Quotes from Hikaru Nakamura

There aren't really any 'American' grandmasters that are higher rated than me.

What was great about Fischer is that when he became world champion is that chess was being covered everywhere. It was in all the major newspapers, it was on TV.

Chess is a game where all different sorts of people can come together, not a game in which people are divided because of their religion or country of origin.

Definitely, some of the artistry and poetry has been lost in modern chess. It's very rare that I play a game where I'm like, 'Wow, this is really interesting. There were so many possibilities! It was such a rich game.'

If you talk to some of the older players, they definitely say they see beauty in certain games. In my case, there are certain times when I think, 'Wow, that's so amazing, chess is so full of ideas.' But most of the time I tend to be much more pragmatic about it, as opposed to thinking about it as art or something exquisite.

If you're not at the elite levels there are a lot more opportunities to play tournaments.

I've won the U.S. Championship. I've won a lot of tournaments.

I'd rather play for the Yankees. You get more money.

I get tired of the traveling.

Chess.com is my home turf.

The way I play is not like most people. The moves are more computeresque. They're not the moves that most humans are going to play.

No matter how badly you play, unless you make a flat-out blunder, there's always going to be some narrow path to being able to save the game and draw instead of losing.

Because of the Internet, chess is not about your nationality or your background. Anyone can get good now.

I don't consider myself a nerd.

You can't follow or understand the game unless you play chess yourself, unlike poker which you can pick up in five minutes.

The image that everyone has of a chess player is not necessarily positive. I think it's partly due to Bobby Fischer - his rise to fame and then his descent into madness. That left a lot of people with negative stereotypes, of nerds who aren't interesting.

In chess, everyone's accepted. That's what's great about it. You can be a little bit different. You can be an oddball.

Everybody uses computers to train so much now that the first nine or 10 moves of a match are made without thinking.

It's interesting to find new things with the game. It's fun finding new positions, new openings and new strategies.

I would say out of all the things I studied growing up, math was probably one of the things that I liked the least.

I will say there have been occasional times - not when I'm playing, but when I'm studying - that I have found a little bit of alcohol has been good for the creative process.

I play different styles, and am very good at changing how I play.

Life is very much about making the best decisions you can. So I think chess is very valuable.

It's good to win. Losses aren't good, and draws are O.K.