Hikaru Nakamura makes $45,000 by Drawing against a 2300-rated Opponent
On October 19, 2025, world No. 2 Hikaru Nakamura claimed the Comet Open title, securing $45,000 after dominating a 32-player knockout bracket. His victory in the newly launched Online Blitz tournament, held in collaboration with Perplexity AI, stemmed from his masterful performance in no-increment blitz and a strategic draw in a classical chess game the previous week.
On October 12, Nakamura played an uneventful draw against 2366-rated IM Mike Ivanov at the 2025 Maritime Open, a classical tournament, to free up his schedule for the Comet Open’s online qualifier, a two-hour blitz arena held on chess.com. Read more about Nakamura’s successful juggling act [here]. He went on to win the sixth qualifier arena, earning his spot in the 32-player knockout stage held from October 18 to 19.
Leveraging his renowned speed chess prowess, Nakamura cruised through opponents in four-game 3+0 blitz matches. The closest challenges came from Parham Maghsoodloo and Nihal Sarin, both pushing him to Armageddon tiebreaks. Yet, even at 37, Nakamura displayed nerves of steel, defeating Parham in the quarterfinals and miraculously turning a lost position against the Indian speed chess maestro in the semifinals. On the other side of the bracket, Alireza Firouzja faltered, losing to Dmitry Andreikin and then tilting to drop three straight games to Javokhir Sindarov, exiting the double-elimination bracket. Meanwhile, in-form prodigy Denis Lazavik reached the Grand Final after defeating players like Nihal, Sindarov, and Andreikin. However, Nakamura, in top form, clinched the title with a clinical 2.5-1.5 victory over Lazavik, securing the $45,000 grand prize.
“That, my friends, is why you make a draw against a 2300 like Mike Ivanov—so you can play this online tournament and make $45,000,” a delighted Nakamura said during his livestream of the event on Kick.
Photo courtesy: Rafal Oleksiewicz/FIDE
