King Hunt With Young Hikaru Nakamura
“At least at blitz chess, I’m probably the best or second-best player ever, in the entire history, at least online.”
– Nakamura, Hikaru.
Article Structure: The current article is composed of (i) a short biography of GM Hikaru Nakamura and (ii) a game analysis of GM Hikaru with interactive exercises for practice and improving attacking chess skills and calculation by BKB at the end.
Introduction to GM Hikaru Nakamura
Born December 9, 1987, in Osaka, Japan, Christopher Hikaru Nakamura (“Hikaru”) moved to the United States when he was just two years old.
He learned the game at the age of seven and made quick progress. He, and his older brother, Asuka, usually performed really well while playing, and the “Nakamura Brothers” skills started to be the subject of conversations in American chess circuits.
In 2001 he won the World u14 Championship, a sign to the world that this prodigious strength was real.
When he was 15, Hikaru reached the Grandmaster title, becoming USA´s youngest grandmaster ever, breaking Bobby´s Fischer previous record by some months.
A period of great achievements has begun, and Hikaru won notable tournaments. I will highlight just a few:
- Gibraltar Chess Festival 2008 in Gibraltar, with 8 out of 10.
- Tata Steel A Group 2011 in Wijk ann Zee, with 9 out of 13.
- US Open Championship 2011, with 7,5 out of 9. Tradewise Gibraltar 2015, with 8.5 out of 10.
- Tradewise Gibraltar 2016, with 8 out of 10, beating GM Maxime Vachier Lagrave in the playoff.
Hikaru also won the USA Championship in five opportunities: 2005, 2009, 2012, 2015 e 2019, and has represented the USA numerous times in Olympiads and team competitions.
With a classical FIDE rating of 2736, Hikaru is ranked as #20 in the world and the USA´s number #4. Nonetheless, in October 2015 he was the world´s #2, with a rating of 2816.
A funny anecdote: In 2011, when Hikaru came to Brazil to play the Bilbao tournament, he was signing for everyone. When came my turn, someone called him and he left. I stayed there and said to my friends he would come back. After a while, I was there alone, and he suddenly came back and sign the piece of paper I had and took a pic with me. Unfortunately, besides still have pictures of the event, I can´t find this specific one.
Besides great accomplishments and success in international competition at the highest level as a Super GM, Hikaru nowadays is a successful streamer and YouTuber, contributing a lot with chess popularization.
This super-GM has amazing blitz and rapid skills, that´s why he is the #1 ranked player in the world in blitz by FIDE standards, with a 2900 rating. This lines up perfectly with his streams, as blitz chess has increased popularization more than ever recently. Because of all that, Hikaru signed with the popular sports organization TSM.
Hikaru vs the strong GM Dmitry Andreikin in the World Blitz Championship, 2010:
The way he conducted this King´s Gambit attack on the video was impressive.
BKB Analysis
After this short biography, let´s take a look into one of my favorite Hikaru games, played in 2007 in the tournament Casino de Barcelona in Spain, by 20 years old Hikaru against the strong GM Mikhail Krasenkow, from Poland.
This a very famous game, having being analyzed all over the world at the time it was played in 2007 and still is today. NM Sam Copeland @SamCopeland, for instance, provided excellent analysis in his youtube channel (link to his video at the end of the article).
The game will be divided into parts, with diagrams and exercises for you. I advise you to try to expend from 5 to 15 minutes at each position, then compare your thoughts with the game continuation and explanations. The answers are right after the questions.
1st Test Position
A complex position full of tactics. Nakamura has a strong move now that shows that Krasenkow´s last move was actually a mistake, but the solution is far from obvious. How would you continue with Black? Can you play like Hikaru?
Answer
20...Rxc6!.
A strong exchange sacrifice, with a hidden idea. Hikaru had calculated the position deep here and is playing high-level concrete chess.
2nd Test Position
So, White has just captured our f6-knight while hanging a discovered attack on our queen. How is the best way to react to it? Black to play. Tip: you have to search for ways to fight for the initiative, or White will be able to consolidate his position and even claim an advantage.
Answer
21....Qxf2!!.
Black´s idea. And what an idea! Out of the blue, the position explodes with this queen sacrifice, and the king´s hunt season has begun.
3rd Test Position
White´s king looks in serious trouble. When you look at the position, it feels there´s a checkmate somewhere. But, which is the most precise way? Black´s to move.
Answer
26...f6!.
Another strong move, controlling the g5-square. Now, Black threats ...Rh6# checkmate.
4th Test Position
We reached our fourth and final test position. How can we be precise and finish White´s off? Black to play and win.
Answer
28...Bc8.
Renewing the mate threat on h6. There´s no way to stop it. For instance, if 29.Qh5 Black simply captures 29...Rxh5 30.Kxh5 Rh6#
Complete game
Thank you for reading till here, hope you have enjoyed this wizard biography, the game analysis, and the exercises.
NM Sam Copeland @SamCopeland Youtube analysis of the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lloZHrSPJOI
GM Hikaru Nakamura @Hikaru Channels:
- Twitch Channel: https://www.twitch.tv/gmhikaru
- Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCweCc7bSMX5J4jEH7HFImng
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