Hikaru’s road to the Candidates comes through Prince Edward Island
In his quest to play enough games to qualify for the Candidates rating spot, Hikaru Nakamura has joined the 2025 Maritime Open Championship in Prince Edward Island, Canada.
The tournament is a 6-round swiss, two games a day from October 11-13 over the Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend. The Island is a small province located on Canada’s East coast, with a population of roughly 180,000, so it is a surprise to see Nakamura venture out! He had teased a trip North on Thursday, and followed with a much more obscure post Saturday afternoon.
Hikaru successfully defeated North American girls U12 champion Michelle Zhang, rated 1917 FIDE, in 65 moves in round 1, and is currently playing Maritime local Titan Dunahee, rated 1808 FIDE, in round 2.
He will face some tougher opposition in later rounds, with the top seeds including IMs Mark Plotkin, Tangi Migot, Mike Ivanov, and FM Adam Dorrance, all rated over 2400. You can follow the tournament live on Lichess.
Image via Maritime Chess Festival
