Hikaru Namakura is a well-known Japanese-American chess Grandmaster. He is a five-time US Chess Champion, having won the Tala Steel group in 2011. He’s also the author of “One Minute to Mate,” a book about bullet chess.
Quick Facts
| Celebrated Name: | Hikaru Nakamura |
| Real Name/Full Name: | Hikaru Namakura |
| Gender: | Male |
| Age: | 36 years old |
| Birth Date: | December 9, 1987 |
| Birth Place: | Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture, Japan |
| Nationality: | Japanese-American |
| Height: | 1.5m |
| Weight: | 75kg |
| Sexual Orientation: | Straight |
| Marital Status: | N/A |
| Wife/Spouse (Name): | N/A |
| Children/Kids (Son and Daughter): | N/A |
| Dating/Girlfriend (Name): | N/A |
| Is Hikaru Nakamura Gay?: | N/A |
| Profession: | Chess Grandmaster |
| Salary: | N/A |
| Net Worth in 2024: | $50 Million |
Hikaru Nakamura Biography
Hikaru Nakamura was born on December 9, 1987, in Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, to a Japanese father, Shuichi Nakamura, and an American mother, Carolyn Merrow Nakamura. His mother was a classically trained musician, and his father was a former public school teacher.
His family moved to the United States of America when he was two years old. Unfortunately, his parents divorced when he was only three years old in 1990.
Hikaru Nakamura began playing chess when he was seven years old, coached by his Sri Lankan stepfather Sunil Weeramantry, a FIDE Master and chess author.
Hikaru Nakamura Age, Height, Weight
Hikaru Nakamura was born on December 9, 1987, He is 36 years old in 2024. His height is 1.5 m, and he weighs 75 kg.
Career
Nakamura’s career has progressed steadily since his debut in 2004 when he finished fourth in the “B” group at the Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee. He also qualified for the 2004 FIDE World Chess Championship. On June 20, 2005, he was named the 19th Frank Stamford Chess Fellow and received a $32,000 grant to further his chess education and competition.
He won the US Chess Championship in 2005, scoring seven points over nine rounds to tie grandmaster Alex Stripunsky for first place. He has had numerous successes, and I will list a few of them below:
He won the US Chess Championship in May 2009. In July, he won the Donostia-San Sebastian Chess Festival, and in August, he was crowned 960 World Chess Champion in Germany. The following year, he began representing the United States at the World Team Chess Championship in Bursa, Turkey, where he won a gold medal and finished in the top ten.
He also began training with former world champion Garry Kasparov in 2011, in the Tala Steel Group A Victory. Their first training was held in New York beginning in January, but the training ended in December 2011.
In 2012, he won his third US Championship, as well as numerous other victories; he competed in the Reggio Emilia Tournament, finishing second; he won the US Championship in May; he also competed in the Tal Memorial in Moscow, and he finished third in the Biel Chess Festival. In August of the same year, he led the United States team to fifth place at the Chess Olympiad. In 2013, he had the highest Fide Blitz rating, in 2014 he was ranked third and won the Zurich Chess Challenge, and in 2015 he had a 2800 rating, fourth US Championship, and second place in the Grand Prix.
In 2016, Nakamura won the Gibraltar Chess Festival for the second year in a row, defeating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on tiebreaks. In the same year, he won the Zurich Chess Challenge for the second consecutive year. He also had a good year in 2017 when he won the Gibraltar Chess Festival.
Hikaru Nakamura Achievements And Awards
So far, he has not received any official awards, but one of his greatest accomplishments is that Hikaru Nakamura has become a household name through his career of playing chess and winning several championships, attracting a large fan base and earning a living from it.
Hikaru Nakamura’s Net Worth In 2024
Hikaru Nakamura is estimated to have a net worth of more than $50 million as of March 2024. He has amassed this wealth through his years of chess playing.
In addition to his prowess in traditional time controls, Nakamura excels at rapid and blitz chess. He has been named one of the world’s best Blitz players. He is currently ranked fourth on the FIDE rapid list and first on the blitz list.
Other chess players, he has competed with include: Sergey Volkov Aleksej, Alexander Lastin, Gregory Kaidanov, and Surya? Ganguly, World No.3 Lenov Aronian, No.4 Vladimir Kramnik, and No.6 Alexander Grischuk. Among the many others are No.8 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and No.9 Sergey Karjakin.
When the Englishman said that everything happens for a reason, he really meant it because Nakamura’s destiny was shaped when his parents divorced when he was three years old, and when his mother married the next man, he taught him to play chess without knowing that one day he would be called the grandmaster of chess. Always be grateful for what happens in your life; it may be a blessing in disguise.
Hikaru Nakamura Husband, Marriage
Hikaru Nakamura is a quiet and reserved man, I must say, and this is due to the lack of information on whether or not he is married or dating. There has been no information provided about his personal life.
