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Hikaru Nakamura Openings 1.e4 (2021-2022 overview)

Hikaru Nakamura Openings 1.e4 (2021-2022 overview)

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CM thechesscorner64
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Hikaru plays so many games online that his opponents will have a hard time predicting the openings he will prepare at the candidates (Madrid 2022 Tournament)

Yet, I can find patterns in Hikaru's choices and here I will explore the variations he likes to play online with 1.e4

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I am selecting the variations he has played since April 2021.

I am only selecting blitz games and rapid games, excluding bullet games.

I am also looking at games with opponent > 2000 rating, i.e to exclude viewers arenas or games played with aliases like speedrun

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What does Hikaru like to  play against the Sicilian ?

@Hikaru really likes this variation with Qxd4, less popular than Nxd4. He likes to get this type of positions:
Typically, he continues with 0-0-0, Nd4 and f2-f4
His stats with Qd4 are impressive
He has 78 wins, 14 draws and 15 losses
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Ok, what else does @Hikaru play against the Sicilian ?

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You guessed it !

Interestingly he can play either Bb5 or Bc4 in the main line 

There are many games and videos on this.

Here's one

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What about 1e4 e5 ?

@Hikaru likes the Vienna 2.Nc3

Here are the stats

His opponents, if they want to play 1..e5 should check 2.Nc3 on top of 2.Nf3. He did play the Spanish opening (2 Nf3 and 3 Bb5)  against Aronian in Berlin Grand Prix FIDE.

Also he is slightly more effective with 2.Nc3 the Vienna, his online performance corresponds to a  82% win rate, as opposed to a 75% win rate with 2.Nf3

Against 2..Nf6, Hikaru can play 3.Bc4 or 3.f4 or 3.g3

He tends to prefer 3.Bc4

For instance

Interestingly Nakamura tried this Vienna opening against Wesley So OTB in the K-O  portion of the FIDE Grand Prix 3 in Berlin. 



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What about the Modern 1..g6 and 2..Bg7 ?

This is interesting as Hikaru plays this with the Black pieces

Hikaru tends to play 4.f4 (Austrian Attack) or 4.Bc4

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What  about the FRENCH DEFENSE ?


It looks like Hikaru likes to play the King's Indian Attack with extremely good results 43 wins on 45 games !!

I need to showcase one of these games here

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What about the caro-kann, 1e4 c6 ?

Here's the variation Hikaru choses most of the time

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What about the Alekhine defense ?

@Hikaru likes this sideline, which he has played 24 times in the last year

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