’s score (2807) and his first opponent’s score (1915) seems like, think about Paul Skenes displaying as much as a group faculty recreation in a world the place these one way or the other counted for a Cy Young Award innings requirement.

Some video games had been nearer than others, however Nakamura received all 12 with out a lot hassle. His first Iowa recreation was really easy that he completed with extra time on the clock than when he began. His closing Iowa recreation noticed him clinch the title towards 13-year-old Artemii Khanbutaev.

Via Chess.com, Nakamura noticed that recreation as an train in benevolence:

“It is an opportunity to give back. For example, this final opponent I played, this 12-year-old kid, he’s someone who’s working with a very strong grandmaster and a former U.S. champion. I’m sure he and his coach will go over this game, he’ll learn from it, and I have no doubt he’ll probably go on to become at least an international master down the road. It’s an experience I think he will cherish for a very long time.”

Even a tie would have seen Nakamura lose important factors resulting from his opponent’s decrease score, however he’s benefiting from the truth that wins will at all times improve his score, simply by an negligibly small quantity.

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Is what Hikaru Nakamura is doing precedented?

Definitely.

In the final cycle, grandmaster Alireza Firouzja competed in a sequence of matches at his membership in addition to the Rouen Open to feed his score and cross Wesley So because the top-rated participant not already within the event. That scenario truly led to governing physique FIDE altering the foundations and including the six-month common to the rankings requirement to forestall related incidents.

In 2022, Ding was ready just like Nakamura’s, needing to play a number of video games to satisfy a requirement. In that case, COVID-19 had wreaked havoc with Ding’s potential to journey for worldwide tournaments, so the Chinese Chess affiliation responded by organizing three rated occasions to let him attain the brink and enhance his score.

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In principle, the Candidates Tournament ought to characteristic the world’s prime gamers and together with a spot for the highest-rated participant ought to assist that objective, as tournaments will be fickle. In observe, some gamers will do no matter they should make their quantity go up or keep up.

We are merely watching incentives at work.

How do the blokes getting steamrolled really feel about Hikaru Nakamura?

They actually do not appear to thoughts.

Yes, getting blown out is embarrassing in a vacuum, however it is advisable to bear in mind all of those guys are big chess followers, and Nakamura is among the celebrities of the chess world. Odds are these gamers won’t ever get one other likelihood to face a participant of Nakamura’s caliber, so these are “tell your grandkids” experiences for them.

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A few his Louisiana opponents even appeared to point out up within the feedback of his YouTube video breaking down the games:

I’m Harry [James]! That was fairly unbelievable. Lasting 44 strikes in a event recreation towards Hikaru is one thing I’ll at all times bear in mind!

I’m Nahum [Jose Villamil] (the third recreation man). Imagine signing up in your first official event in years, in another country, and seeing certainly one of your childhood idols displaying up in his journey to the world title. It felt like that point that some Paraguayan inmates had been internet hosting a futbol event in jail and one of many groups confirmed up with Ronaldinho hahaha. In two phrases: a dream. I used to be paired towards an absolute icon, obtained a pleasant chat, photos, a signed sheet, and now a recap of my errors haha. What else are you able to ask for? That he will get to win the world title and to be slightly a part of that. Thanks Hikaru

Another thanked Nakamura on X:

Nakamura additionally seems to be enjoying himself through all this, with the proceedings giving him good fodder for his social media channels.

What do the opposite grandmasters take into consideration Hikaru Nakamura?

They actually do appear to thoughts, or at the very least a few of them.

A number of grandmasters have been extremely essential of Nakamura and the system that’s permitting him to do that.

On the opposite hand, some have defended Nakamura, with Carlsen even praising his shamelessness (whereas additionally calmly critiquing the system).

It must be reiterated, Nakamura is not doing this to achieve factors a lot as not lose them. He reached that No. 2 rating with an unbelievable profession resurgence in his mid-30s and held onto the rating by performing properly towards elite opponents at The American Cup and Norway Chess this yr. Now, he is making an attempt to extend his variety of video games performed with as little danger as doable.

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Still, the scenario has reached the purpose the place grandmasters are overtly plotting to sabotage him, with grandmaster Hans Niemann pondering a $10,000 bounty to grandmasters in the event that they monitor Nakamura and beat him in one of many “Mickey Mouse” tournaments, for “the greater good of chess.”

It must be famous that Nakamura has a contentious historical past with Niemann, most notably when he supplied the spark that set off the firestorm within the notorious Niemann-Carlsen dishonest dispute. Niemann later filed a $100 million lawsuit that listed Nakamura among the many defendants.

Overall, Nakamura has fairly a status within the chess group. Lots of people simply do not just like the man, and he has given a few of them loads of cause, like when certainly one of his feuds with a streaming channel run by a pair of Canadian grandmasters resulted in a large airing of grievances and a video showing him losing a yard fight with one of them.