What its like to play a Grandmaster.(Hikaru)

A couple of a days ago I got a unique and fun opportunity to play Hikaru online. Ill talk about that later though. First we need introductions. GM Hikaru Nakamura is 18th ranked in classical and is rated number 1 in the world in blitz. Nakamura is one of the best online players chess in the world. Then there is me, I am currently rated around 1050 in blitz,(we play 3:2 time control). I was a avid player at my local chess club but have never competed in a physical tournament.

So your are probably wondering: How in the world did this scrub get to play THE Hikaru Nakamura? The answer is kind of simple actually, most Grandmasters or chess players stream on places like Twitch or YouTube. These players sometimes spice up the game play by having days when the play the viewers. Of course its not that simple when I played Hikaru, he was blindfolded, tired, and barely staying awake with his espresso coffee.

So now your are probably wondering how badly did Hikaru beat me. Well after I challenged his blindfolded account "BlindTakes" he accepted the challenge and we got into the game.

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4667529606

The engine said that I was wining up until around move 13. I obviously made some mistakes like losing a rook for a bishop against a player of Hikaru's caliber. As I reflect on the game I think that while I developed most of my pieces, I didn't have any attack and that didn't threaten him at all causing me to lose pieces and then the game.

I hope you liked this article check out my other articles and tell me what I could do better in this game. Thanks!

Special credit to Grant G, for the idea.