Why world No 2 Hikaru Nakamura has kicked off a rating controversy in qualification for Candidates 2026

The race is on for next year’s Candidates tournament in which eight players will be competing for the opportunity to challenge India’s D Gukesh for the FIDE World Championship. American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana has already qualified for the event as the 2024 FIDE Circuit. As for the remaining slots, Gukesh’s compatriot R Praggnanandhaa is among those in fray, through the ongoing FIDE Grand Swiss in Samarkand as well as via the 2025 FIDE Circuit, in which he currently occupies the top spot on the standings.

There’s one spot in the Candidates qualification system that has been drawing a lot of attention from the chess community recently – that of the highest average rating between August 2025 and January 2026. The widespread belief was that FIDE was keeping a spot open for Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen, who has been the world No 1 for more than a decade now, to get back to the world championship cycle four years after he opted against defending his title.

How Hikaru Nakamura is using the rating spot to his advantage

Five-time world champion Carlsen, however, appears highly unlikely to participate in the Candidates and go on to challenge Gukesh for his title – both due to his recent feud with the Lausanne-based world governing body as well as his declining interest in the Classical format.

Instead, it’s world No 2 Hikaru Nakamura who appears to be indulging in a bit of gamesmanship in order to keep his chances of qualifying for the Candidates alive.

The American GM has been active in the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour this year by competing in all four events so far, including Las Vegas in July, as well as in the Esports World Cup recently. As for Classical events, he was part of the lineup at Norway Chess this year.

Nakamura, however, has been absent from major events since the time the qualification period for the Candidates rating spot began last month, skipping the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz as well as the Sinquefield Cup in the US and also sitting out of FIDE Grand Swiss that is currently underway in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Nakamura, instead, decided to test himself at the Louisiana State Championship against a field that, will all due respect, isn’t quite the level of competition that a world No 2 would normally be used to. The 37-year-old GM ended up cruising to victory at the event with a perfect score of 7/7 earlier this week.

The tournament helped him notch up six of the 22 Classical games that he needs to play in between August and January in order to be eligible for a Candidates spot based on his rating – assuming Carlsen remains out of the equation.

Nakamura will be participating in the FIDE World Cup in India in the months of October and November, and with the likes of world champion Gukesh and other top stars around, registering such a scoreline will be a lot easier said than done. One can, therefore, assume that Nakamura has got the perfect headstart by competing in events such as the one in Louisiana last weekend.

What experts are saying about Nakamura’s method

Nakamura’s strategy is certain to draw flak from some sections of the chess community. Experts such as chess journalist David Llada, however, is among those who finds no problem with this approach.

“People often complain that top players preserve their status by only competing in elite events. Then, when one of them enters a regional tournament against much lower-rated players—where even a draw could be disastrous—he’s criticized as well,” Llada wrote in a post on X.

“I see no problem with Hikaru playing whatever event is available to become eligible for the rating spot. I might feel differently if he were setting up ad hoc events created solely for that purpose (as happened with Ding in 2022).

“As for the system itself, I find that chess regulations are often made unnecessarily complex. As is often the case with law and bureaucracy, the more complicated they become, the easier it is to find cracks and loopholes. FIDE, in particular, tends to approach these issues (and everything else, like PR) reactively — fixing problems as they appear — rather than anticipating and preventing them in the first place,” he added.

American-Hungarian GM and commentator Susan Polgar went on to add that Nakamura’s participation in lower-rated tournaments isn’t a secret, and he has been quite open about it. She went on to defend him by stating that Nakamura has not broken any rules set by FIDE in the path to Candidates 2026.

“Fake moral outrage!” Polgar wrote on X. “Earlier today, I posted about Hikaru Nakamura 7-0 results in the Louisiana State Chess Championship. It is very rare for a world class player to play in small open tournaments, on his own dime.

“Hikaru did not do this in secrets. He openly tweeted and streamed about the event. There was no rule broken. He was well received by the players. He smiled, posed for photos, and analyzed with them. Very professional!

“Some people got angry about it when it is none of their business. Hikaru can do whatever he wants with his time. If this is against some rules then it is up to FIDE to do something about it. He broke no rule as far as I know.

‘Looking back to when I was a 2000-2200+ player, what thrill it would have been for me to play against, and then analyze with a world class player, for free. Top players simply cannot win. When they do this, they get chastised. When they don’t, they are accused of protecting their ratings!” Polgar added.

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