Hikaru Nakamura - The 11th Highest Rated Player in History

Hikaru Nakamura is currently one of the most popular streamers in the chess world! He is an insanely strong GM, peaking at World #2 in 2015! His peak classical rating of 2816 is tied with Ding Liren, and another grandmaster, Veselin Topalov. He is one of the few grandmasters to cross the 2800 rating barrier, a very prestigious accomplishment in the world of the 64 squares. 

Currently, Hikaru Nakamura is qualified for the 2024 Candidates Tournament that is scheduled to begin in April, so hopefully he puts on a tremendous performance(I'm biased since he is my favorite player)! 

Like Ding Liren, Hikaru has played tons and tons of games in his life, and has fun doing so. Thus, I'm sure he's played many great and enjoyable games, but what better way to learn about him than a game played against the man himself, Magnus Carlsen! For context, this game took place in late 2009, when Hikaru was 2715, and Magnus a staggering 2801! 

In this game, Hikaru with the black pieces manages to win against Magnus Carlsen: 

This is a game that I really enjoyed going through, since it helped me improve my game as well. I believe that many people can take away a lot of things from this game, and implement it in their games as well!

Now, the long awaited TOP 10 highest rated players of all time, will commence!

Until next time,
Happy New Year!!