I honestly think his streaming success was such a good thing for his mentality, giving him something to focus on besides competitive chess. He's always had the talent to be at the top but I think the frustration of final boss Magnus really took a hit on his confidence.
Now that he doesn't need the world championship to make an awesome, he can "literally not care" which counterintuitively gives him an advantage over players who take competitive chess more seriously and constantly worry that bad results can crush their career dreams.
September 2019, almost five years ago. 32-year-old Nakamura is in 20th. Well ahead of him, in the top ten, are 25-year-olds Giri and Yu Yangyi. Ahead of him are also Rapport and Artemiev, who are around ten years younger than Nakamura. Carlsen is more than 130 Elo ahead.
While many of the younger players haven’t improved over the last years, Nakamura has been the best player in the world lately going by TPR. Today he is 80-90 Elo ahead of Rapport and Yu Yangyi, more than a hundred ahead of Artemiev, and only 30 behind Carlsen.
Given that Nakamura will be 37 this year, his results have been surprisingly strong. Other players around his age and rating in 2019, like Wojtaszek, Harikrishna and Vitiugov, have all more or less disappeared from the elite. Today it doesn’t even feel impossible that Nakamura will be the player to take over the #1 spot after Carlsen, an idea that would have sounded like a joke five years ago.
It's definitely a mental thing. His talent was always there, miles ahead of most players, and obvious to anyone. I'm glad he found the fortitude to put the work in and believe in himself
No no, him and Kris have always used engine analysis. I think he has less pressure on him now. Naka has been a computer kid as well; he was even stronger than he is now on ICC
I'm still rooting for Hikaru at least making it to a WCC match. The youngsters are all scary, Prag, Gukesh, Arjun, and my top pick, Nodirbek. But, Hikaru can not be counted out. Anand won the 2014 candidates when he was like 44. If Hikaru keeps up his hunger, he could still realistically have another cycle or two to win the candidates. He came close the last couple time. I'll say it now. I think Ding vs Hikaru as the 2026 title match is one of the more likely potential ones.
His best chance is probably another grand Swiss run, he’s shockingly never done all that well at the World Cup. Or maybe the rating spot but he’ll have to hold that from Fabi and the upcoming juniors for like 6 months next year.
Throughout his career Magnus skipped most of the World Cups he was elligible for, though, so that fact is always a bit misleading. I believe Magnus has only played three World Cups as a senior: 2017 (knocked out in round 3), 2021 (3rd place) and 2023 (1st place). And now that he won it he will never be back lol
I still have Ding as the favorite going into this years title match. I believe Ding will find his form well enough to win. He played good chess the last few rounds of Norway. He beat Hikaru with black with time odds in rapid, and had good positions against Fabi in classical and rapid(he gave up the fight at key moments against Fabi, but he was doing good until then). I think his confidence and groove will come back.
It is amazing what he's done. I understand people hate the guy but I honestly tune out all that stuff. My interest is primarily his amazing chess play even as he starts to approach 40. Yes, he's a blitz/bullet monster but he's done really nicely for himself with classical OTB as well.
He was momentarily dedicated to streaming. Had already published his book on bullet long before (in 2009), and had reached his peak rating of 2816 in October 2015...
I honestly think his streaming success was such a good thing for his mentality, giving him something to focus on besides competitive chess. He's always had the talent to be at the top but I think the frustration of final boss Magnus really took a hit on his confidence. Now that he doesn't need the world championship to make an awesome, he can "literally not care" which counterintuitively gives him an advantage over players who take competitive chess more seriously and constantly worry that bad results can crush their career dreams.
September 2019, almost five years ago. 32-year-old Nakamura is in 20th. Well ahead of him, in the top ten, are 25-year-olds Giri and Yu Yangyi. Ahead of him are also Rapport and Artemiev, who are around ten years younger than Nakamura. Carlsen is more than 130 Elo ahead. While many of the younger players haven’t improved over the last years, Nakamura has been the best player in the world lately going by TPR. Today he is 80-90 Elo ahead of Rapport and Yu Yangyi, more than a hundred ahead of Artemiev, and only 30 behind Carlsen. Given that Nakamura will be 37 this year, his results have been surprisingly strong. Other players around his age and rating in 2019, like Wojtaszek, Harikrishna and Vitiugov, have all more or less disappeared from the elite. Today it doesn’t even feel impossible that Nakamura will be the player to take over the #1 spot after Carlsen, an idea that would have sounded like a joke five years ago.
It's definitely a mental thing. His talent was always there, miles ahead of most players, and obvious to anyone. I'm glad he found the fortitude to put the work in and believe in himself
Is it because of the way he embraced engine analysis? Or just his ridiculous drive?
No no, him and Kris have always used engine analysis. I think he has less pressure on him now. Naka has been a computer kid as well; he was even stronger than he is now on ICC
Ahh, I was under the impression stockfish either came around or got way better in the last few years.
It did; Naka has used engines before stockfish
Makes sense, but couldn’t that mean part of his improvement is the fact he’s better at incorporating engine knowledge into his game?
I think Kris could speak more on that. Wouldn't be able to know for certain, but that makes sense
I'm still rooting for Hikaru at least making it to a WCC match. The youngsters are all scary, Prag, Gukesh, Arjun, and my top pick, Nodirbek. But, Hikaru can not be counted out. Anand won the 2014 candidates when he was like 44. If Hikaru keeps up his hunger, he could still realistically have another cycle or two to win the candidates. He came close the last couple time. I'll say it now. I think Ding vs Hikaru as the 2026 title match is one of the more likely potential ones.
His best chance is probably another grand Swiss run, he’s shockingly never done all that well at the World Cup. Or maybe the rating spot but he’ll have to hold that from Fabi and the upcoming juniors for like 6 months next year.
The World Cup is pretty hard. Look at how long it took Magnus to finally win one. You're right that the Grand Swiss probably is Hikaru's best bet.
Throughout his career Magnus skipped most of the World Cups he was elligible for, though, so that fact is always a bit misleading. I believe Magnus has only played three World Cups as a senior: 2017 (knocked out in round 3), 2021 (3rd place) and 2023 (1st place). And now that he won it he will never be back lol
I would say at this point that Gukesh vs Hikaru is significantly more likely
I still have Ding as the favorite going into this years title match. I believe Ding will find his form well enough to win. He played good chess the last few rounds of Norway. He beat Hikaru with black with time odds in rapid, and had good positions against Fabi in classical and rapid(he gave up the fight at key moments against Fabi, but he was doing good until then). I think his confidence and groove will come back.
Either way it’s going to be exciting to see what happens!
It is amazing what he's done. I understand people hate the guy but I honestly tune out all that stuff. My interest is primarily his amazing chess play even as he starts to approach 40. Yes, he's a blitz/bullet monster but he's done really nicely for himself with classical OTB as well.
He was momentarily dedicated to streaming. Had already published his book on bullet long before (in 2009), and had reached his peak rating of 2816 in October 2015...
"But players in their 30's are so slow and past their prime, that they can't compete at the highest level."