What does chess grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura do when not playing tournaments?

Chess blog for latest chess news and trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011


Hi everyone,


This is a simple question: What does grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura do when not destroying competition in tournaments like the recently-concluded Tata Steel event in Wijk aan Zee? Meeting friends! and still playing chess!!


We found this nice article on the grandmaster's recent exploits. Following is an excerpt from the article. Enjoy.



Dateline Memphis

An international celebrity was in Memphis this week, but it's unlikely anyone noticed him.
No, we're not talking about tennis player Andy Roddick and his supermodel wife, Brooklyn Decker.
Hikaru Nakamura
Instead, it's 23-year-old Hikaru Nakamura, a chess grandmaster and the top-ranked player in North and South America.
He's ranked eighth in the world, the highest any American has ascended since Bobby Fischer. (Nakamura is aware of that difficult legacy, but more on that shortly.)
Nakamura arrived in Memphis on Tuesday, spending several days on a working vacation. He has friends in the area, so he enjoys making the trip down from his home in St. Louis.
But while he's here, Nakamura couldn't pass up the opportunity to promote the game, spending Sunday at the University of Memphis signing autographs and dispensing a little advice.
"I've always tried to do stuff for chess, especially in cities where there isn't as strong a culture," Nakamura said. "I think there's a lot of potential in Memphis. It's simply a matter of making people aware."
Local leaders presented Nakamura with the key to the city Tuesday. On Friday at City Hall, he played 15 people -- including City Council member Myron Lowery -- at one time.
He made short work of all of them, but Rafi Chowdhury -- president of the Chess Club at the UofM -- lasted the longest, about 20 moves until he made a fatal mistake.



From Alexandra Kosteniuk's
www.chessblog.com
Also see her personal blog at
www.chessqueen.com