4 ms·

Hikaru is awesome to watch. He's headed to the candidates where I hope he takes it. It will be amazing for chess to see him compete for world championship.

Scarblac 5y ago
Carlsen has a huge plus score against him though, I'd expect the match to be extremely one sided. Something in Nakamura's style doesn't work against Magnus.
- mattbuilds 5y ago
  To be fair, something in everyone's style doesn't work against Magnus. Very few (if any) top players have a winning record vs him.
  - oldstrangers 5y ago
    After the Nepo match, no one has a winning score against Magnus if I remember correctly.
  - Scarblac 5y ago
    Of course, but Carlsen - Nakamura is 14 - 1, and 26 draws*. That's a huge winning percentage at top level, other top GMs may have a minus score but not like that. *: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?page=2&pid=52948&pid2=10084 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?page=2&pid=52948&pi...
alar44 5y ago
Hikaru will get wiped by Carlson. Hikaru is a blitz/bullet player, not classical. They are different games.
- incomingpain 5y ago
  >Hikaru will get wiped by Carlson. Hikaru is a blitz/bullet player, not classical. They are different games. I can personally attest to this but Hikaru has been unusually strong in classical in his return. Hence why he's headed to the candidates. Also remember... Hikaru might just end up being champion. Carlsen said he'll only fight firouzja.
  - Bostonian 5y ago
    I don't think Carlsen would actually give up the title to Nakamura without a match.
    - incomingpain 5y ago
      >I don't think Carlsen would actually give up the title to Nakamura without a match. Oh ya I agree, I think such a competition would be amazing.
- KptMarchewa 5y ago
  He probably will be wiped. However, this comment would make more sense if he didn't literally beat a lot of good players in classical chess, winning FIDE Grand Prix 2022.
- oldstrangers 5y ago
  Everyone gets wiped by Carlsen, so this isn't a hot take.
- fourseventy 5y ago
  Hikaru used to be ranked #2 in the world in classical with an elo over 2800.... "not a classical player" lol
  - alar44 5y ago
    And is currently 16 and has been dropping over the last 8 years. Kasparov also used to be number 1. That's just how it goes. He's a much stronger bullet/blitz player and this isn't news to anyone. There's a reason people are surprised he qualified.
    - pg_bot 5y ago
      He's 11th in classical currently and there isn't much separation from 4th to 20th. He has a pretty good record against all of his opponents in classical. He's never lost to Rapport, Liren, Duda, or Radjabov. He is 3-2-5 against Nepo, 6-7-33 against Caruana, and he's never played Firouzja.
- cellis 5y ago
  Not just Carlson.. any of the candidates are capable of beating him … most have higher elo and that elo is well deserved and stupendously hard won at that level. Wesley So beat him in the Grand Prix, he was in trouble once against Esipenko. I don’t think he’ll have as hard of a time against eg Ian Nepomniatchi ( Nepo likes speed which is Hikarus superpower ), But Ding Liren ( depending on Karjakins dq and Lirens play ofc ) Caruana, or Wesley So will beat him easily…

Scarblac 5y ago

Carlsen has a huge plus score against him though, I'd expect the match to be extremely one sided. Something in Nakamura's style doesn't work against Magnus.

mattbuilds 5y ago
To be fair, something in everyone's style doesn't work against Magnus. Very few (if any) top players have a winning record vs him.
- oldstrangers 5y ago
  After the Nepo match, no one has a winning score against Magnus if I remember correctly.
- Scarblac 5y ago
  Of course, but Carlsen - Nakamura is 14 - 1, and 26 draws*. That's a huge winning percentage at top level, other top GMs may have a minus score but not like that. *: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?page=2&pid=52948&pid2=10084 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?page=2&pid=52948&pi...

alar44 5y ago

Hikaru will get wiped by Carlson. Hikaru is a blitz/bullet player, not classical. They are different games.

incomingpain 5y ago
>Hikaru will get wiped by Carlson. Hikaru is a blitz/bullet player, not classical. They are different games. I can personally attest to this but Hikaru has been unusually strong in classical in his return. Hence why he's headed to the candidates. Also remember... Hikaru might just end up being champion. Carlsen said he'll only fight firouzja.
- Bostonian 5y ago
  I don't think Carlsen would actually give up the title to Nakamura without a match.
  - incomingpain 5y ago
    >I don't think Carlsen would actually give up the title to Nakamura without a match. Oh ya I agree, I think such a competition would be amazing.
KptMarchewa 5y ago
He probably will be wiped. However, this comment would make more sense if he didn't literally beat a lot of good players in classical chess, winning FIDE Grand Prix 2022.
oldstrangers 5y ago
Everyone gets wiped by Carlsen, so this isn't a hot take.
fourseventy 5y ago
Hikaru used to be ranked #2 in the world in classical with an elo over 2800.... "not a classical player" lol
- alar44 5y ago
  And is currently 16 and has been dropping over the last 8 years. Kasparov also used to be number 1. That's just how it goes. He's a much stronger bullet/blitz player and this isn't news to anyone. There's a reason people are surprised he qualified.
  - pg_bot 5y ago
    He's 11th in classical currently and there isn't much separation from 4th to 20th. He has a pretty good record against all of his opponents in classical. He's never lost to Rapport, Liren, Duda, or Radjabov. He is 3-2-5 against Nepo, 6-7-33 against Caruana, and he's never played Firouzja.
cellis 5y ago
Not just Carlson.. any of the candidates are capable of beating him … most have higher elo and that elo is well deserved and stupendously hard won at that level. Wesley So beat him in the Grand Prix, he was in trouble once against Esipenko. I don’t think he’ll have as hard of a time against eg Ian Nepomniatchi ( Nepo likes speed which is Hikarus superpower ), But Ding Liren ( depending on Karjakins dq and Lirens play ofc ) Caruana, or Wesley So will beat him easily…