Who else agrees that Hikaru Nakamura is the best player right now?

Haha, you're right.

But. In some circles, 1200 is decent, in others, 1500, 1800, 2000, etc.

For those who aspire to be world champion (I tend to think everyone in the top 10) 2nd best may only be "decent" to them!

I don't believe you ever played him.

Need proof!

I agree that Nakamura is the best player right now. 

Losing (to Carlsen, 12:0) doesn't mean that you're the worse player. You just play differently - that's all. 

Definitely the best at bullet! (And yet he claims he doesn't use premoves)

Most bullet masters recognise that premove is only helpful in really obvious positions such as endgames. Naka often plays trashy openings that are designed to foil the premovers. He usually has won the game long before premove becomes useful!

Hikaru castles with 2 hands . Not all the time but sometimes.

He's just brilliant.

The only GM known to do this.

That's cos it's illegal in FIDE. Naka learned to play using USCF rules. It's a hard habit to break.

P-or I can send the aforementioned picture and chessbomb link when I'm back home. Could also add you on Facebook for a minute to confirm my name. Your doubt is not taken as offensive.

Reminds me of that quote from "The Martian" lol....

"I am the best botanist on this planet."....something like that hahaha

Yes, he is the best player .  Who else? Carlson ?  The Carlsians make me laugh s0 much.

I'm in that with you.

Not anymore:

not me

Joke.Has to be a joke.No chance.

Explain.

Agreed, Swifty, and with Kamsky on board 4 (if he plays), we should be among the favorites along with China and Russia!

I'd rather have Shankland, Naroditsky, or Robson over Kamsky.  Kamsky has been nursing his rating for years now (I think, anyway), and is not playing at 2600+ anymore.  Plus he's as predictable a chess player as they come.  Easy to prepare for the London.

Kamsky is good if the team needs draws, I guess.  But the top 3 boards are all players that are not rock solid (ala say Carlsen or Giri of late) in results.  Sometimes they are stellar, sometimes not.  They all run hot and cold.  So, you need some wins on board 4 to allow for one of the other 3 to have a mediocre/bad tournament.

The US team will be expected to finish well, but to actually plan for a win they will need better-than-just-solid-play from all boards.  Otherwise, some other top team will get on a hot streak and take it away.

Shankland actually has done really well with solid results in big international venues...that tournament where he beat Polgar in her last game was a fantastic result.  Naroditsky and Robson also run hot and cold, but both seem capable of beating pretty much anyone on a given day, and I don't see that in Kamsky.  He's not going to surprise and upset a top twenty player nearly as often.  He would be more consistent overall, though.

hmm idk, maybe because he is not no.1 in the world by rating, and the current player who is, is dominating him to 11 or 12 classical games to 0. Oh and also the fact that he is not world champion. He couldn't win against caruana, who is a top player at the st louis showdown. Now, i'm not saying he is a bad player ofc. i mean world top 10 is insane, and i have a lot of respect for his bullet/ blitz skills and one of my fav players to watch, but the question was who thinks he is the best player atm, and i do not. The question did not specify whether this was about bullet or not, if it was the case i would agree. (naka is much better at online bullet than irl) but overall a best player would have to be almost always winning tournaments of all forms. and the general talk in the forum is about classical games. so there you go, have i explained that enough sonofthunder? I am not a fan of carlsen, but he is world champ for classical, and rapid and wasn't bad at blitz, and he is dominating hikaru at classical. 

That's my point though :)...I think Kamsky is a very "soft" 2650 at this point.

Btickler, you make an interesting point. I'd rather have an experienced player such as Kamsky playing on board 4 than the players you mentioned. The traditional 4th board has been Onischuk. I'm surprised you didn't mention him.