Hikaru Nakamura interview: ‘Studying chess 10 hours a day is nonsense… it’s outdated’

Currently in India for the Global Chess League, Nakamura talks with The Indian Express about these aspects and a lot more. Excerpts:

Q: What will your next few months until the Candidates look like? Are you going to do a lot less streaming?

Hikaru Nakamura: I will probably dedicate most of my time to that (the Candidates bid). As much as I can, outside of, of course, being a parent for the first time. As far as streaming goes, I already don’t stream as much as I used to. So, it’s not that I’m going to stop streaming. There will be no change there. In terms of tournaments, the only major event that I have before the Candidates is the Speed Chess Championship in London at the beginning of February.

Hikaru Nakamura in action at the Global Chess League (GCL)

Q: How are you going to balance those three things at the same time, being a content creator, a Candidate, and a father?

Hikaru Nakamura: Generally, there is no difference between now and when I played in the Candidates in 2022 or 2024. With the exception of being a parent. It’is about being very focused and using my time in a manner that makes the most sense. If you look at a lot of the top players, they spend, let’s just say, 8 to 10 hours a day studying chess. I would argue that this is very much an old-world mentality of just simply looking at chess for those sheer number of hours and thinking that will make a difference. I think there are ways of using your time and being smarter than just studying for that long.

There are little things that I do, and I don’t study as much as some of the other players, but I think I’m much better at studying the things that matter. It comes back to the classic saying, ‘work smarter, not harder’.

I’ve already been doing this for many years in terms of streaming or making YouTube videos and competing at the top level, so I don’t really foresee that being a huge challenge this time around. The only thing that could be a challenge is being a parent and perhaps not sleeping as much as I would like.\

Hikaru Nakamura takes on Fabiano Caruana at the GCL. (GCL)

Q: Do you now see yourself as a chess player first and a content creator next?

Hikaru Nakamura: I consider myself a content creator first. I pretty consistently make YouTube videos almost every day these days, whereas I don’t stream every day. My income or my living is derived from content creation. It pays much better than professional chess. I don’t foresee that changing anytime soon, so that’s how it’s going to be from here on. The fact that I’m able to have that as my main career and simply enjoy competing in chess tournaments has helped me a lot in terms of my performance.

You see a lot of 12-13-year-olds, the super talents in the world, spending many hours playing games of blitz chess. If you go back even 10-15 years, any serious trainer would say that this was a terrible way of trying to improve or learn. But now that’s probably the gold standard.

Q: Are there other notions about chess that you think are kind of outdated?

Hikaru Nakamura: I think studying 10 hours a day is nonsense. Someone who spends four hours a day, potentially, if they’re focusing on the right things, can be much more efficient.

I think this focus on opening preparation, for example, is also a little outdated. Not completely, because it’s a very important part of the game. But because of how strong computers have become, I think there’s an overemphasis on that as well, versus say the middle game or the endgame. Probably the biggest strength that Magnus Carlsen has and what differentiates him from everybody else is his endgame understanding.

Also, this assumption that you have to focus only on chess. It’s a very different world we live in now versus even 20 years ago. Technology and computers have really levelled the playing field and everybody has access to the same information. Also, this notion that you have to spend your entire life on chess is outdated. From a psychological standpoint, having other things that you care about or focus on as well has huge benefits.