Hikaru Nakamura looked like he had just finished a long stint on a treadmill. “Gassed,” was his evaluation of his physical state after he had managed to outmanoeuvre — and outlast — world champion Gukesh Dommaraju in the classification match for the 5th to 8th spot.
The last few days have been rough on the man from the USA who won the Fisher Random World Championship in 2022, when FIDE organised the last world championship event for freestyle. He was taken the distance by the young gunslinger from Uzbekistan, Javokhir Sindarov, losing in the tiebreaks in the quarter-finals. Those battles against Sindarov were particularly draining for the 37-year-old Nakamura, who looked livid after losing to the 19-year-old especially since he had many chances to win, but managed to convert none. What was even more ego bruising for Nakamura was the fact that Sindarov had handpicked him as his opponent in the quarters — a decision which had caused many like Magnus Carlsen plenty of surprise.
The battle against Gukesh also saw similar escapes from the 18-year-old world champion until Nakamura finally overpowered the Indian.
For someone like Nakamura, who is used to playing in classical events where you are required to play six to seven hours on an average on consecutive days, being ‘gassed’ is a new experience. But as Nakamura pointed out, this is not just age catching up with him, it’s also because of the format of freestyle chess, where you cannot afford to have your mind on auto pilot in the opening phases of any game.
“We’ve seen a lot of blunders at this event from top players than you usually do. I suspect that’s because everyone’s thinking a lot harder than they usually do when they play normal chess. You can just play the first 10 or 15 moves without too much thinking. So you’re very fresh in the first half an hour or the first hour in the game. Here right away (from the first move) you have to expend a lot of your brain power. So that makes it really tough,” says Nakamura on the Chess.com stream on Wednesday after beating Gukesh.
He goes on to explain how he gets ‘more tired playing in freestyle chess than regular chess games’.
“I can’t think of a single game I’ve played (in regular classical) chess where after three or four hours I feel like I am tired. But here after every single game I’m really, really tired. It’s definitely a flaw. I would say everyone is feeling it,” says Nakamura.
Story continues below this ad
The Weissenhaus leg of the Freestyle Chess Tour has become something of a battle between the old guard — players in their late 20s and early 30s — and the young gen who are teenagers or just entering their 20s. This puts players like Gukesh (18), Vincent Keymer (20), Sindarov (19), Alireza Firouzja (21) and Nodirbek Abdusattarov (20) on one side and the veterans like Magnus Carlsen (34), Nakamura (37) and Fabiano Caruana (32) on the other.
Keymer and Sindarov have been the standout stars of the Weissenhaus event, with the German GM just one game away from winning the title after defeating Carlsen in the semis and beating Caruana in the first game of the final on Thursday. Sindarov, meanwhile, defeated Nakamura in the quarters and made Caruana strain every single ounce of his ability to defeat him in the tiebreak in the semis.
Caruana has spoken out about how one unique aspect of freestyle chess is that it requires no real preparation before a match. This means, Caruana reasoned, freestyle is slightly easier on older players: the fewer hours you have to spend training for the match, the fresher you are for the battle. In classical chess, this is where younger players have an edge since they can spend as much time as the older players in training on game days and still be fresh when at the board.
But this also means that most players irrespective of age are not spending hours pouring over lines.
Story continues below this ad
“I don’t think I have opened my laptop for anything chess related in the whole tournament,” shrugged Keymer after defeating Caruana in the first game of their final on Thursday.
Nakamura though points out how the freestyle format actually favours the younger players.
While commentating on the game between Sindarov and Caruana, Nakamura says: “This format is certainly advantageous for the younger players. I definitely find that I am much more tired in these games. And Sindarov at this point has a lot of energy and Fabiano, like me, must be gassed at this point.”
Nakamura was left so frustrated after losing to Sindarov in the quarters that he had spoken on his own YouTube channel that he was contemplating retirement. He has a few predictions about the world of chess and the new generation of stars.
Story continues below this ad
“I just want to prove that I can still play. But I can feel it: the resistance that the younger generation puts up in these games is a lot tougher than I am used to. You see these kids just keep fighting forever. Definitely tough playing against them. Eventually they’re going to overtake us. In classical, it will be another two or three years. Gukesh, maybe Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi and a few others will be on par with Caruana and myself. Or even surpass us,” shrugs Nakamura.
