I’ve heard a lot about Hikaru Nakamura having a huge ego, being full of himself, etc.
Interesting, after his game with Carlsen (drawn) in the Tal Memorial, he got on ICC and was kibitzing another game along with us regular joes. I asked him if he thought he could have had winning chances by going into a knight vs bishop endgame, instead of the Queen endgame that was drawn. His answer was, and I quote almost exactly was: “perhaps Karpov with his perfect technique could have won that one, but I’m no Karpov”.
Interesting answer for a guy who is allegedly “full of himself”. I’m not sure where this reputation started, but I’ve yet to see the big ego all the times he’s joined the regular kibitzers watching international tournament games.
But I think I was treated to the answer of where that reputation comes from. Right after his game was drawn with Carlsen, I was treated to some of the raunchiest anti-Americanism imaginable by the same people who had just been watching the game and were desperately rooting for Carlsen to win (even though he never had even the slightest winning chances). It got so bad that I had to stick up for my country, and I’m no fighter, or super-patriot or anything like that, I don’t engage in those discussions. It was disgusting. I quickly left the area before it really got bad, the game was over anyway.
So I can only conclude that a lot of what I hear about the guy is just anti-American nitwits, transferring their hatred into the chess world unfortunately.
I know he said that thing about Kasparov, and that’s unfortunate, but everyone is entitled to one dumb comment in his life without being labeled for life. Best of luck to our best player in the future.
I got paired against him once on ICC (when I had a very new provisional rating) and after he wiped me off the board he was very polite about it! Very pleasant experience!
By the way, you might want to modify the thread title. It sounds like you are saying Nakamura is anti-American.
I’ve never had any interaction with Nakamura, but the people I have heard complain about his “ego” have all been from the U.S., so blaming these rumors on foreign players may be a stretch. Just because a group of chess fans was being “anti-American” doesn’t negate any faults Nakamura may have. It just shows that poor behavior has no nationality - it’s universal.
Nakamura has had some behavioral issues in US tournaments, which explains some of his reputation for truculence. To be fair, the worst of these happened some years ago. Also, to be fair, he has worked on his demeanor, and is certainly more circumspect now than he was in his teens. However, reputations do tend to die hard.
There was a fairly well known incident at the 2002 World Open, when he ended up being hit by another kid. There are differing accounts to this story, so it is not entirely clear who was to blame for this. I’ve heard from two TDs who were present that Nakamura was not at fault. I’ve also heard from several other players who were present that Nakamura verbally taunted and provoked the kid, who then decked him. (Needless to say, the youthful pugilist got the boot from the tournament. I wonder if the TD staff was polled on this prior to the ejection. )
From personal experience comes this story. At the 2009 World Open, Nakamura brought me an Excalibur clock to set for him prior to his seventh round game. He insisted, however, that I set it without the five-second delay. I told him that it would have to be set with the delay, per USCF rules. He argued with me for about 30 seconds, then snatched the clock from me and stalked off. I made sure the delay was set before that game started.
While there is no real excuse for such behavior, I elected to chalk it up to him being stressed about having to play a strong GM with Black for the second straight round, knowing he basically had to win to have any chance of a top prize. (This was the year he took byes in the last two rounds of the World Open so he could make the first round of San Sebastian.) Besides, as a frequent Forums contributor has observed before, if we blackball the socially maladroit, there’ll be paltry few of us left.
If he has that reputation, he got it when he was a kid. It’s hard not to act 11 years old when you’re…11 years old. He’s been playing for a very long time already!
Everything I’ve seen, read, or heard of him these days indicates that he’s a very fine young man, much less dorky and socially inadequate than most players.
Nakamura faces Carlsen in a little over 2 hours in Biel,Switzerland. Kamsky finished 2nd to Ivanchuk at the ACP Golden Classic in Amsterdam,NL. Caruana wins Dortmund.
[quote=“eastside”]
From personal experience comes this story. At the 2009 World Open, Nakamura brought me an Excalibur clock to set for him prior to his seventh round game. He insisted, however, that I set it without the five-second delay. I told him that it would have to be set with the delay, per USCF rules. He argued with me for about 30 seconds, then snatched the clock from me and stalked off. I made sure the delay was set before that game started.
If the tournament time control advertised it, and the clock was capable of it, then yes, it was required. I’m unfamiliar with any time when that wasn’t the case.
I see. Your post made it sound as if it were required as a USCF rule in all tournaments (in 2009). But would you say this advertisement of the 2009 World Open was “time-control advertised” as requiring delay? I only see it in the discussion of tiebreak games.
I don’t think it does. Delay isn’t required in USCF events even now, so long as the tournament advertising makes it clear that delay is not being used. Here is a recent example of such a USCF-rated event, which advertised that its time control would not have delay.
Organizers often copy ads from year to year for continuing events. Some events (such as the TLA for this year’s Continental Open) don’t specify a delay.
CCA has consistently used delay (or increment, in norm-eligible sections since 2011) in its regular-rated events - even its G/30 side events at larger tournaments. Further, the use of delay was announced in pre-round announcements in 2009, which can supersede printed advertising so long as said announcement doesn’t run into Rule 26B.
Note that the rules state that the standard delay for games with a sudden death time control is five seconds for standard chess and three seconds for quick chess. Therefore, in the absence of pre-tournament publicity stating otherwise, delay is used.
@ Ken: I don’t deny for a second that 5-second delay is the standard delay, but I don’t know that the requirement for delay (in the absence of other info) follows from the previous statement that “standard delay is 5 seconds.” It would merely mean that IF delay were used, 5 seconds would be the standard.
@ Boyd: You are correct that CCA required delay in 2009 and long before, as it turns out. But you misled with your statement “per USCF rules,” when you meant “per CCA rules/announcement.”
My apologies if you don’t approve of the phrasing. However, I said exactly what I meant. If a tournament is advertised or announced with certain playing conditions, then per USCF rules, those conditions have to be followed.
@ Boyd: Sure, but the mention of advertising was absent from your first post. It was only later that you clarified about advertised standards.
I suppose I should say something about the original topic, i.e. Nakamura’s alleged arrogance. I’m personally a big fan, but certain comments may have contributed to whatever negative reputation he may have, e.g. saying that none of the upcoming juniors (circa 2007) would be as good as he was. This may turn out to be true or false (I’m guessing false), but I thought it was not quite a justified statement to make.
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