Columbus Dispatch

Young American expects to reign

Saturday, September 26, 2009 3:02 AM
By SHELBY LYMAN
At 21, Hikaru Nakamura is the U.S. champion.

He is clearly better than his national peers, but in no way has he
achieved the dominance that Bobby Fischer demonstrated when he was
five or six years younger.

But Nakamura, ranked 16th in the world, is rapidly becoming a global
force. A high finish in a strong tournament or two, and he will enter
the elite fraternity of the top 10.

In the next five to 10 years, according to the Dutch magazine New in
Chess, Nakamura sees Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Levon Aronian of
Armenia as his main rivals for the world title.

That might seem presumptuous, but Nakamura is steadily improving. He
embraces repetition, with just a tweak here and a tweak there, better
openings, fewer blunders, and increasingly stronger competition.