Hikaru Nakamura became the first player in Chess.com history to reach a 3500 Blitz rating on 5 October 2026, a full 100 points clear of Magnus Carlsen. A day later he pushed his own record to 3503 while streaming Titled Tuesday live from Sithonia, Greece.
A three-week storm of points
The American grandmaster began his surge on 15 September rated 3342. Across 18 days he played 253 rated blitz games, winning 231, drawing 12 and losing only 10. He reached 3490 on 3 October and crossed the historic barrier two days later.
At that altitude the mathematics turned hostile. A win against a 2900-rated opponent earned a single point, while one loss cost roughly 15.
Greek stream, familiar drama
He started with two smooth wins but drew in round four, and by the final round he sat on 8.5/10 needing a victory to stay in contention for the tournament title.
The decisive moment came against Vladislav Artemiev. Both final games went to the wire. Nakamura made an incorrect capture that turned a modest advantage into equality, and Artemiev punished another wrong move to coax resignation. Grischuk beat Kollars, confirming Artemiev as tournament winner while Nakamura fell to ninth place.
Earlier he had revived his chances by turning a game against Vincent Keymer around in mutual time trouble, repeating "Let's go, let's go, let's go," as victory was secured. "Unless I'm only going to skip every week, there's no way even to keep my rating where it is," he told Chess.com's Tarjei Svensen afterwards. "I view this as very much a one-time thing."
He rated the theoretical ceiling at roughly 3550. The mark stands alone, a summit touched briefly by a player who understood exactly how thin the air would remain.
