GM Hikaru Nakamura won the 70th Iowa Open with a perfect 5/5 score and is 11 games away from reaching the 40 required (by December 31) to be eligible for the 2026 FIDE Candidates Tournament. He would qualify by having the highest rating, as GM Magnus Carlsen is not expected to play.
Just as he did in Louisiana, Nakamura zipped through the tournament without a hitch. He gained four rating points and, by live rating, sits at 2815.8, which is rounded to 2816. That specific number is his peak rating, which he achieved 10 years ago and has hit once again.
The tournament was a five-round Swiss held over the weekend from September 5-7 in Iowa City. Nakamura finished a point ahead of the field, where 2147-rated CM Anjaneya Rao was the second seed. Nakamura earned the $750 top prize, which he plans to donate.
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Nakamura was never in trouble against his opposition, which had a rating average of 2006 FIDE.
In round one, he found a nice way to trade pieces into an utterly winning position. After 16…b6?, the locked-out bishop on a5 would never move again.
Nakamura dismantled a London System from the black side in round two, and in round three, he outplayed Dane Zagar in an endgame featuring four rooks and two knights.
Round four featured his highest-rated opponent, the second seed of the tournament. The decisive mistake was 29.Qd1? leaving the h-pawn hanging. It turned out White had no real follow-up to its capture, as Nakamura demonstrated.
In the last game, Nakamura demonstrated how to take advantage of Black’s split pawns in the following typical pawn structure. The c-pawn was doomed, and Nakamura was flawless from there.
Nakamura’s participation in what he’s called “Mickey Mouse tournaments”—that is, tournaments that are far below his level—has elicited controversy. While critics condemn him for playing games he has a low chance of losing, others point out that he hasn’t broken any FIDE rules. GM Susan Polgar also argued on X, after the Louisiana tournament, that none of this has been done in secret, writing, “Hikaru did not do this in secrets. He openly tweeted and streamed about the event. There was no rule broken.”
Far from keeping it secret, Nakamura has been posting daily recaps of his games. You can watch his last recap below.
At the end of the video, Nakamura commented that the benefit isn’t only for him. He’s been providing a rare opportunity for many players to face a world-class player, an experience that just isn’t possible for most people. He said:
It is an opportunity to give back. For example, this final opponent I played, this 12-year-old kid, he’s someone who’s working with a very strong grandmaster and a former U.S. champion. I’m sure he and his coach will go over this game, he’ll learn from it, and I have no doubt he’ll probably go on to become at least an international master down the road. It’s an experience I think he will cherish for a very long time.
It’s an experience I think he will cherish for a very long time.
—Hikaru Nakamura
How many club players get the chance to talk to Nakamura, let alone play him?
Some players get food in between rounds. Some do last-minute prep. And some do interviews and sign autographs. @GMHikaru
Photos by Allie Hengen for US Chess pic.twitter.com/QveyysgQzK
— US Chess (@USChess) September 7, 2025
The most recent public reaction was by GMs Hans Niemann and Anish Giri, joking before round five at the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss. Niemann suggested assigning 10 grandmasters to be ready on-call all over the country, waiting for Nakamura to register, with a $10,000 bonus offered to anyone who can beat him.
GM Levon Aronian, joining in, simply commented that consistently playing against opponents of a lower level will lower your level of play.
“Every victory is 10,000 dollars, all expenses included” – @HansMokeNiemann shares his plan to track Hikaru’s whereabouts and pay Grandmasters to play in the tournaments he is playing in, as @anishgiri and @levonaronian join in. pic.twitter.com/FRTfa0prtF
— ChessBase India (@ChessbaseIndia) September 8, 2025
Nakamura has not announced his next tournament. Judging by the last two, however, it will likely be announced at the last minute. He has 11 more classical games to play before the year ends.
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