Why is Nakamura not playing the US Championship?

I assume he gave up that dream years ago, qualifying for a candidates.

He only played in one. It'd be pretty damned lame of him to only get in one of them for his entire career. 

And yet that's the reality...

It's extremely difficult to qualify. Qualifying once is a career achievement he can be proud of. It's only "lame" if you think of Naka as a world champion contender, which he never was.

Naka had said years ago that winning the title isn't that important to him.  If he is making more money streaming?  Then why take away from that?

I don't think of Naka as a challenger level player but I do think if he could reach #2 in the rankings he should also qualify for the candidates more than once. But I don't think he could win it. 

And it's good that he's doing well streaming. If that makes him happy and financially comfortable then he should.

He peaked at #2. That was also the year he qualified for a candidates. After that he was perpetually below world #5... which is of course still very good (being in the top 10) but hardly the great player his twitch followers think he is.

Everybody remembers him saying it looks like he's the only one able to dethrone The Magster (he might've called him Sauron). That prediction didn't age well.

It's hard to believe thats been 6 or 7 years, time goes so fast.

Do you guys really trust what Naka says? Do you really think that he's okay with not being the best? Whenever he's interviewed about a loss, it's always excuses and he looks sour.

And by the way, in the latest FIDE classical ratings he's #19, and he hasn't played a classical game in almost two years. His rating has steadily been falling in a smooth curve since he peaked, and he's lost 80 rating points since then.

https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2016192/chart

     He's making $$$$ as an internet personality, so why would he want to use the amount of time it takes to prepare for a serious top-level OTB event away from his primary "job"? He has to do so occasionally to maintain his reputation as a top player (hence the Grand Swiss) but being less visible online for a more extended period might make him "yesterday's news" considering the fickle nature and short attention span of a lot of internet junkies.

He might be worried about losing rating points in classical time format.

Naka is a very strong player and definitely belongs to the "elite" level, anyone who disputes this is obviously ignorant. He has beaten some of the best players in the world on numerous occasions, in all kinds of formats and time controls. And, along with Caruana and So, he has been one of the top 3 American players for well over a decade. His reputation is well deserved but, that being said, does he take advantage of his visibility in the public eye to promote his own personal brand and rake in the advertising / sponsorship money? Of course he does, but anyone in his position would do the same.

He isn't as skilled or talented as Carlsen right now, and probably will never be, but he has no problem earning nearly as much (or possibly more) as the world champ for promoting the game and being a popular internet celebrity. And he will continue accepting tournament invites to keep himself in the spotlight for as long as possible, as long as it doesn't involve the possibility of risking losing rating points to "weaker" competitors (not as famous, or up-and-coming players). The US Championship is a varied field with relatively lower rated players and top level players, so he is past the point that he would jeopardize his reputation to win a title he has won several times in the past.

Hikaru had a couple of bad events, lost some rating and 1500s on the internet feel entitled to call him "not good enough" when his peak is 2816, "or afraid of losing". He only won it 5 times. For those curious, he is playing in Grand Swiss and therefore chose to skip this. He is streaming everyday unlike Fabiano and can't afford to play every event. 

Lol you must be the world champ at your profession. 

He played events in 2019, there really weren't many OTB events through much of 2020 or 2021, especially at the higher levels. So almost no top players have played much OTB in almost two years

Since he is apparently playing in a strong OTB event soon, if he doesn't continue playing OTB, that will tell more. Assuming there's no pandemic spike again limiting future events, we won't know if he's avoiding events for a while.

He is playing in the Grand Swiss. So I don't necessarily believe the classical theories

I'm really looking forward to the grand swiss. Another round or 2 would be better. But still it's exciting because it'll send 2 more to the candidates. 

"Numerous occasions"

"Hikaru" (as kids call him) has played 40 classical games against Carlsen. He only won once.

Maybe you meant to say he's lost on numerous occasions... because that would be true

Hikaru has an 8-2 record vs Anand in classical according to https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?yearcomp=exactly&year=&playercomp=either&pid=10084&player=&pid2=12088&player2=&movescomp=exactly&moves=&opening=&eco=&result=

Hikaru has a 5-4 record vs Kramnik in classical according to https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?yearcomp=exactly&year=&playercomp=either&pid=10084&player=&pid2=12295&player2=&movescomp=exactly&moves=&opening=&eco=&result=

Hikaru has a 6-7 record vs Caruana in classical according to https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?yearcomp=exactly&year=&playercomp=either&pid=10084&player=&pid2=76172&player2=&movescomp=exactly&moves=&opening=&eco=&result=

He has a positive record against the two previous world champions and has been world number 2 and a candidate.  Let's give respect where it's due.  

Yeah, because that's literally his name