Global Chess League: Hikaru Nakamura already gearing up for Candidates 2026

The Candidates tournament is more than three months away, but Hikaru Nakamura has already started preparing for it. And the World No. 2 is determined to train harder than he did in the past for the tournament that decides the challenger for the World chess champion.

He is so focused that he is even going to sacrifice some of his streaming. With more than three million subscribers on YouTube, he is one of the world’s most popular chess streamers.

He even put out content from here after the first round of the Global Chess League, in which he is the Icon player of the American Gambits. He titled the video, ‘I am a daddy and I played the World champ,” referring to his drawn game with D. Gukesh of PBG Alaskan Knights.

“I would say I have already started preparing for the Candidates at this point in time,” Nakamura said, shortly after beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on the top board in the match against upGrad Mumba Masters. “It actually has very little to do with having a child, but what I would say is there are a couple of very big differences versus the past. When I look at the candidates in 2022 or 2024, I was still streaming a lot more than I currently am.”

He feels it is going to be an exciting Candidates, to be held in Cyprus in March-April next year. “I am looking forward to it,” he said. “It should be a great event, and it will be really exciting with all the strong players competing.”

This is Nakamura’s second Global Chess League. “It is great to see the event happening here in India,” he said. “I didn’t play the first edition in Dubai, which I didn’t compete in. I played in London last year, and I was always wondering why it hadn’t been held in India yet. I think that India, without a doubt, if I look into the future beyond the next couple of years, is definitely going to be the hub or the centre of world chess.”

(The writer is in Mumbai at the invitation of Tech Mahindra)  

Published on Dec 15, 2025