Hikaru Nakamura

American GM

“Am I worried about losing my second place in the FIDE ratings? If I was really worried about ratings or things like that, I would probably play quite a bit more.

I always find it funny because every so often I see some stupid comments on Twitter… People still don’t seem to realize that I’ve literally said for the last four years, probably more than four years: ‘I’m a content creator first. I play chess here or there. If there’s an opportunity to get into the Candidates or something else, of course I will try.’

But I’m not a professional chess player. And I basically haven’t been since 2019. And yet people still continue to think that somehow, I am a professional player. I’m not. I play a tournament here or there, I try to do well, and if I have a chance to get to the Candidates, I do.

But I’m not suddenly going to start playing 20 tournaments a year like I did in 2018 or 2019. That’s never going to happen again.”