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Magnus Carlsen has discussed Hikaru Nakamura’s strategy regarding the latter's participation in small state-level tournaments to advance to the 2026 Candidates Tournament. The debate has emerged from FIDE’s requirement that players must play at least 40 classical matches in 2025 to qualify for the Candidates through the rating path. America’s Nakamura had appeared in only 18 matches by the end of August, which forced him to participate in the competitions with guaranteed rounds. He also won the Louisiana State Championship and the 70th Iowa Open, where he thrashed 11 players rated around 1900–2200, earning the maximum possible 0.8 Elo per win.
Discussing Hikaru Nakamura’s tactic on a podcast, Carlsen looked unfazed by Nakamura’s closing the gap in the ratings race and also called the American’s strategy shameless but pragmatic. “I’m not really nervous if Hikaru (is) getting closer to my rating. But I kind of admire the way he’s going about it. Because it’s so shameless. And the thing is, I think a lot of players would have picked tournaments where there’s maybe a couple of IMs or something like that. But he just wants to make sure that he’s going to get his 0.8 points from every single game, which is pragmatic. It’s absolutely shameless, but it’s the pragmatic and probably the right thing to do.” said the Norwegian.
Hikaru Nakamura defended his strategy
Hikaru Nakamura is receiving criticism for his tactic but he has defended his decision saying that he is competing in easy tournaments to spend time with his pregnant wife. “There’s a lot of nonsense about it now. People seem to forget that I have a wife and she’s actually pregnant and I’m gonna have a child pretty soon. So I don’t wanna be traveling all the time either. So playing a bunch of games and getting out of the way quickly is very much conducive to me.” said Nakamura.
This year, Nakamura has played 29 games and he needs just 11 more before December 31 to meet FIDE’s requirement. Another small state championship or two could easily clear his path for the 2026 Candidates Tournament.
