American chess player Hikaru Nakamura was born on 9 December 1987 in Hirakata. At the age of five he learnt to play chess from his uncle, Sunil Weeramantry, who was former New York champion, FIDE Grandmaster and chess author. His highest World Ranking is 2nd (October 2015). His current rating is 2787 (April 2016).

He finished seventh in the 2016 Candidates Tournament in Moscow.

 He represented the United States in five Chess Olympiads between 2006 and 2014. He won team bronze in 2006 and 2008.

Interesting facts:

He is a very talented blitz chess player and he is considered to be one of the best blitz players nowadays. Nakamura is a well-known figure in the chess community, as he often plays on the Internet mostly on Chess.com under the name ‘Hikaru’.