Hikaru Nakamura commented on Hans Moke Niemann’s performance at the US Chess Championships 2026. Nakamura calls Niemann’s play at the event a disaster. Hikaru notes that Hans dropped out of the 2700 club.

Hikaru Nakamura

Hikaru Nakamura

World's No. 2

“For the future first American World Champion, Hans Niemann, this has been mostly an event to forget…

This is an absolute disaster of a tournament for him. He finishes on a score of 4 points out of 11. And he actually falls below the 2700 mark with his rating. He’s now 2697. He is outside the top. He’s number 32 in the world after this loss to Jeffery Xiong in the last round.

Devastating tournament for Hans. Definitely not what he was hoping for, but that’s sometimes how the cookie crumbles and you have some really bad events.”

The US Chess Championship 2026 takes place from October 9 to 22, at the Saint Louis Chess Club in Missouri, USA. Hans Moke Niemann finished the event in 10th place. Niemann finished 5th-6th at the 2025 edition of the tournament. His Classical rating dropped below 2700 for the first time since June 2024.

Credit: Lennart Ootes